梵網經菩薩戒略疏

Precept 28

EXTENDING SEPARATE INVITATIONS TO MEMBERS OF THE SANGHA

If a disciple of the Buddha—whether a monastic bodhisattva, a lay bodhisattva, or any donor—wishes to invite the Sangha to receive offerings and prayers, that person should enter the Sangha residence and make the request to the steward. The steward should then say: “By inviting members according to their order, one invites the worthy and holy Sangha of the ten directions. Yet even if a worldly person separately invites five hundred bodhisattvas and arhats of the Sangha, this is still not equal to receiving a single ordinary Sangha member appointed by the Sangha.

Extending separate invitations to members of the Sangha is a practice of non-Buddhists. In the teachings of the Seven Buddhas, there is no practice of extending separate invitations to members of the Sangha, because it does not accord with the way of filial obedience.” If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately extends separate invitations, that disciple commits a minor defiled offense.

Explanation:

This runs counter to the mind free of characteristics and forfeits the merit of impartiality. Since the three spheres are not yet empty, it is not the Dharma assembly of paramita practiced by a Great Being. Worthy and holy practitioners may be provisional or actual.

The actual are those who have realized the Four Fruits, the Three Stages of Worthiness, or the Ten Stages of Sainthood. The provisional, although still ordinary beings, have received the great precepts of the original ground of mind and cultivate and study the true path of worthy and holy beings; therefore, they too are called worthy and holy. Thus, the Sangha includes both ordinary and holy practitioners.

When offerings are given universally to the ten directions and the mind acts impartially, the resulting merit is as vast as space. If the mind still gives rise to discrimination and selection, the resulting merit will be limited. Moreover, it is difficult to discern who is holy and who is ordinary, and difficult to measure who is superior or inferior.

It was for this reason that Venerable Pindola was struck. A novice was not permitted to accept an offering of robes. One should therefore understand that, by making no distinctions, one invites worthy and holy practitioners.

Furthermore, the Tathagata instructed sixteen great arhats, each leading hundreds of thousands of disciples who had all realized the Four Fruits, to appear in the same guise as ordinary beings. How could common people recognize them? They serve as fields of merit for donors.

According to the Sarvastivada Vinaya in Ten Recitations and the Sutra on the Causes and Conditions of the Precepts, the mother of the bhiksu Visakha separately invited five hundred arhats. The Buddha told Visakha’s mother that she was ignorant and unskillful and would not obtain great merit. If she were instead to invite one member from among the Sangha according to the established order, she would gain immense merit and exceptionally excellent blessed recompense.

Question: Does this mean that five hundred holy members of the Sangha are not equal to one ordinary member of the Sangha?

Answer: One should understand that, in terms of serving as a field of merit, the latter surpasses the former by hundreds of thousands of myriads of times; but in terms of holiness, the ordinary member is still not equal to a holy one.

Therefore, when Venerable Aniruddha offered a single meal to a pratyekabuddha, from that time onward, throughout ninety-one kalpas, whether in the heavens or among human beings, he continually enjoyed blessed recompense.

As recorded in the Sutra in Forty-Two Sections: “From giving alms to an evil person up to making offerings to the Tathagata, the distinctions in merit are very clear.” As for the mind, if the mind is impartial, the merit is great. Therefore, the Tathagata instructed Sariputra to give food to a dog. In principle, however, one should select recipients for offerings as circumstances require.

One must not cling rigidly to a single rule; then one will attain unobstructed freedom. Here, the discussion concerns an impartial mind in giving, not the seeking of the Dharma. To seek the Dharma, one must possess the eye that discerns the Dharma.

One cannot fail to distinguish the false from the true or the worthy from the foolish, thereby becoming confused and losing the great path. This is no minor matter.

This sutra states: “When the Tathagata had only just taken his seat beneath the Bodhi tree, the mother of the bhiksu Visakha had not yet been born. How, then, could it speak of her separately inviting five hundred members of the Sangha?” The Tathagata was speaking of a past time, of an event that occurred before the Buddha’s era; or perhaps this was a prediction made beforehand, and later the mother of the bhiksu Visakha indeed acted in this way.

Following the teachings of non-Buddhists means failing to comply with the Buddha’s instruction and acting contrary to the Buddha’s Dharma and to the causal ground shared by ordinary and holy beings. Therefore, it is said not to accord with the way of filial obedience.

All Seven Buddhas manifested responsively in this Saha world. Their traces throughout one hundred kalpas were all witnessed by beings in the Heaven of Long Life. Thus, the Seven Buddhas are cited everywhere as testimony, enabling everyone to understand clearly.

Ninety-one kalpas ago, a Buddha named Vipasyin, also called Vipasvin, appeared in the world. During the succeeding intervening kalpas, no Buddha appeared. In the thirty-first kalpa, two Buddhas appeared:

1. Sikhin Buddha

2. Visvabhu Buddha

The ninety-first kalpa is called the Auspicious Kalpa. In this kalpa, one thousand Buddhas appear in the world, including Krakucchanda Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, Kasyapa Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, and so forth, up to Rocana Buddha, the last of these one thousand Buddhas to appear.

Previously, personally accepting offerings and material support without sending a visiting Sangha member to fulfill the invitation constituted an offense. Later, accepting a separate invitation meant personally accepting another person’s individual invitation and therefore constituted an offense. This precept concerns personally selecting and inviting members of the Sangha, and thus establishes it as an offense. If the purpose is not to seek merit by offering a vegetarian meal to the Sangha, or if one clearly knows the invited persons to be relatives or close associates, no offense is committed.

Precept 29

WRONG LIVELIHOOD

If a disciple of the Buddha, with an evil mind and for the sake of material gain, traffics in males or females; personally prepares food; personally mills or pounds grain; reads the physiognomy of men and women; interprets auspicious and inauspicious omens; practices talismans, incantations, magical arts, crafts, or trades; raises birds and hunting dogs; or compounds hundreds or thousands of kinds of poison, snake venom, gold-and-silver poison, or gu poison—doing all this without a mind of loving-kindness and compassion or a mind of filial obedience—then, if that disciple deliberately engages in such acts, the disciple commits a minor defiled offense.

Explanation:

Relying on improper practices to obtain material gain and sustain one’s life, harming living beings for one’s own benefit—all this is contrary to the pure and compassionate mind of a Great Being.

An evil mind means a mind that is not wholesome, acting for material gain rather than for the benefit of others.

Trafficking in males or females means buying and selling young boys or girls and delivering them to others to satisfy their lustful desires.

Personally preparing food means cooking it oneself.

Personally milling or pounding means milling and pounding grain oneself.

Reading the physiognomy of men and women means divining from their physical form and complexion, then telling them whether they will die young or live long, and whether they will be rich or poor.

Interpreting auspicious and inauspicious omens means using dreams and signs to predict good or ill fortune, calamity or blessing, or whether an unborn child is male or female.

Incantations and magical arts refer to the talismans and heterodox spells of non-Buddhists.

Craftsmanship refers to the hundred kinds of technical arts. Raising birds and dogs means training birds and dogs for hunting.

Hundreds or thousands of kinds of poison means combining all the various poisons found in the world and preparing them as pastes, pills, or powders in order to harm living beings.

Snake venom means taking poison from a snake’s head, tail, brain, or reproductive fluid in order to harm others. Gold-and-silver poison is a poison that causes immediate death when swallowed. Gu poison is a compounded poison that causes the body to swell and become distended when swallowed.

Doing all this without a mind of loving-kindness and compassion means that a Great Being should lovingly regard all sentient beings as one’s own children. One should constantly be mindful of accepting harm oneself in order to benefit others. Yet one instead sustains one’s own life by harming others, which is no different from eating the flesh of one’s own children. This is what it means to lack a mind of loving-kindness and compassion. A bodhisattva regards sentient beings as one’s own parents, yet instead harms one’s own kin for personal material gain. No disobedience could be greater; this is what it means to lack a mind of filial obedience.

“Deliberately engages” makes clear that the action is not accidental. Because one employs improper occupations to secure one’s livelihood, one commits a minor defiled offense. If the action causes a sentient being to die, one commits a major offense. If a lay bodhisattva properly uses incantations, technical arts, or medicine to sustain a livelihood without harming living beings, no offense is committed. A monastic bodhisattva is permitted to use incantations and technical arts to rescue sentient beings from danger and relieve their suffering, provided there is no desire for gain.

Question: How can laypeople avoid milling grain, pounding grain, and cooking food?

Answer: There are two meanings here. First, supporting oneself in this way is not the conduct of a great person. Second, grain crops often contain many living creatures; if one does not harm sentient beings and does not sustain one’s life through improper livelihood, then it is permissible. The Buddha also permitted the two junior assemblies of monastics to do so. According to the sutras and treatises, there are five—or sometimes four—types of improper livelihood by which one seeks to sustain one’s life. They are now presented here together with these precepts:

1. For the sake of material support, one deceitfully displays extraordinary abilities.

2. For the sake of material support, one proclaims one’s own virtues.

3. For the sake of material support, one interprets signs as auspicious or inauspicious.

4. For the sake of material support, one raises one’s voice and acts intimidatingly, causing others to be afraid.

5. For the sake of material support, one speaks of the benefits of making offerings in order to stir others’ minds.

Monastics have four kinds of improper livelihood by which they sustain themselves:

1. Downward-facing livelihood, meaning discussing medicines and the treatment of illness, examining the geomancy of land, and planting various fruit trees, fields, and gardens.

2. Upward-facing livelihood, meaning observing astronomy, the moon, the sun, the five kinds of celestial bodies, and so forth.

3. Livelihood facing the four directions, meaning flattering the wealthy and powerful, serving as an envoy to the four quarters, and using artful speech to seek abundant gain.

4. Livelihood by divination, meaning learning various spells and divinatory arts for foretelling good and ill fortune. Conduct contrary to the foregoing is called pure livelihood.

Pure livelihood also has four kinds:

1. Dwelling deep in the mountains and eating vegetables and fruit.

2. Regularly going on almsround.

3. Accepting and using offerings from benefactors.

4. Eating pure food within the Sangha.

When one uses these means to sustain one’s life, one does not defile the ground of the mind; therefore, it is called pure livelihood.

Precept 30

FAILING TO RESPECT THE DAYS OF FASTING AND PRECEPT OBSERVANCE

(Auspicious Days)

If a disciple of the Buddha, with an evil mind, personally maligns the Three Jewels while feigning reverence and affection—verbally declaring that things do not exist while inwardly acting as though they do—manages affairs for laypeople, serves laypeople as a matchmaker so that men and women may engage in sexual relations, thereby creating karmic bonds and fetters, or, during the six fasting days of each month and the three prolonged fasting months of each year, commits killing or stealing, breaks the fast, or violates the precepts, that person commits a minor defiling offense.

These ten precepts must be wholeheartedly respected and upheld.

Explanation:

To have no reverence on auspicious days is to lack a mind of faith and filial devotion. When one’s words and deeds contradict each other, one does not possess a correct and true mind. The six fasting days in each month and the three prolonged fasting months in each year, the days on which the Buddha manifested great spiritual powers, as well as the Buddha’s birthday, the day of his enlightenment, the day of his entry into nirvana, the day of the invitation ceremony at the conclusion of the rains retreat, and so forth, are all auspicious days and times.

An evil mind means failing to give rise to reverence and devotion toward the Three Jewels or skillfully guide others, while instead deceiving them by feigning an appearance of closeness to the Three Jewels so that others will believe and show reverence. One’s mouth utters teachings concerning prajna, yet one’s mind actually clings to existence. Because one’s words and deeds contradict each other and oppose truth and correctness, this is called maligning the Three Jewels.

Managing affairs means conducting and arranging business for laypeople, even to the extent of acting as a matchmaker for men and women so that they may secretly engage in lustful relations, serving as an intermediary, or performing other foul and shameful deeds.

Creating karmic bonds and fetters means performing the impure and shameful deeds described above, thereby causing both oneself and others to be bound within the three evil destinies—hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals—and to wander through the six realms of birth and death, suffering without attaining liberation.

Regarding the six fasting days, the Sutra of the Heavenly Kings records: “On these fasting days, the devas investigate whether human beings perform good or evil deeds. Each of the Four Heavenly Kings guards one direction and regularly selects three days of the month—the first, eighth, and twentieth—on which to send emissaries down to the human realm to examine whether the deeds of sentient beings are good or evil. On the fourteenth and twenty-ninth, they send their crown princes down.

On the fifteenth—the full-moon day—and the thirtieth, the Four Heavenly Kings descend in person and command the sun, moon, celestial bodies, and the lords of the twenty-eight lunar mansions to carefully observe whether sentient beings do good or evil. Having observed them, they return to the celestial court and report to Lord Sakra so that auspicious or calamitous consequences may be administered.”

The three prolonged fasting months are the first, fifth, and ninth lunar months. Lord Sakra uses the Great Precious Mirror to illuminate Jambudvipa in the south and observe the offenses and merits of the sentient beings in this world. Each of the Four Heavenly Kings is assigned to guard the midpoint of a month in one of the four great continents.

During these three months, Vaisravana, the Heavenly King of the North, guards the southern continent and observes whether the deeds of the month are good or evil. On these days and during these months, all ghosts and spirits often seize opportunities to act. They are also auspicious times when the Heavenly Kings make their rounds together. Therefore, one should refrain from evil and cultivate goodness. Yet bodhisattvas and disciples of the Buddha who do not recognize such auspicious times, but instead act with arrogance and defiance, violate the precepts, and give rise to no shame, remorse, or fear—this is called having an evil mind.

Killing and stealing: these two precepts were already briefly set forth among the ten major precepts. Thus, mentioning these two here encompasses all ten major precepts. According to the particular violation, one incurs a parajika offense. Moreover, in addition to the offense incurred under the ten major precepts, one also incurs a minor defiling offense, just as a person sentenced to death might additionally be flogged. If one violates any of the forty-eight minor precepts, one further incurs the offense of disrespecting the days of fasting and precept observance.

Breaking the fast means that during the six fasting days observed by lay disciples of the Buddha, or during a full month of prolonged fasting in which they undertake and uphold the Eight Precepts of fasting and abstain from eating after noon—which is called fasting—if they violate this observance, they have eaten at an improper time; therefore, it is called breaking the fast. Monastics undertake for life not to eat at improper times, just as they do on fasting days; if they eat at an improper time on such a day, their offense is even more serious.

The Garland Sutra records: “If bodhisattva-mahasattvas cultivate the pure Dharma of the six paramitas and also practice the Eight Precepts of fasting taught by all Buddhas, these good men and good women, in their practice of these six Dharmas, will perfect pure conduct.” Just as the sutra records, how could one slight and abandon the fasting precepts, fail to undertake and uphold the eight fasting precepts, and willingly become a precept-breaker?

These ten precepts must be wholeheartedly respected and upheld. The remaining details are clearly recorded in the Chapter on the Establishment of Precepts.

Precept 31

FAILING TO RANSOM AND RESCUE

As a disciple of the Buddha, after the Buddha’s entry into extinction, in an evil age, if one sees followers of non-Buddhist paths, evil persons, thieves, robbers, or any other wicked people selling images of Buddhas or bodhisattvas, selling their own parents, selling sutras or Vinaya texts, or selling bhiksus, bhiksunis, practitioners of the bodhisattva path, or those who have awakened the aspiration for bodhi, to serve as attendants to officials or as servants to others, and so forth, one should compassionately protect and rescue them and devise means to deliver them.

If one’s own resources are insufficient, the disciple of the Buddha must go from place to place soliciting funds to ransom images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas and all sutras and Vinaya texts, and to ransom bhiksus, bhiksunis, practitioners of bodhisattva conduct, and those who have awakened the aspiration for bodhi. If one does not ransom them, this disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

To see someone suffering and fail to offer help is to lack compassion. To know that someone has been sold by another and fail to ransom that person is contrary to the way of filial obedience.

After the Buddha’s entry into extinction refers specifically to the age of the Final Dharma. While the Buddha was in the world, most people practiced goodness and avoided evil, so abuses such as those described above did not occur.

Images may be carved or painted. They may be seized and appropriated by force, plundered by bandits, or stolen and then sold. Although only the two assemblies of bhiksus and bhiksunis are mentioned here, they encompass all seven assemblies.

One who has aroused the aspiration for bodhi is one who has newly aroused the mind of the Way. A person of the Way is one who practices the bodhisattva path. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: “One who has attained the Way is called a person of the Way. Moreover, although monastics may not yet have attained the Way, because they cultivate the supramundane Way, they are also called persons of the Way.” Government servants are those dispatched to carry out official duties. All people refers to scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants, and so forth.

Images of the Buddha are the Treasure of the Buddha. Sutras and Vinaya texts are the Treasure of the Dharma. Those who have aroused the mind of the Way are the Treasure of the Sangha. Images of bodhisattvas represent the Mahayana Treasure of the Sangha. Bhiksus and bhiksunis represent the Hinayana Treasure of the Sangha. One’s parents are the field of gratitude.

Disciples of the Buddha are also great beings between heaven and earth. Living in this evil age of the final kalpa, they safeguard the Buddhadharma, perpetuate the lineage of the Three Treasures, extensively perform wholesome deeds, and guide sentient beings. How could they see people suffering and merely sit by while they are humiliated and harmed? Therefore, they must rescue them from suffering. If they themselves lack the financial means to redeem them, they must employ various skillful means to encourage others to do so. If they are indolent or deliberately fail to redeem them, they commit an offense in either case.

Precept 32

HARMING SENTIENT BEINGS

A disciple of the Buddha must not possess or trade in knives, clubs, bows, arrows, or other instruments of killing; must not use underweight scales or undersized measures; must not rely upon the power and authority of officials to seize others’ property; must not maliciously bind people or sabotage their accomplishments; and must not raise cats, ferrets, pigs, or dogs. If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately does any of the above, that disciple commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

One must prevent the remote causes of harm and abandon the karmic bonds of killing, stealing, and so forth; only then does one not contradict the compassion and beneficent mind of a great being.

Knives, clubs, bows, arrows, binding, and the raising of cats, ferrets, pigs, and dogs harm the primary retribution—the bodies and lives of sentient beings. Other things, such as deficient measures, harm their dependent retribution—the goods and necessities they use. One who sells with an underweight scale will invariably buy with an oversized measure; the same applies to measuring rods made longer or shorter.

Reliance upon power means either personally wielding the authority of officials or depending upon another person’s power. Binding means using malicious private power to bind someone and harm the person’s body; it does not mean restraining someone with an impartial mind. Even toward a criminal, one should give rise to compassion, mindful that the person acts through ignorance and lack of understanding. One should therefore employ skillful means to exhort and guide the person, causing a wholesome mind to arise and former wrongs to be corrected.

Sabotaging another’s accomplishment means that when another person wishes to bring an undertaking to completion, one instead maliciously seeks to make that person abandon it and cause it to fail.

“To raise” means to keep and nurture. Cats and ferrets are animals that catch mice. Pigs and dogs are kept out of greed for wealth at the cost of life; if one buys or sells them, one commits a minor defiling offense.

Killing violates the first major precept. A measure is an implement used for measuring quantities. Relying upon power to seize another’s property and sabotaging another person’s undertaking both violate the second major precept; these acts are called fraudulent deception and forcible seizure, and therefore constitute offenses.

The Sutra on the Upasaka Precepts states: “Nor is one permitted to raise dogs, pigs, goats, and so forth.” The Vinaya states: “For the purpose of guarding and protecting monastery property, one is provisionally permitted, as a skillful means, to keep dogs.”

The Sutra of Miscellaneous Treasures records: “A ghost said to the Venerable Maudgalyayana: ‘My testicles are as large as jars. When I walk, I must carry them upon my shoulders; when I stand, I must sit upon them. Moving about is exceedingly painful. I do not know what causes and conditions have brought this about.’ The Venerable Maudgalyayana replied: ‘While you were alive, you used an underweight scale when selling and a heavier scale when buying, wishing only to obtain greater profit. Because you cheated others, you now undergo this punishment. This is the calamitous retribution and painful result that you must later endure in hell.’”

Precept 33

WRONG LIVELIHOOD AND ERRANT REFLECTION

A disciple of the Buddha must not, with malicious intent, go to watch men and women fighting, or armies, soldiers, generals, bandits, and others engaged in combat. Nor may one go to watch dramatic performances, listen to music, play board games, gamble, kick a shuttlecock, play ball games, and so forth, or even practice divination. One must not act as an agent for thieves or bandits. If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately does any of the above, that disciple commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

To be driven by a malicious mind means taking the gains and losses, victories and defeats of others as one’s own amusement and entertainment. At times, one may unknowingly delight in the suffering of others. When people fight, quarrel, and so forth, unwholesome events occur.

If one lacks the skillful means to remonstrate with them but instead goes in person to watch and takes pleasure in it, this truly contradicts the compassion of a great being and is indeed a malicious mind, wrong thought, and errant reflection. Five kinds of activities are included: watching opposing sides contend, watching people at play, watching or playing board games, gambling, practicing divination, and so forth. All these activities disturb the mind and readily cause malicious thoughts to sprout; disciples who uphold the bodhisattva precepts must avoid them.

All places of amusement cause people to become heedless and unrestrained and to lose right mindfulness. Likewise, the various games of the present day delude the mind and confuse the faculties. They are all wrong occupations and are not means by which a great being develops the mind of great compassion.

Being employed by thieves or bandits pertains both to intrinsically unwholesome karma and to acts prohibited by precept. As for the offense arising from prohibition, its gravity accords with the transgression committed, and it is adjudicated as a minor offense.

The Precept Text states: “If a bodhisattva is indolent and heedless, craving amusement, sleep, and rest, all these are untimely and are not practices of liberation. This is a defiling offense against the ground of the mind. There is no offense when one is ill or when it is necessary to save a life. This precept encompasses all such cases, because when one wishes to arouse the mind of skillful means to gather in beings and apply remedies, afflictions by their nature continually arise.”

Precept 34

TEMPORARILY ABANDONING THE BODHI MIND

If a disciple of the Buddha recites these bodhisattva precepts during the six periods of day and night, that disciple should guard and uphold the precepts. Whether walking, standing, lying down, or sitting, one should remain as steadfast as vajra, like wearing a flotation device to cross the ocean of suffering, and like those bhiksus who allowed themselves to be bound with grass. One should always possess faith in the Mahayana. With respect to the Mahayana, one should know that one is a Buddha not yet perfected, whereas all Buddhas are Buddhas already perfected; one should then arouse the bodhi mind and uphold it firmly without retrogression. If even a single thought inclines toward the Two Vehicles or non-Buddhist paths, that disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

If the mind wishes to turn away from and abandon the Mahayana teachings and incline toward the Hinayana, but the intention still wavers and has not yet become fully resolved, one immediately commits an offense, as in the preceding eighth precept. If the mind has already become resolute, one immediately loses the precepts and commits a major offense.

This precept now speaks of one whose mind has not yet wished to turn away from or abandon the Mahayana, but who merely says that the Mahayana teachings are easy to cultivate and easy to study. Furthermore, one may think: “First I should sever the delusions of views and thought in order to realize nirvana; afterward, it will not be too late to transform sentient beings.” Yet the mere temporary arising of this thought already abandons the Great Vow, and one will ultimately fall into the doctrines of the shravakas.

How could one understand that a Great Being may even vow to bear delusion and karma while still being able to benefit the multitude of sentient beings? Therefore, the Treatise on Calming and Contemplation states: “Those who retreat from the Mahayana mind and grasp the Hinayana are reproached by all the sages.” A bodhisattva is not like this. Seeing the suffering of sentient beings, the bodhisattva regards it as his own suffering, arouses the mind of great compassion, and cherishes sentient beings as an only child.

Just as a mother, whenever she obtains food, always thinks of her child, so it is with the bodhisattva. If a bodhisattva seeks to abide in the nirvana of biased emptiness, he commits the fault of abandoning sentient beings; how then could he purify Buddha lands? To teach and transform sentient beings, one must possess the Buddha-Dharma in full.

Until all this has been accomplished, although one enters the afflictions of birth and death in the world, if one possesses sufficient power of the Way, one’s own wisdom will not be harmed. Though the Buddha Way is long and distant, one does not regard it as distant. Though sentient beings are innumerable, one possesses courageous resolve, with a steadfast mind that neither retreats nor yields.

Diligently arousing the mind and advancing toward awakening, one’s mind is from the outset neither weary nor indolent. Therefore, it is said that a bodhisattva dwells amid birth and death with a courageous mind, yet does not cling to the realm of nirvana. Courageous amid birth and death, unborn yet taking birth, the bodhisattva is not defiled by birth and death, just as a lotus growing in mud is not stained by the mud.

The Supplementary Notes on the Practice states: “Lotuses do not grow on high plateaus; only in muddy, wet ground do lotuses grow.” Thus one should know that the high plateau of nirvana cannot produce the lotus of a bodhisattva’s great compassion. Its birthplace is precisely the mud of birth and death, and this reveals the bodhisattva’s extraordinary power and function. Although dwelling amid birth and death, the bodhisattva is not defiled by birth and death because the Great Being’s resolve is courageous and his vows are steadfast.

How much more so, since the Hinayana precepts are not separate from the bodhisattva precepts. The power of the bodhisattva precepts can fulfill the aspiration to liberate sentient beings. This is the Great encompassing the Small.

The Hinayana lacks this great function; how could it transform sentient beings?

All fifty-eight of these precepts were established by Vairocana, and therefore they are called prohibitive precepts. They are like the prohibitory decrees of a king, which no one dares deliberately to violate. Thus, throughout the four deportments—walking, standing, lying down, and sitting—a Great Being safeguards the prohibitive precepts and does not allow them to be violated. Day and night, one must diligently study them and read and recite them until thoroughly fluent, so that they are never forgotten.

Vajra is an analogy for the precepts, which can destroy the enemies of the fetters and afflictions. It also illustrates how the Great Being’s mind, steadfastly preserving the prohibitive precepts, is as firm as a vajra.

A float is an implement used by the people of India to cross the sea. It may be made from sheep’s wool or birds’ wings, or fashioned from goatskin. Some people carry an inflatable float with them at all times.

If a seagoing vessel is damaged, they immediately inflate the float and use it to cross the ocean of birth and death. Without relying upon the Buddha’s prohibitive precepts, one cannot reach the other shore. Therefore, the Nirvana Sutra states: “A rakshasa demon followed a man crossing the sea and earnestly begged him for his float.

The man replied to the demon, ‘I would rather that you take my life; I cannot give you the float.’ The rakshasa said, ‘If you are unwilling to give me the whole thing, then please give me only half.’ The man refused this as well.” This illustrates that when a bodhisattva safeguards the prohibitive precepts, the rakshasa demon of affliction incites the bodhisattva to violate the ten grave precepts while preserving the minor precepts.

The bodhisattva does not comply. In this way, little by little, the rakshasa demon of ignorance and affliction incites the bodhisattva to arouse thoughts that produce various evil and defiling offenses, yet the bodhisattva resolutely refuses to comply. Why is this?

Because the bodhisattva observes the Buddha’s ten grave precepts together with all minor offenses of defilement and wrongdoing, reverently preserving them with utmost steadfastness. Grave and minor precepts are guarded alike, without distinction.

The bhikshus bound with grass refers to the Buddha’s establishment of the precept that bhikshus must not harm grass or trees. Long ago, some bhikshus traveling through an uninhabited wilderness were robbed of all their clothing by bandits. The bandits feared that the bhikshus would enter a village and report them to the inhabitants, so they intended to kill all the bhikshus.

One of the bandits, knowing that bhikshus would not injure grass or trees, tied them with grass and then departed. Throughout that day, the bhikshus were stung and bitten by mosquitoes, gadflies, and fleas. From morning until evening, ferocious beasts continually roamed about, presenting a truly terrifying danger.

The bhikshus reminded one another to concern themselves solely with preserving the prohibitive precepts, preferring death to any violation. Each remained still and did not allow his body to move. The following day, the king went hunting and saw that the bhikshus observed the prohibitive precepts, vowing to die rather than violate them.

Seeing this, the king was filled with joy and immediately ordered his men to untie the bhikshus.” This account is clearly set forth in the Sutra of Causes and Conditions and the Treatise on the Great Adornment.

Question: According to this Precept Sutra, the Tathagata had only just seated himself beneath the Bodhi tree when he taught this Precept Sutra. At that time, there was not yet an assembly of bhikshus. How, then, could they have been bound with grass?

Answer: This may have been a prediction by the Tathagata, or it may cite events involving bhikshus in the time of a past Buddha as evidence. For example, in the time of Kasyapa Buddha, a meditating bhikshu broke a branch and leaves from an yila-stinking tree and consequently fell into the realm of dragons. A foul-smelling tree grew upon his head; whenever the wind shook it, pus overflowed everywhere and polluted the great ocean. For hundreds of thousands of myriads of years, he endured manifold agonies. Only when Maitreya Buddha appears in the world will he escape his dragon body. Thus, throughout the scriptures of the Tripitaka, this account is repeatedly cited as evidence.

In the present age, crazed practitioners of Chan claim that their tradition is one of liberation and regard the observance of precepts as attachment to appearances. They say, “What harm is there in cutting down trees or digging the earth?” Yet they do not possess the power of Guizong, who could cut a venomous snake in two with his hand, nor do they possess the virtue of a stream-enterer, before whom worms plowed apart into four pieces remained unharmed. Considering the retribution suffered by this dragon, do they dare call themselves liberated? Do they dare call observance attachment? If harming a single leaf still brings such retribution, should not such deeds chill us to the point that our gallbladders burst with fear?

Although one may first be able to safeguard the prohibitive precepts steadfastly, if one lacks the mind of right faith in the Mahayana, there is still the danger of falling into the teachings of the Two Vehicles. Ultimately, one would lose the supreme fruition of Buddhahood, and the great vow to liberate sentient beings would also be lost. One must arouse the mind of right faith, believing that we and all sentient beings are Buddhas yet to be, while all Buddhas are Buddhas who have already attained realization.

Although one may possess faith, if one does not arouse bodhicitta, that faith has no foundation. One must therefore arouse the great mind in order to establish steadfast faith. One should know that one’s own mind is precisely the mind of the Buddha; therefore, one first seeks the Buddha Way.

One must also know that one’s own mind is precisely the mind of sentient beings; therefore, one transforms and liberates sentient beings below. One must not depart from this mind for even a second or an instant. Therefore, it is said that thought after thought never departs from the mind.

If one departs from this thought for even an instant, one immediately falls into the teachings of the Two Vehicles, which seek only self-liberation.

To transform those below means not merely transforming and liberating the sentient beings of a single world, but transforming and liberating sentient beings throughout hundreds of thousands of worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

Seeking above means not merely attending upon the Buddhas of one world, but serving the Buddhas of hundreds of thousands of worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, in order to seek the unsurpassed Way. Thus the Avatamsaka Sutra states: “A bodhisattva does not generate the bodhi-mind merely to teach and transform the sentient beings of one world, nor even to teach and transform all sentient beings throughout worlds as numerous as the dust motes in the trichiliocosm.

A bodhisattva does not generate the bodhi-mind merely to make offerings to the Tathagata in one world, but to make offerings to all the Tathagatas who successively appear in all worlds. Nor does a bodhisattva generate the bodhi-mind merely to make offerings to ineffably many Buddhas in worlds as numerous as dust motes, but in order to teach, transform, tame, and subdue every sentient being without exception, and in order to attend upon and make offerings to every Buddha without exception.”

Question: From where does the great bodhi-mind flow forth?

Answer: It arises from the mind of great compassion. The Sutra of Inexhaustible Intention states: “Wishing to rescue and liberate all sentient beings, one arouses the power of compassionate concern and so forth, and advances toward unsurpassed bodhi. If it were not to teach and liberate sentient beings, I would not generate the bodhi-mind.”

The Avatamsaka Sutra states: “From the First Bhumi through the Tenth Bhumi, at every stage the mind of great compassion is foremost.”

The Treatise on the Bodhi-Mind states: “From the mind of loving-kindness and compassion arises the great bodhi-mind. All supremely excellent Buddha-Dharmas take the mind of compassion as their root.”

The Treatise on Non-Differentiation states: “The cause cultivated is the bodhi-mind, while the perfection of the fruition’s virtues is Perfect Awakening. The Dharma of bodhi is inconceivable, and all Buddha-Tathagatas praise and extol it.” The Sutra of the Questions of Fearless Bestowal states: “The merit generated when the bodhi-mind is first aroused is equal to the realm of empty space: supremely lofty, universally pervasive, and inexhaustible.

Suppose someone were to offer the Blessed One precious treasures from Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. If another person, with utmost sincerity and joined palms, were in a single thought to generate the mind of unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening, this merit would surpass the merit of offering precious treasures to the Blessed One. The merit of seeking the unsurpassed cannot be reckoned.”

The Sutra on Becoming a Buddha states: “All dharmas are signless; their characteristic is that of empty space. Once contemplative insight into this has arisen, it is called the bodhi-mind of ultimate truth. One should know that all dharmas are empty, for one has awakened to the fact that dharmas are originally neither born nor extinguished.

Because the essence of mind is inherently thus, one does not regard body and mind as abiding in quiescent cessation. Ultimately equal, true wisdom is never lost or subject to regression. When the deluded mind arises, once it is recognized, do not pursue it.

When deluded thoughts cease, the source of mind becomes still and all virtues are complete; its wondrous functioning is then inexhaustible. This is because the Buddhas of the ten directions take the practices and vows of ultimate truth as their precepts. If a person fully possesses this mind, that person can turn the wheel of Dharma, benefiting both self and others, as clearly explained in the chapter on Generating the Bodhi-Mind in fascicle 64 of the Avatamsaka Sutra.

Precept 35

FAILING TO MAKE VOWS

As a disciple of the Buddha, one should make these great vows: to remain filial and obedient toward one’s parents, Dharma masters, and Sangha members; to encounter good teachers and virtuous spiritual friends who will always instruct one in the Mahayana sutras and treatises and teach one about the Ten Stages of Direction, the Ten Stages of Nurturing, the Ten Vajra Stages, and the Ten Bhumis, enabling one to understand them clearly and practice in accordance with the true Dharma; and to vow to uphold the Buddha’s precepts steadfastly, preferring death to a change of heart. If a disciple of the Buddha does not make the foregoing vows, that person commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

A vow means aspiration and joyful resolve. If one has no aspiration or joyful resolve toward all the causes, paths, supreme fruits, sublime attainments, and immeasurable wholesome dharmas, how could one’s wishes ever be fulfilled? One must therefore make Great Vows.

All vows are encompassed within the following ten:

1. The vow to be filial and obedient is precisely the vow to uphold the precepts. Because filial devotion is taken as a precept, it is the root of the ten vows. If the root is deficient, the following nine precepts have nothing upon which to rely.

2. The aspiration to encounter a good teacher. A good teacher is accomplished in both conduct and understanding.

If someone possesses penetrating understanding but lacks virtuous conduct, how could that person guide us to practice diligently? If someone possesses virtuous conduct but lacks penetrating understanding, how could that person open the mind-ground for us? Repaying the kindness of our parents and perpetuating the lineage of the Three Jewels both depend upon the instructive power of teachers and elders.

Therefore, among the ten Great Vows, the teacher’s kindness is the most important. Even if one possesses complete faith, without the guidance of a good teacher one still cannot become a worthy vessel of the Dharma. Now, in the age of the declining Dharma, those fully endowed with the virtue of the precepts and with both conduct and understanding are truly rare.

Only after understanding can one practice. Practicing on the basis of understanding, one must personally exert oneself and advance diligently; only then may one ultimately hope to attain non-arising and proceed directly to the Place of Jewels. If someone has conduct but understands neither the scriptures nor the methods of practice, that person’s conduct is not right conduct.

One must be exceedingly wary of relying upon such a person, for it would be no different from having a blind person lead the way: one would certainly fall onto a perilous path and never escape. Even when we now seek right view and right understanding, it is not easy to encounter an enlightened teacher and virtuous friend; how much less someone accomplished in both conduct and understanding?

The earlier reference to Dharma masters and Sangha members teaches that one must be filial and obedient toward one’s teachers. The subsequent reference to a good teacher teaches that one must carefully seek an enlightened teacher to provide guidance; only then can one avoid going astray.

3. The vow to study together with virtuous spiritual friends: together studying the authentic tradition of the Mahayana and encountering good companions who skillfully understand the Dharma gateway of the Mind-Ground. Even if one encounters an enlightened teacher, without virtuous companions one loses an indispensable benefit along the path of study and practice.

4. The vow to encounter those skilled in guiding and instructing us. This means that the good teachers and virtuous companions of the preceding vows will constantly teach us the principles of the Mahayana sutras and Vinaya, enabling us to generate the mind of right faith and advance in cultivation toward the Ten Stages of Direction, without falling into the biased emptiness of the Two Vehicles or the erroneous, clinging views of non-Buddhist paths.

5. The vow to cultivate the Ten Abodes; hence they are called the Ten Stages of Direction.

6. The vow to cultivate the Ten Practices; hence they are called the Ten Stages of Nurturing.

7. The vow to cultivate the Ten Dedications of Merit; hence they are called the Ten Vajra Stages.

8. The vow to cultivate and realize the Ten Stages of Sainthood; hence they are called the Ten Bhumis.

9. The vow to practice everything in accordance with the Dharma. This means that, in accordance with the Mahayana Dharma explained above, one must follow the guidance of teachers and companions who help one advance in cultivation. One vows to follow the true Dharma one has received, causing one’s mind to unfold and develop sublime understanding; then, practicing according to one’s understanding, one enters into and realizes the fruitions of the Three Worthies and Ten Sages.

10. The vow to uphold the precepts steadfastly. At the beginning, filial obedience is taken as the precept; at the end, the tenth vow—upholding the precepts—serves as the conclusion. One should know that from ancient times until the present, the true precepts of the Mind-Ground have always been taken as the essential doctrine of the Mahayana. Therefore, immeasurable Dharma gateways, hundreds of thousands of supreme samadhis, and sublime uncontaminated wisdom all flow forth from the precepts. The Three Worthies and Ten Sages, up to the ultimate fruition of Wondrous Awakening, are all accomplished through the precepts. Thus, this Dharma of precepts must be held in particular reverence.

One would rather relinquish one’s life than depart from these precepts for even a single thought. This means that one generates a steadfast mind regarding the preceding ten vows and never forgets them from thought to thought. Even if one encounters deadly adversity, one vows to relinquish this provisional body composed of the four great elements; but to relinquish this mind would truly violate the precepts of the mind.

All bodhisattvas must make these vows. This means that from the time they first receive the precepts until they reach the Tenth Bhumi, if they do not make these Ten Great Vows, their resolve and aspiration will not be steadfast; their preparatory practices and diligent cultivation may also be obstructed by Mara, causing them to become hindered midway, while they will not know what to rely upon to realize the ocean of fruition of wondrous enlightenment.

Therefore it is said: “Adorning the Buddha-land is a great undertaking.” If one performs meritorious deeds by one’s own efforts alone, one cannot bring them to fulfillment; therefore, the power of vows is needed to sustain the practice. It is like the strength of an ox: although it can pull a cart, there must be a driver before it can reach its destination. One should know that if a person’s resolve is not steadfast, their vows will be difficult to fulfill.

Therefore, the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment states: “One must make the pure great vows of a bodhisattva.” One should contemplate thus: “May I, in this very life, abide in the fruition of the Buddha’s Perfect Enlightenment, seek good and wise spiritual friends, never encounter followers of non-Buddhist paths or the Two Vehicles, rely upon my vows in cultivation, and gradually eliminate all obstructions. When the obstructions have been exhausted, may my vows be fulfilled, and may I immediately ascend the jeweled hall of the pure Dharma of liberation and realize the wondrously adorned realm of Great Perfect Enlightenment.”

Precept 36

FAILING TO MAKE SOLEMN PLEDGES

A disciple of the Buddha, after making the ten great vows above, must uphold the Buddha’s prohibitory precepts and solemnly pledge: “I would rather leap into a blazing fire, a deep pit, or a mountain of blades than engage in impure conduct with anyone of another sex and thereby violate the prohibitions contained in the sutras and vinaya of the Buddhas of the Three Times.

“Furthermore, I pledge: I would rather have my body wrapped in a thousand layers of red-hot iron netting than allow this body, having broken the precepts, to accept garments offered by faithful donors. I would rather swallow red-hot iron pellets and drink boiling molten copper for hundreds of thousands of kalpas than allow this mouth, having broken the precepts, to consume food offered by faithful donors. I would rather lie upon a great blazing fire or a red-hot iron sheet than allow this body, having broken the precepts, to accept beds or seats offered by faithful donors.

I would rather, for one or two kalpas, endure hundreds of swords and spears piercing my body than allow this body, having broken the precepts, to accept medicines offered by faithful donors. I would rather leap into a cauldron of boiling oil for hundreds of thousands of kalpas than allow this body, having broken the precepts, to accept rooms, houses, fields, gardens, or lands offered by faithful donors.”

“Furthermore, I solemnly pledge: I would rather have this body struck with an iron pestle from head to foot and crushed to ashes and dust than allow this mind, having broken the precepts, to accept the reverence and prostrations of faithful donors.”

“Furthermore, I solemnly pledge: I would rather have my eyes gouged out by hundreds of thousands of sword blades than allow this mind, having broken the precepts, to gaze upon another person’s physical beauty. I would rather have my ears pierced by hundreds of thousands of iron awls for one or two kalpas than allow this mind, having broken the precepts, to listen to pleasing sounds and melodious voices. I would rather have my nose cut away by hundreds of thousands of knives than allow this mind, having broken the precepts, to smell fragrant scents.

I would rather have my tongue severed by hundreds of thousands of knives than allow this mind, having broken the precepts, to eat another person’s pure food. I would rather have my body hewn apart by a sharp axe than allow this mind, having broken the precepts, to wear fine garments.”

“Furthermore, I make this vow: May all sentient beings attain Buddhahood.”

If a disciple of the Buddha fails to make the vows above, that disciple commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

A solemn pledge is the resolute affirmation within one’s mind of the ten vows. With courageous and vigorous determination, one uses solemn pledges to reinforce the vows, so that not even a single thought of timidity or retreat arises. Only then can a great being accomplish the aspirations that one upholds and seeks, and fulfill one’s vows as desired.

A great being who upholds the Buddha’s prohibitory precepts first takes the ten vows as guides, and then uses the five solemn pledges to make those vows steadfast, so that not even a single thought of timidity arises and diligent cultivation continues throughout one’s life. These five solemn pledges are:

1. To abandon the defilement of sensual desire

2. To receive offerings

3. To receive reverence

4. To purify the six sense faculties

5. To liberate sentient beings.

“I would rather sacrifice this body” signifies making a steadfast pledge; it means that one would rather have one’s body destroyed than violate the precepts. Among the causes that keep sentient beings revolving through birth and death, sensual craving is foremost. Among the things that defile the originally pure ground of the mind, impure conduct is foremost.

Therefore one must first make this great pledge: “I would rather leap bodily into a fiery pit and endure the suffering of being burned and reduced to ashes and dust; endure the suffering of falling into the hells, amid mountains of blades and forests of swords; endure the agony of having the skin and flesh of my limbs, my intestines, liver, and so forth sliced away; and be oppressed by hundreds of thousands of myriad kinds of pain than ever dare violate the Buddha’s sutras and vinaya by engaging in impure conduct with a person of another sex.” Why is this so?

A raging fire or mountain of blades can destroy only the physical body of a single lifetime, whereas engaging in impure conduct causes one’s body to be destroyed and one’s life to be lost throughout myriad kalpas. Thus, from beginningless time until now, all sentient beings have sunk and wandered in the ocean of suffering, unable to escape, entirely because they are bound by attraction to women and by sensual craving. Like blind persons lacking the eye of wisdom, they cannot see the deep pit of birth and death and thus cause countless lives to be buried within it.

The Nirvana Sutra states: “Even if a bodhisattva does not have physical relations with a woman, yet speaks, jokes, and laughs with her; or hears from beyond a wall the sound of her bracelets; or even sees men and women chasing one another, that bodhisattva has already broken the pure precepts and defiled the practice of celibacy, causing the precepts to become sullied and impure. Such precepts cannot be called the complete pure precepts. If merely hearing sounds and seeing forms can cause such impurity, how much more so when a bodhisattva gives rise to impure thoughts? How could such a bodhisattva possess the complete precepts?”

The preceding passage states, “One solemnly pledges thus,” whereas this passage says, “Furthermore, one vows thus.” Therefore, one should know that a solemn pledge is the resolute determination within a vow. All garments, food and drink, medicines, beds and bedding, houses, fields, and gardens are offered to us by faithful donors who seek merit. If our precepts are intact, we must still examine our own minds and give rise to shame and remorse, making use of the field of compassion and the field of reverence so that wholesome merit may successively arise.

If our precepts are deficient, even a single grain of rice will be difficult to digest, much less could we repay what the donors hope to attain. Therefore, this solemn pledge is established beforehand as a personal admonition and safeguard.

Although prostrations entail no expenditure of wealth, they arise from the utmost sincerity of faithful donors. Therefore, when a person reverently directs the mind toward the Three Jewels, with a single beholding and a single prostration, immeasurable offenses are extinguished and boundless merit arises.

The Yingluo Sutra states: “When the bodhisattva was newly born, he took seven steps, then raised his left foot; yet the immeasurable beings throughout the trichiliocosm neither perceived nor knew it. If any beings beheld the mark of the wheel upon the sole of his foot, they all aroused the aspiration for unsurpassed, right enlightenment. This meritorious reward arose from having formerly reverently bowed to the Tathagata.

One should know that although the merit gained is great, the offense incurred through transgression is likewise not slight. Now, if one has broken the precepts and yet receives the reverence and prostrations of others, one diminishes one’s own merit considerably; how, then, could one enable them to increase their wholesome merit? Those who possess a sense of shame and remorse should reflect carefully.

Previously, one vowed that the body and speech would not accept from others the four kinds of offerings. Now one makes vows concerning the six faculties: one must not indulge in or become defiled by attachment to the five objects of sense. The mental faculty is not separately mentioned because, in discussing each of the five faculties, the text speaks of ‘the mind that breaks the precepts’; this mind is precisely the mental faculty.

Moreover, the mental faculty is formless and the objects of mind have no physical substance, so they cannot be illustrated in the same manner as the five faculties. Yet when the mental faculty engages the objects of the five senses and discriminates between what is good and bad, those very objects become objects of mind; therefore, no separate object of mind can be established apart from them. Thus, when the six faculties become defiled by the six objects, it is like a fly becoming stuck in phlegm and spittle.

Now that the body of precepts has been destroyed, the life of wisdom is forever lost. One must therefore make grave vows and establish severe ordeals as safeguards. Thus, one would rather endure the agony of hundreds of thousands of sharp knives and keen swords piercing one’s heart than look upon beautiful forms; likewise, one must not crave to wear fine and delicate garments, lie upon soft bedding, and so forth.

By means of this resolve, one cuts off the source of evil and can then give rise to wholesome roots. Therefore, the Sutra of the Bequeathed Teaching states: ‘The calamities caused by the five faculties bring ruin throughout many lifetimes and inflict immeasurable harm; one cannot fail to be vigilant. Therefore, the wise restrain them and do not follow them, guarding them as they would guard against thieves.

Even if they allow them some indulgence, it must be only for an instant, after which they must immediately suppress them.’”

The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: “As the Buddha taught, one should rather press burning iron against one’s own eyes than cast a defiled glance upon the beauty of a woman. The wise should not gaze upon beautiful forms. If they wish to contemplate such a person, they should regard her as their mother, their elder sister, and so forth. Looking carefully, they should contemplate that she is filled with impurity. If the fire of lust is not extinguished, they will be consumed by it. Since the danger of form is thus, the dangers of sound, fragrance, taste, and touch may readily be understood.

Although the four vows above are described as bringing liberation to oneself, they also encompass the liberation of others. Why is this so? Because the bodhisattva practices fundamentally for the sake of sentient beings.

If one cannot liberate oneself, how can one liberate others? This differs from the Two Vehicles, which seek only their own liberation. Therefore, one now makes this vow, aspiring that sentient beings attain Buddhahood.

This is precisely the bodhisattva’s original intent: the great vow whereby benefiting oneself and benefiting others together culminate in the Buddha Way. Those who do not make this vow fail to do so because they have not established the preceding five pledges. If one does not establish the ten vows and five pledges, then even though one may cultivate and uphold the teachings, one will merely avoid falling into the Two Vehicles and enjoy blessed rewards in the heavenly and human realms.

Precept 37

ONE MUST NOT TRAVEL IN DANGEROUS PLACES WHERE CALAMITIES MAY OCCUR

As a disciple of the Buddha, during two seasons each year one should regularly practice the dhutanga disciplines, while in winter and summer one should sit in meditation and undertake the summer rains retreat. One should always carry a willow twig, ash-water, the three robes, an alms bowl, a sitting mat, a monk’s staff, an incense-burner case, a water-straining bag, a hand towel, a knife, a firestone, tweezers, a rope bed, the sutras and Vinaya, an image of the Buddha, and an image of a bodhisattva.

When a bodhisattva practices the dhutanga disciplines and travels to various places over hundreds or thousands of miles, these eighteen articles should always be carried along. The dhutanga disciplines are practiced from the fifteenth day of the first month until the fifteenth day of the third month, and from the fifteenth day of the eighth month until the fifteenth day of the tenth month. During these two periods of dhutanga practice, one should always carry these eighteen articles, just as a bird has two wings.

When the day of the uposatha arrives, a newly initiated bodhisattva must regularly hold the uposatha every half month and recite the ten major precepts and the forty-eight minor precepts.

When reciting the precepts, one should recite them before images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas. If only one person holds the uposatha, that person recites them. If there are two or three people, or even hundreds of thousands, only one person recites. The reciter sits upon an elevated seat, while the listeners sit below it. All must wear the nine-panel, seven-panel, and five-panel robes of subdued colors. When undertaking the summer rains retreat, every matter must be conducted in accordance with the Dharma.

When practicing the dhutanga disciplines, do not travel to places where calamities may occur, such as dangerous and hostile countries, realms ruled by cruel kings, rugged terrain, dense grasslands and forests, places inhabited by lions, tigers, and wolves, or places subject to floods, storms, fires, bandits, or roads infested with venomous snakes. One must not go to any such dangerous and hostile place. Not only during the practice of the dhutanga disciplines, but also while undertaking the summer rains retreat, one must not enter such dangerous places. If one deliberately enters them, that disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

Karma has been accumulated over many lifetimes, yet the reason its results have not been experienced is that conditions have not yet necessarily been encountered. Once the conditions are present, the result follows as an echo follows a sound and as a shadow follows a form; if the conditions have not yet been encountered, the result must await another time.

To travel through dangerous places is like a moth hurling itself into a flame. How much more so when a human body is as difficult to obtain as it is for a blind turtle to encounter the hole in a floating log. Suppose one meets adverse conditions and temporarily loses the eye of wisdom, thereby giving rise to great suffering. Because of this, one must fall into the three evil paths; in the present life one loses the meritorious conditions for following the Way, and forever drifts upon the harbor of delusion. Moreover, who can foresee calamities great or small? To bring disaster and premature death upon oneself is truly lamentable.

The two seasons are spring and autumn, when the climate is pleasant and one is not hindered by heat or cold, making it convenient for a bodhisattva to travel and teach.

Dhutanga is also called dhuta, which in Chinese is translated as “shaking off.” It means shaking off the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion within the three realms and escaping the bonds of love and hatred in samsara. There are twelve dhutanga practices, as clearly set forth in the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra:

1. Dwelling in an aranya, translated into Chinese as “a tranquil place,” approximately six miles from a village.

2. Always going on alms rounds.

3. Wearing a robe of assorted patches, namely, a rag robe.

4. Eating only one meal a day.

5. Moderating one’s food and drink.

6. Not eating after midday, but drinking only fruit juice.

7. Sitting in a charnel ground.

8. Dwelling beneath a tree.

9. Sitting in an open place.

10. Always sitting and never lying down.

11. Begging for alms in sequence, without selecting wealthy households.

12. Wearing only the three robes and not keeping additional robes.

By remaining unattached to food and drink, clothing, and places for sleeping and resting, one departs from obstacles and swiftly attains liberation.

The Great Treatise states: “The precepts established by the Buddha must be received and upheld by his disciples.” The twelve dhutanga practices are not called precepts. If one is able to practice them, the precepts are adorned; if one does not practice them, one does not thereby violate the precepts. It is like the practice of generosity: one who practices it gains merit, but one who does not give does not thereby incur an offense.

In winter and summer, one sits in meditation. Winter brings cold and snow, while summer brings oppressive heat, as well as many kinds of insects, worms, crickets, mosquitoes, and gnats. If one travels at such times, one frequently encounters cold or heat that harms the body and also injures the lives of sentient beings; therefore, one sits in meditation and remains in retreat.

The eighteen articles are carried along just as a bird possesses two wings and can freely soar, traveling hundreds or thousands of miles without lacking the necessities for use. This is so in terms of practical matters, but in terms of principle there are superior and inferior meanings.

The willow twig is used to cleanse the karma of speech. Ash-water is used to cleanse the karma of the body. Water from the purification flask is used to cleanse the karma of the mind.

A single alms bowl signifies contentment and the abandonment of wrong livelihood. The three robes eliminate the three poisons and constitute the armor of the great vows. The sitting cloth provides a secure seat for the Dharma-body of the five attributes.

The ringed staff signifies the raising of the banner of sages and saints. Incense signifies the fragrance of the virtue of the precepts. The incense burner signifies steadfast observance of the precepts.

The incense box is a vessel with a level bottom for holding incense, signifying the impartiality of the bodhisattva’s mind-ground. The water-straining bag represents the compassionate practice of saving sentient beings. The handkerchief is used to wipe away the sweat of shamelessness and lack of moral dread.

The knife subdues the four maras. The firestone signifies the light of wisdom, which dispels the darkness of ignorance, delusion, and folly. The tweezers are used to uproot the roots of the afflictions.

The corded bed signifies the seat of the Dharma of emptiness.

The sutras and Vinaya elucidate the source of the Great Vehicle’s Mind School. The image of the Buddha signifies the ultimate fruit of the Tathagata.

The image of a bodhisattva signifies the bodhisattva’s wondrous cause. To realize the supreme fruit, one must possess the wondrous cause; to establish the successive stages of that wondrous cause, one must first understand the mind-ground. These eighteen kinds of requisites are complete in both principle and practice. One must not let them be separated from one’s person even for an instant; if one does so, one is not practicing the bodhisattva’s great path.

The summer retreat is established on the sixteenth day of the fourth lunar month and concluded on the full moon of the seventh lunar month. These are three months of remaining within the prescribed bounds, the necessary period for diligent cultivation.

Regular uposatha means that throughout the year, on every half-month observance—at the full and new moons—the scripture of the precepts is regularly recited, without omitting any observance. Here only novice bodhisattvas are mentioned, because veteran practitioners already clearly know the regular practice of all Buddhas: reciting the precepts once every half month. It is feared that novice bodhisattvas may not yet understand the prescribed monthly ceremony for reciting the precepts.

This does not mean that veteran bodhisattvas do not recite them. Thus, the preceding passage clearly states: “Vairocana Buddha recites them, and I also recite them in the same manner. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the three periods likewise recite them.” This sufficiently demonstrates that it is not only novice bodhisattvas who recite them.

They are instructed to recite before images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, clearly showing that the recitation of novice bodhisattvas is no different from that of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. If one person performs the uposatha, that one person recites; even if there are hundreds or thousands of people, only one person recites. This ensures that the assembly hears without commotion or disturbance and that each person can remain single-minded. The reciter sits upon a high seat and recites clearly, thereby demonstrating that the Dharma of the precepts must be revered. The listeners sit upon lower seats so that they may hear everything and also manifest humility by honoring the precepts in their hearts.

Kasaya, in full in Sanskrit, is said to be Gia-sa-gia (translated into Chinese as “spoiled color”) and is also called a reddish color. The robes are dyed a spoiled color with three kinds of dye—blue, black, and magnolia—resembling yellow mulberry leaves, to distinguish them from the five primary colors. As for an explanation of its functions, its names and meanings are not limited to one; its designations and meanings are manifold.

The five-panel robe is called the Antarvasa (translated into Chinese as the “lower robe”). The seven-panel robe is called the Uttarasanga (translated into Chinese as the “upper robe”). The nine-panel robe is called the Sanghati, translated into Chinese as the “double robe.” This robe has nine grades, ranging from nine to twenty-five panels. Here only the first grade is mentioned in brief. It also symbolizes the half-monthly recitation of the precepts, the foremost gateway for benefiting the nine realms.

“Every half month in accordance with the Dharma” means not only that the precepts must be recited every half month, but also that during the summer retreat every matter must be conducted in accordance with the Dharma. The precepts must be recited every half month without omission.

If, when the time for the retreat arrives, one does not observe the retreat but recklessly travels here and there, this is called venturing into places where there are dangers and impediments. Today we are far removed from the time of the Buddha. The periods of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma have already passed, and we are now in the Final Dharma age.

The uposatha has been abandoned, and the true teaching is seldom heard. In the forest monasteries, nine out of ten people fail to practice it. Some ascend the Dharma seat on the first and fifteenth days to instruct the assembly and call this the uposatha.

Some even drink tea and converse at night and regard this as a karmavacana. Alas! The Dharma is about to perish; who will uphold what is right?

We can only rely upon great and powerful persons to continue the lineage of the noble seed, perpetuate the standards of the Vinaya, remedy the abuses of this latter age, and propagate the true teaching for later students. Although it is said that we are far removed from the sages, we may nevertheless make our time no different from the age of the True Dharma. If the uposatha is abolished and replaced with some newly established interpretation, one will consequently be reproached by spirits and deities.

Even when the arhats considered themselves pure, the Blessed One personally summoned them to assemble for the uposatha. What kind of people are we, that we dare slight the Vinaya? Here I shall mention only one or two such incidents, so that we may feel ashamed and admonish ourselves.

In former times, the monk Fan, of Great Enlightenment Monastery in Yedong County in the state of Qi, was renowned for the loftiness of his virtue in observing the precepts. He upheld them with the utmost vigilance and committed no violations. Once, he stayed at another monastery because he wished to hear the precepts.

On the night of the fifteenth, the assembly discussed reciting the precepts and holding the uposatha. Wishing instead to discuss the doctrine directly and expeditiously, they appointed a monk to ascend the seat and say: “Let us directly discuss the characteristics of the Dharma so that we may profoundly understand the sages’ intent. Why trouble ourselves and endure the hardship of performing the uposatha?” The Sangha unanimously agreed.

Suddenly, a deity more than one zhang tall appeared, filling everyone with terror. He asked the person who had proposed the expedient doctrine: “What day is today?” The man answered, “The day of the uposatha.” The deity immediately struck him and hurled him down from the seat. The monk fell and rolled upon the ground, nearly dying.

The deity then questioned two or three senior monks, who gave the same answer. He reproached and tormented each of them in turn, beating them until they hovered between life and death. The deity then flung his robe over his shoulder and departed.

Monastics and laypeople alike saw everything. Having witnessed this, the monk Fan strove throughout his life to revere the precepts.

Furthermore, the monk Yun of Precious Radiance Monastery in Yexia County in the state of Qi was the leader of the great assembly. On the fifteenth day of the fourth month, the assembly gathered to recite the precepts. As the presiding elder, the monk Yun addressed the assembly: “The precepts fundamentally prevent wrongdoing and put an end to transgressions.

Everyone is able to recite them, so why must they be recited so many times? We need only appoint one monk to recite an abbreviated version, thereby enabling people of later generations to awaken.” The monk Yun was renowned at the time, so no one dared oppose him, and they had to wait until the end of the summer retreat. During that summer, the Sangha regularly omitted the recitation of the precepts.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the great assembly wished to convene for the pravarana, but the monk Yun was suddenly nowhere to be found. The assembly therefore searched in every direction. More than three li from the monastery, the Sangha found him inside an ancient tomb, his entire body drenched in blood as though someone had sliced his flesh.

When they questioned him, the monk Yun replied: “A man holding a knife more than three chi long loudly demanded to know how I dared change the date and time of the uposatha and introduce the abbreviated recitation. Each stroke of the knife against my body caused unbearable agony.” The assembly helped the monk Yun return to the monastery, where he repented wholeheartedly. From then onward, for the full span of ten years, the monk Yun always regarded the recitation of the precepts and the performance of the uposatha as his personal duty.

Consequently, when he approached death, an extraordinary fragrance enveloped his body.

A land fraught with dangers and evils refers precisely to unwholesome people and circumstances. If the ruler of the land has an unwholesome mind, he will have no reverence for the Three Jewels, and there will certainly be contempt for and denigration of śramanas. Where the terrain is high and low, the mountains and hills are rugged; in low-lying places the ground is damp; dwellings are insecure; and in deep forests there are many wild beasts and gatherings of evil spirits.

Lions, wolves, and jackals are fierce beasts that harm people; there are perils of drowning in floods, burning in fires, destruction by winds, pillaging by bandits, and harm from venomous snakes. Concerning all such perils, only eight kinds have been briefly mentioned; there are many others that cannot be fully enumerated, and hence the text says “all.” Wherever there is a danger that may cause the loss of life or the loss of pure conduct, one must not enter.

If one knowingly and deliberately enters, one commits an offense. Some say: “A bodhisattva even gives his body to a starving tiger; how could he be permitted to avoid remote places?” Such words truly fail to comprehend the correct principle. Giving one’s body for a tiger to eat is to save the starving tiger from death; offering one’s own flesh in place of a dove is to save its life.

But to venture rashly into a violent land, into the perils of flood or fire, or to cast oneself among bandits and venomous snakes—when this brings them no benefit, how could it benefit the Dharma? How much more is this so for one newly practicing the bodhisattva path, whose power of patience is not yet sufficient: to lose one’s life in vain, while the view of self has not yet been relinquished, is also to lose right mindfulness.

One should wait until, from the body of the five skandhas, unhindered supernormal powers arise; then one may enter a cauldron of boiling oil or a furnace of blazing coals and undergo suffering in another’s stead, or transform one’s entire body into a mountain of flesh to relieve sentient beings from hunger. These are the wondrous functions of a bodhisattva practicing the Dharma of the six perfections. How could they be compared with a person who recklessly sets out to wander through dangerous and perilous places?

Question: Apart from the dangers mentioned above, which one must not approach, if one should happen unexpectedly to encounter such a danger, how should one deal with it?

Answer: The Śikṣāsamuccaya states: “If, because of causes and conditions, one encounters perilous circumstances, one should confront them with right mindfulness and not give rise to fear.” Therefore, in the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Buddha taught Śāriputra: “Even if a bodhisattva is amid the danger of wild beasts, he does not give rise to cowardice, grief, or fear. Why is this? Because he forms this thought: ‘I should benefit sentient beings, and I must relinquish everything.

If these fierce beasts wish to eat my flesh, I shall give it to them, thereby swiftly bringing the perfection of generosity to complete fulfillment. I vow that when I attain unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment, my land will be pure, and even the names of fierce beasts and venomous creatures will no longer be heard.’ Even when encountering the danger of bandits, he does not give rise to terror, grief, anxiety, or fear. Why is this?

Because this bodhisattva has relinquished everything he possesses and thinks: ‘If bandits come wishing to take something, I shall give it to them. Even if the bandits wish to take my body, I shall not allow anger to arise in any of my three kinds of karma, so that I may swiftly bring the perfection of moral discipline to complete fulfillment and fully perfect the perfection of patience. I vow that when I am about to attain unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment, my land will be pure, and even the name of such bandits will no longer be heard.’” As the sutra records: “Free from all grief, fear, and so forth, one does not lose right mindfulness and is moreover able to accomplish all virtues.”