梵網經菩薩戒略疏

Precept 47

IMPOSING UNLAWFUL RESTRICTIONS

If a disciple of the Buddha—whether a king, prince, official, or member of the four assemblies—has faithfully received the Buddha’s precepts but, relying upon his own exalted power and status, destroys the precepts and discipline of the Buddhadharma by establishing laws and restrictions that prohibit members of the Buddha’s four assemblies from leaving the household life and practicing the Way; that likewise prohibit the making of images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, the erection of stupas and shrines, and the production of sutras and Vinaya texts; that create offices of administration to restrict the four assemblies and establish registers recording the number of Sangha members;

and that cause bodhisattva bhiksus to stand below while laypeople sit upon elevated seats, committing many unlawful acts and treating them like soldiers and slaves serving their masters—then this is contrary to the Dharma and contrary to the Vinaya.

These bodhisattvas ought to receive the reverence and offerings of all people, yet instead they are compelled to serve as attendants to government officials. Kings and officials who have sincerely received the Buddha’s precepts must not commit such offenses that destroy the Three Jewels. If they deliberately do so, these disciples of the Buddha commit a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

To act recklessly contrary to one’s original vows, to behave wantonly by relying upon power and authority, to impose unlawful restrictions, and to destroy the Three Jewels—such offenses reach to the heavens. How could one who does this be called a person who has sincerely received the Buddha’s true precepts?

The phrase “those who have faithfully received the Buddha’s precepts” refers collectively to those who impose restrictions and to the means by which restrictions are imposed. Those who impose restrictions are the people who enact the laws. The means by which restrictions are imposed are the officials ordered to enforce them. Both incur offenses.

Regarding the four assemblies of disciples, according to the sutras and Vinaya, the four assemblies are bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, and upasikas; or they may be bhiksus, bhiksunis, sramaneras, and sramanerikas. According to the Commentary on the Meaning, they include male and female lay devotees. If monks or nuns who have left the household life return to lay life, they are also classed among the two lay assemblies and are not permitted to leave the household life again; hence the words “not permitted.”

Question: Kings and officials may enact laws, but how could members of the four assemblies also impose restrictions upon the four assemblies?

Answer: If parents, siblings, or children impose unlawful restrictions and create obstacles, this too is impermissible.

As recorded in the Sutra of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasury: “The Venerable Jayata entered a city to seek alms. Upon seeing a crow, he smiled. His disciple then asked him why.” He replied: “In a past kalpa, I wished to leave the household life, but my parents refused permission and compelled me to marry.

After I had a son who reached six years of age, I again wished to depart. My parents instructed him to embrace my legs and weep, saying: ‘If Father abandons me, upon whom shall I rely to live? Father, first kill me, and only then may you go.’ Because of this child, I was unable to leave the household life.

From then onward, for ninety-one kalpas I wandered through the six destinies and never once encountered the Buddhadharma. Today, with the eye of the Way, I observed that this crow was precisely my former son. I smiled because I pitied his ignorance and his long abiding upon the path of birth and death.”

Those who prevent others from leaving the household life will, as the retribution for their offense, fall into the evil destinies. If they are later born as humans, they will be blind and without sight. Therefore, when wise people see others leaving the household life, they should rejoice accordingly and create the conditions that enable them to fulfill their aspiration; they must not obstruct them.

Furthermore, the Sutra of the Elderly Woman records: “At that time, there was a poor elderly woman who heard the Buddha teach the Dharma and attained an open mind and awakened understanding. Seeing this, Ananda said to the Buddha: ‘Through what wisdom did this elderly woman attain such understanding?’ The Buddha replied: ‘She was my mother in a former life, when I first generated the aspiration to cultivate the Way.’ Ananda asked again: ‘Why, then, is she so utterly impoverished?’ The Buddha replied: ‘During the time of Krakucchanda Buddha, I wished to become a sramana.

My mother loved her son so deeply that she would not permit me to leave the household life. I grieved throughout the day and refused to eat. Because of this, she has endured poverty for five hundred lifetimes.

When her life in this existence ends, she will be born in Amitabha Buddha’s land.’”

As the sutras state, children who obstruct their parents and parents who obstruct their children must all undergo such retribution. How much more so when spouses, siblings, and friends obstruct one another—what will the consequences of their offenses be? To prevent others from leaving the household life is to extinguish the institution of the Three Jewels. To prohibit the creation of images and stupas honoring the Buddha is to extinguish the Buddha Jewel. To prohibit the copying and printing of sutras and Vinaya texts is to extinguish the Dharma Jewel. To establish offices of administration and registers to restrict the Sangha, and to create records enumerating its members in the manner of worldly institutions, means that government officials control the Sangha.

Laypeople sit above while bhiksus stand below, no differently from soldiers and slaves serving their masters. Bodhisattvas are exemplary teachers of devas and humans. They expound the sutras, Dharma, precepts, and Vinaya, enabling people to give rise to wondrous wisdom. They receive offerings so that donors and benefactors may sow seeds in the field of merit. People should serve them as children serve their fathers and honor them as ministers honor their kings. Yet would they instead demean themselves and become attendants to government officials in such a manner contrary to both the Dharma and the Vinaya?

Even if coerced and oppressed by kings and officials, they should rather accept death to preserve the true Dharma than endure what is contrary to the Dharma and Vinaya. How could they bear to seek survival at the cost of ruining the Dharma gate? “They must not commit such offenses that destroy the Three Jewels” means that kings and officials who have sincerely aspired to receive the Buddha’s true precepts should instead cause the Three Jewels to flourish and prosper. With minds devoted to protecting the Dharma, they will not forget the exhortations and entrusted instructions given by the Blessed One in the Nirvana assembly and upon Vulture Peak. Yet if they instead commit offenses that destroy the Three Jewels, what could this be if not a grave act of rebellion?

Question: Since it has been called a grave act of rebellion, why does it constitute only a minor defiling offense?

Answer: Because kings and officials remain householders and are not yet capable of undertaking the major precepts; nevertheless, by committing that offense, they undergo extremely severe retribution.

The Sutra for Humane Kings records: “The Buddha said to King Prasenajit: ‘Later, during the evil age of the five turbidities, kings, princes, and great ministers will rely upon their exalted status to destroy my teaching. Acting arbitrarily, they will establish unlawful regulations that do not accord with the Buddha’s teachings. They will impose restrictions upon my disciples, prohibiting them from leaving the household life and from erecting monasteries and stupas to honor the Buddha.

They will create offices of administration and registers to control the affairs of the Sangha. Bhiksus will stand below while laypeople sit upon elevated seats.’” It further says: “In future ages, the Buddha’s four assemblies of disciples and the crown princes of minor states should be the protectors of the Three Jewels. Yet if they instead destroy the Three Jewels, they are like worms within a lion’s body that devour the lion’s flesh.

It is not non-Buddhists who can destroy my Dharma; rather, it is my own disciples who destroy the Buddhadharma, thereby incurring an extremely grave offense. The true Dharma will decline, the people will cease to practice goodness and will instead commit increasing evil, and their lifespans will gradually diminish. There will no longer be filial children, the six kinds of relatives will be in discord, devas and spirits will offer no assistance, and disease and evil spirits will increasingly invade.

After death, such sentient beings will fall into the realms of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals.” As the sutra states, this clearly corresponds to the regulations of the present age. Those who have sincerely received the Buddha’s precepts should exercise great caution.

Precept 48

DESTROYING THE DHARMA

If a disciple of the Buddha, having sincerely left the household life, then for the sake of fame and material gain expounds the Buddha’s precepts to kings and government officials, causing bhiksus, bhiksunis, and those who have received the bodhisattva precepts to be shackled and bound, treated like prisoners, soldiers, and slaves, he is like a worm within a lion’s body that devours the lion’s flesh—for no worm from outside can devour it. In the same way, it is the Buddha’s own disciples who destroy the Buddhadharma; neither non-Buddhists nor heavenly demons can destroy it. Those who have received the Buddha’s precepts should protect and uphold the precepts and Vinaya as tenderly as they cherish an only child and as reverently as they honor their parents. They must not destroy them.

A disciple of the Buddha, upon hearing followers of non-Buddhist paths or evil persons use malicious words to slander the Buddha’s precepts, should feel as though three hundred sharp spears were piercing his own heart, or as though a thousand blades and ten thousand clubs were striking his own body. He would rather willingly endure the hells for a hundred kalpas than hear evil persons utter words that slander the Buddha’s precepts. How much more must he refrain from being unfilial and himself destroying the Buddha’s precepts, or creating the causes and conditions for others to destroy them. If he deliberately violates the Buddha’s precepts, this disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

Explanation:

At first, with wholesome intentions, one left the household life and received the Buddha’s true precepts, and was therefore respected by kings and officials. Later, enticed and deluded by fame and profit, one forfeited those noble aspirations. Inwardly, one has already impaired the essence of the precepts, while outwardly one makes a false display of dignified conduct.

Consequently, whatever one says is not accepted by kings and officials; instead, one causes them to impose punishments according to worldly law, bringing calamity upon disciples who must suffer punishment, have their hands and feet bound, and be imprisoned and confined. Thus the text speaks of treatment according to the laws of prisons. Or they may be treated discourteously and contemptuously and be rebuked; thus the text speaks of treatment according to the laws governing soldiers and slaves.

When subjected to various humiliating punishments before the assembly, how could they endure it in their hearts? Even if they give no thought to calamities in future lives, how could they not feel ashamed here and now? Why, then, allow fame and profit to ruin one’s own virtue?

Why rely upon the power of kings and officials to destroy one’s innate wholesome mind, attach oneself to the Buddhadharma in pursuit of profit without considering how to repay its kindness, and instead injure the Buddhadharma and destroy its Dharma gates? Such a person is called a “demonic bhiksu.”

Worms within the lion’s body: the lion is king among beasts, and no animal can devour a lion’s flesh. Only worms within the lion’s own body can consume its flesh; worms from outside cannot do so. Even the heavenly Mara must listen to the Tathagata’s true Dharma, and followers of non-Buddhist paths must turn toward it for refuge; therefore, they cannot destroy it.

Only those who have entered the monastic life within the Buddhadharma yet do not follow the Buddha’s teachings become the cause of the Buddhadharma’s destruction. If members of the fivefold monastic assembly commit offenses, they must be disciplined according to the Buddha’s law. The offender may be led to recognize and repent of the transgression and sincerely perform prostrations and repentance, or a formal Sangha act may be carried out, such as expulsion and so forth.

How could they instead be humiliated under worldly law, causing kings and officials to lose merit and wholesome deities to withdraw? This would not only harm the Buddhadharma but also bring calamity upon the nation. The sutra clearly states this; how could one not be afraid?

The Dharma body is revealed through the purity of the precepts, and the fundamental vow to liberate beings is fulfilled through the precepts. Therefore, one must protect the precepts with the same love that parents bear for their child. One must keep them in mind from thought to thought, just as a child reverently serves his parents and never disobeys them in any matter. By attending to and honoring the precepts with such loving-kindness, one will never conceive the thought of destroying the Buddha’s precepts.

A bodhisattva has vowed that he would rather endure, for three million kalpas, the piercing of his body by blades and clubs and suffer excruciating pain than hear a single word slandering the Buddha’s precepts. Why? Although he might undergo hundreds of thousands of torments, only his own body would suffer.

But upon hearing slander that destroys the true Dharma and damages the Buddha’s Dharma body, innumerable sentient beings would lose faith, sink into the ocean of suffering, and fail to attain liberation. Following those who utter such slander, they would perpetually fall into the Avici Hell. If merely hearing slander is already so grave, how much more so is personally destroying the Buddhadharma and causing kings and officials to create the causes and conditions for its destruction by punishing and humiliating the Sangha?

Such a person not only fails to know how to protect and uphold the Buddhadharma but instead brings about its destruction. By committing the offense of rebelliousness toward the Three Jewels and lacking a mind of filial obedience, he incurs an offense.

The Mahasamnipata Sutra records: “The Buddha said: ‘Suppose sentient beings, through faith in and delight in my teaching, leave the household life to study and practice the Way, shave their heads, and wear kasaya robes. Even if they do not uphold the prohibitory precepts, they have nevertheless received the seal of nirvana.’ If anyone, with a mind that disparages the Dharma, torments and disturbs them, praises or condemns them, reviles or humiliates them, strikes them with hands or feet, binds them, or seizes their robes, bowls, and personal requisites, that person destroys the true reward bodies of the Buddhas of the three periods and gouges out the eyes of devas and humans.

At that time, the Great Brahma Heaven King addressed the Buddha: ‘If a person who reveres the Buddhadharma leaves the household life and dons the kasaya but does not receive the precepts, or receives them and subsequently violates them, and the king of that country strikes, binds, insults, and distresses him, how grave is the king’s offense?’ The Buddha replied: ‘Great Brahma Heaven King, I shall now explain it briefly for you.

Suppose someone were to wound and draw blood from the bodies of myriads of kotis of Buddhas. What do you think? Would that person’s offense be grave or slight?’ The Great Brahma Heaven King replied to the Buddha: ‘Even if a person caused the body of only one Buddha to bleed, he would commit an offense entailing uninterrupted retribution—an immeasurable offense beyond calculation—and would fall into the great Avici Hell.

How much more so if he caused the bodies of myriads of kotis of Buddhas to bleed? The retribution for that person’s offenses could never be fully described; only the Tathagata could completely expound it.’ The Buddha said: ‘If anyone torments, disturbs, reviles, or humiliates, even slightly or only for a brief moment, a person who has shaved his head and donned the kasaya—whether that person has not received the precepts or has received and then violated them—his offense is many times graver than the former person’s.

Why? Because such a monastic can still reveal the path to nirvana to devas and humans. Having entered the Three Jewels, his mind reveres and trusts them, surpassing all ninety-six kinds of non-Buddhist paths.

He will certainly enter the realm of nirvana more swiftly than any layperson living in the household life, except a layperson who has attained patience regarding the Dharma. Therefore, devas and humans should make offerings to him. How much more should they honor one who can uphold the prohibitory precepts without transgression and whose three karmic activities accord with the Dharma?

If a king or official sees a person who has left the household life within the Buddhadharma commit an extremely grave offense, he may only expel that person from the country; he must not strike or bind him. How much more does this apply to a monastic who upholds the precepts.’

The Sutra of the Ten Wheels records: “The Buddha said: ‘Suppose a bhiksu violates the precepts and is like a body that has been broken open, with blood and pus flowing everywhere. He has fallen away from the noble path and has been ruined by afflictions and fetters, yet he can still reveal to all devas, humans, nonhuman beings, and others the treasury of immeasurable merits and precious jewels. Therefore, whether monastics uphold or violate the precepts, I do not permit kings, ministers, or officials to rebuke, punish, condemn, bind, beat, or even kill them.

How much less may they do so to one who has committed only a minor breach of dignified conduct or a minor defiling offense? Although a bhiksu who has violated the precepts is like a dead person, the power of the precepts still remains. It is like an ox that, though dead, may still be used by people and can still benefit all sentient beings.

Although a bhiksu of evil conduct has violated the prohibitory precepts, the remaining power of the precepts can still benefit immeasurable devas and humans. It is like burning incense: although the substance of the incense is consumed, it permeates other things and makes them fragrant. A bhiksu who violates the precepts is likewise: although he himself falls into the evil destinies, he can enable sentient beings to increase their wholesome roots.

For this reason, laypeople must neither violate nor disparage a bhiksu who has broken the precepts, but should respect and protect him.’”

The Sutra on Contemplation of the Mind-Ground states: “There is a kind of Sangha member who is a field of merit. Toward the Buddha’s relics and images, the teachings of the Sangha, and the precepts established by the Buddha, such a person personally gives rise to faith and reverence, holds no wrong views, and causes others to do likewise; such a person is able to proclaim the true Dharma, praise the One Vehicle, firmly believe in cause and effect, and constantly make wholesome vows.

Whenever transgressions occur, such a person repents of karmic obstacles. Know that this person’s power of faith in the Three Jewels surpasses that of non-Buddhists by hundreds of thousands of times and also surpasses that of the four kinds of Wheel-Turning Sage Kings, how much more so that of other kinds of sentient beings! Just as an udumbara flower, though already withered, still surpasses other flowers, so too does a bhikshu of right view surpass other sentient beings by hundreds of thousands of myriads of times.

Although the prohibitive precepts have been broken, right view has not been destroyed. For this reason, such a person is called a Sangha member who is a field of merit. If one makes offerings to such a Sangha member who is a field of merit, the merit and virtue of those offerings will be inexhaustible.

The Great Collection Sutra records: “At that time, all the devas, nagas, the eight classes of beings, and so forth, having attained increased faith, addressed the Buddha: ‘From this day forward, all of us vow to protect and uphold the true Dharma. If kings see anyone who, out of admiration for the Buddhadharma, has gone forth, whether that person has undertaken and upheld the prohibitive precepts, has not undertaken the precepts, or has undertaken them and then transgressed them, and if such persons are beaten with whips, we will not protect those kings but will depart from their kingdoms.

Because of our departure, various epidemics, famine, and warfare will arise in those lands; wind and rain will come out of season, prolonged droughts will damage the crops, and the Buddha’s ordained disciples will all go to other countries, leaving those kingdoms without fields of merit. If an ordained disciple of the Buddha wears even a single piece of kasaya, and ministers or officials have that ordained person beaten with whips while the king of that country neither prevents it nor offers protection, we too shall depart from that country.’”

Question: It is indeed as the Buddhist sutras state: “Even the devas, nagas, and eight classes of beings protect the Buddhadharma in this way; how, then, could kings and officials fail to protect it?” Yet what should be done about destitute people fleeing calamity who secretly enter the Dharma gateway, do not observe the precepts, violate the laws of the realm, refuse to listen when admonished, refuse to leave when expelled, and cannot be disciplined by means of the sutras, Vinaya, and internal Buddhist canon?

Answer: If such persons truly commit grave offenses and bring disgrace upon the Three Jewels, it is better to remove one person in order to preserve the Three Jewels. One should not bring calamity upon the Three Jewels for the sake of one person.

As the Great Collection Sutra states: “One should rather relinquish one’s own life to protect bhikshus who practice in accordance with the Dharma, but one should not protect evil bhikshus. A king who relinquishes his life in this way will be born in a Pure Land. If he follows evil persons, that king will not obtain a human body for immeasurable kalpas.

If he does not punish such a person, he severs a seed of the Three Jewels and deprives sentient beings of the eye of wisdom. A bhikshu who commits offenses must be disciplined, whether by refusing to speak or sit together with him, or by expelling him to another country, even as far as four countries away. Wherever the Buddhadharma exists, evil bhikshus should be disciplined in this way so that virtuous bhikshus may peacefully and joyfully receive the Dharma, and so that the Buddhadharma may long abide in the world without being destroyed.”

In the Nirvana Sutra, the Buddha said: “Suppose a king has ministers who violate the laws of the realm; according to their offenses, he has them executed and does not pardon them.” The Dharma of the Tathagata is not like this. Those who corrupt the Dharma are subjected to a Sanghakarman of expulsion, or to a Sanghakarman of censure, so that they may recognize that evil conduct bears retribution. A precept-observing bhikshu who protects and upholds the true Dharma, upon seeing someone destroying the Buddhadharma, may expel or lightly punish that person. Know that such a bhikshu gains immeasurable and incalculable merit.

The Srimala Sutra records: “The Buddha declared that the immeasurable practices and vows originally possessed by bodhisattvas, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, are all contained within one Great Vow. To protect and uphold the true Dharma is the Great Realm. Even the slightest deficiency in the resolve to protect and uphold the true Dharma gives Mara Papiyan an opportunity to cause disturbance. I do not see any wholesome dharma that could enable the evil mara to create disturbance; it is only when people lack the resolve to protect and uphold the true Dharma.

According to the Book of Tang, in the fifth month of the first year of the Xianqing era, the emperor issued an edict commanding that if any monk or nun throughout the realm violated the law, that person was to be disciplined according to the regulations governing monks and nuns; the laws used to govern the common people were not to be applied to monks and nuns. These were truly a sage king and worthy ministers who did not forget the Buddha’s injunction on Vulture Peak. When ruler and ministers thus honored the Three Jewels and protected the Dharma gateway, yet ordained persons performed deeds that destroyed the Dharma, such persons were truly great brigands within the Sangha and evil maras of the Dharma gateway.

In the sutras, the Buddha said: “Even one who has violated the prohibitive precepts may still reveal the realm of nirvana to devas and humans.” This means that although such a person is oppressed by afflictions and consequently violates the prohibitive precepts, when unaware of having transgressed, that person still regularly expounds the true Dharma; upon realizing the transgression, that person feels shame and remorse. Therefore, it is said that such a person remains within the Three Jewels, possesses faith and reverence, knows how to praise the Dharma of the One Vehicle, and firmly believes in the principle of cause and effect.

Thus, in the Jeweled Necklace Sutra, the Buddha said: “Though one relinquishes the precepts, one does not relinquish the Great Vow; though one breaks the precepts, one does not destroy right view. In the end, this person will return to purity.”

The Sutra of Upali’s Questions to the Buddha states: “For a bodhisattva abiding in the Mahayana Dharma, each day is divided into three periods. If at the beginning of the day the bodhisattva commits an offense by violating the prohibitive precepts, but at midday does not relinquish the practice and resolve of All-Knowing Wisdom, that bodhisattva still fully possesses the aggregate of precepts. If at midday the bodhisattva commits an offense of violation, but at the end of the day does not relinquish the resolve for All-Knowing Wisdom, the bodhisattva’s precepts likewise remain complete.” This is unlike people of the present age who lack prajna wisdom yet presume themselves wise, constantly create evil karma, do not fear retribution in future lives, deny cause and effect,

and have no sense of shame or remorse, being no different from those who hold wrong views.

In the present age, there are also those who contend over land, houses, and dwellings, personally carrying written complaints to the royal court, humbling themselves to plead their cases and willingly kneeling down. If they prevail, they still resent and blame others; if they lose, they themselves suffer humiliation. They disgrace the Sangha without the slightest shame, yet still regard themselves as recipients of the bodhisattva’s Great Precepts. How shameful!

These nine precepts should be studied and upheld wholeheartedly, with reverence.

3. General Conclusion

Disciples of the Buddhas! These are the forty-eight minor precepts. You must receive and uphold them. Bodhisattvas of the past have recited them, bodhisattvas of the future will recite them, and bodhisattvas of the present are now reciting them.

Explanation:

The preceding passages all exhort practitioners to receive and uphold the precepts. This passage gives the general conclusion, collectively citing the recitation of these precepts by bodhisattvas throughout the three periods of time in order to encourage practitioners to receive and uphold them. It may be said that the World-Honored One, out of great loving-kindness, instructed us again and again, tirelessly teaching and admonishing us with a compassionate heart. Even if we were to shatter our sinews and bones and cut our bodies into pieces, it would still not suffice to repay the Buddha’s kindness.

C. TRANSMISSION

1. ENTRUSTMENT FOR TRANSMISSION

All disciples of the Buddha, listen attentively. The ten major precepts and forty-eight minor precepts have been recited by the Buddhas of the three times—past, present, and future—and I now recite them likewise. All of you in this great assembly, whether kings, princes, officials, bhiksus, bhiksunis, laymen, laywomen, or those who have received the bodhisattva precepts, should receive, uphold, read, recite, explain, and transcribe these precepts of the eternally abiding Buddha-nature.

Circulate them among all sentient beings throughout the three times, transmitting and teaching them without interruption. You will behold a thousand Buddhas and be received by the hands of a thousand Buddhas. Life after life, you will not fall into the eight difficulties or the three lower realms, but will always be born in the heavenly and human realms.

Now, beneath the Bodhi tree, I have presented a brief exposition of the precept Dharma of the Seven Buddhas. All of you in this great assembly must single-mindedly study the pratimoksa and joyfully practice it. As explained extensively, point by point, in the chapter in which the Formless Heavenly King exhorts beings to study, three thousand trainees sat listening. When they heard the Buddha himself recite the precepts, they wholeheartedly received them with reverence and joyfully upheld and practiced them.

At that time, after Sakyamuni Buddha had proclaimed the Dharma Gate of the Mind Ground and the Dharma of the Ten Inexhaustible Precepts taught by Vairocana Buddha in the Lotus Treasury World, the thousand hundred million Sakyamuni Buddhas likewise proclaimed them.

From the palace of Mahesvara Heaven to this place beneath the Bodhi tree, the Dharma was taught in ten places. All the bodhisattvas and the indescribably vast assemblies received, upheld, read, recited, and explained its meaning in the same way. Throughout the thousand hundred million worlds, the Lotus Treasury World, and worlds numerous as motes of dust, there are the treasury of the mind of all Buddhas, the treasury of the ground, the treasury of precepts, the treasury of immeasurable practices and vows, and the treasury of cause and effect and the eternally abiding Buddha-nature.

When all Buddhas had thus finished teaching the immeasurable treasuries of all Dharmas, all sentient beings throughout the thousand hundred million worlds received and upheld them, joyfully practicing in accordance with them. Those who wish to understand extensively the characteristics of the mind ground should consult the chapter on the Seven Practices of the Buddha Flower Radiance King, where they are clearly explained.

Explanation:

Here Sakyamuni Tathagata instructs the monastic and lay assemblies present at the Dharma seat to circulate this precept Dharma. Because these fifty-eight precepts are the source of the mind ground of all Buddhas and the fundamental foundation upon which bodhisattvas and sentient beings attain Buddhahood, the Buddhas of the three times and the present Buddha all recite them. All of you in this great assembly who have received and upheld the bodhisattva precepts must perform five things:

1. Receive and uphold them without ever forgetting them.

2. Read and recite them until thoroughly versed in them.

3. Recite them clearly so that others and the beings of the eight classes may hear them and receive benefit.

4. Clearly understand and awaken to their principles, and expound them to everyone.

5. Transcribe and circulate them for the benefit of all.

A great being transmits the precepts of the mind ground to sentient beings. After the recipient has obtained the precepts, that person in turn transcribes this precept scripture and transmits it to all sentient beings. After those beings have obtained the precepts, they likewise make further copies and continue transmitting them to sentient beings forever into the future.

Thus they continue transforming beings throughout the three times, succeeding one another without interruption, like a succession of lamps whose light never goes out. This is precisely to shoulder the Dharma of the Buddhas of the three times, guiding, exhorting, and transforming all beings like lighting an inexhaustible succession of lamps. Thus, all sentient beings throughout the three times rely upon these precepts in their practice and thereby behold the thousand Buddhas of the original source.

The Buddhas extend their hands to them, rub the crowns of their heads, and bestow predictions upon them. From then onward, they do not fall into the three lower realms or encounter the eight difficulties, until they attain perfect enlightenment.

The precepts of the eternally abiding Buddha-nature: these precepts are the mind ground of Vairocana. The Buddha-nature abides eternally, without change or alteration. Once one receives these precepts, one will assuredly proceed toward Buddhahood. They are unlike the sravaka precepts, which are cultivated for only a single lifetime.

“Life after life” means freedom from suffering. “Always being born” means attaining happiness. By means of these precepts, the faults of the three karmic activities of body, speech, and mind are eliminated.

One does not fall into the lower realms, and myriad wholesome Dharmas arise; therefore, one is always born in the heavenly and human realms. These great precepts of the mind ground and Buddha-nature encompass the entire ocean of fruition within the cause, while the fruition penetrates the entire source of the cause; they enable an ordinary being to attain sagehood immediately. How, then, could their benefit be limited merely to leaving the destinies of evil and being born in the heavenly or human realms?

One should understand that before the Tathagata appeared in the world, most people in India practiced in pursuit of rebirth in the heavens. As an expedient means, the Buddha provisionally employed this approach to teach ordinary beginners newly studying the Way, who had not yet accorded with the original mind of these great precepts. He thereby caused them to aspire to wholesome fruits and the blessings of the heavenly realms, so that they would turn toward and advance in cultivation.

Once they had formed such an aspiration, they became weary of the suffering in the lower realms; therefore, the Buddha taught the Dharma for them.

At this first Dharma assembly, if the Buddha had taught only the ultimate fruition directly, they might have given rise to doubt and confusion, creating obstacles, retreating from the true precepts, and losing the great benefit. Alternatively, this passage may mean that through the power of these precepts they do not fall into the lower realms, but are continually born in the human or heavenly realms, where they encounter the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and quickly realize the stage of non-retrogression.

“Presented a brief exposition” means that the precept Dharma of the Seven Buddhas is not limited to these fifty-eight precepts. The precepts now taught are merely a concise presentation of the teaching of the Seven Buddhas.

“As slight as the tip of a hair” means that the teaching is made easy for beginners newly engaged in study to understand, so that they may joyfully practice it. Those who wish to understand the phenomena and principles within the precepts should consult the chapter on the Formless Heavenly King in this scripture, where they are clearly explained.

The three thousand trainees had not yet entered the stage of Wondrous Enlightenment and still remained in the stages requiring further training; therefore, they are called trainees. At that time, the Tathagata exhorted the hundreds of thousands of millions of billions in the great assembly to study single-mindedly. In the Dharma assembly, three thousand great bodhisattvas heard the Buddha himself recite the precepts and therefore received and upheld them with utmost reverence, bowing their heads in homage. This also raises the preceding subject of study in order to gather in and transform the hundreds of millions of billions of beginners.

The preceding passage explained that within a world with one sun and one moon, one Sakyamuni Tathagata proclaimed the Dharma of Vairocana Tathagata’s Mind-Ground Ten Inexhaustible Precepts. The following passage explains that throughout worlds containing a thousand hundred million suns and moons, a thousand hundred million Sakyamuni Tathagatas all proclaimed Vairocana’s Mind-Ground Ten Inexhaustible Precepts; therefore, it says that they did likewise.

Here only the ten major precepts are cited, without mention of the forty-eight minor precepts, because these ten precepts encompass all precepts, let alone the forty-eight. Therefore, they are called the Dharma of the Inexhaustible Precepts.

The preceding passage explained that Vairocana taught the mind-ground precepts and the Ten Inexhaustible Precepts, and that the thousand hundred million Sakyamuni Buddhas all taught them together.

The present passage explains the Dharma gates taught at the ten places. The passage that follows concludes generally that the thousand hundred million Sakyamuni Buddhas and all Buddhas teach these Dharma gates in the same manner.

The worlds are so numerous that they cannot all be counted; therefore, motes of dust are used as an analogy. One mote of dust represents one world, and thus they are called worlds numerous as motes of dust. The Lotus Treasury World fully contains immeasurable worlds numerous as motes of dust. Thus, the hundreds of thousands of millions of worlds and the worlds numerous as motes of dust are, in general, not apart from the single Lotus Treasury World. Throughout such worlds, all Buddhas fully possess and contain the impartial mind; therefore, they all teach the various treasuries. “Treasury” means that which encompasses and contains.

1. The Treasury of the One Mind refers to the essence of the One True Suchness Mind. It encompasses all empty space, fully contains the myriad Dharmas, and possesses immeasurable wondrous functions; therefore, it is called a Treasury.

2. The Treasury of the Ground: because the essence of mind is originally free from discrimination, impartial like the earth, and gives rise to immeasurable wholesome merits, it is called a Treasury.

3. The Treasury of Precepts: although the essence of mind is originally empty, it fully possesses immeasurable precept Dharmas and accommodates an immeasurable ocean of blessings; therefore, it is called a Treasury.

4. The Treasury of Practices and Vows: when the mind performs wholesome deeds, this is called Practice; when the mind has vowed to set a definite time for realization and attainment, this is called a Vow. Because the ocean of practices is boundless and the gates of vows are inexhaustible, it is called a Treasury.

5. The ever-abiding treasury of Buddha-nature as cause and effect: first arousing the mind to cultivate is called the Cause; finally attaining that which is realized is called the Effect. Thus, the cause encompasses the entire ocean of the effect, while the effect extends throughout the very source of the cause. Cause and effect interpenetrate, and the Dharma-body is realized; therefore, it is called Buddha-nature. The Dharma-body is originally quiescent and still, permanently abiding, neither decaying nor changing, neither shifting nor altering. It encompasses the Dharma-realm, and its essence is identical with the vastness of empty space; therefore, it is called a Treasury.

The Mind Treasury, Ground Treasury, and Precept Treasury are clearly not the pratimoksha of the Lesser Vehicle; they are precisely the bodhisattva's fundamental mind-ground, the true Dharma-realm.

“All Buddhas” refers precisely to the hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhas in the worlds of the Lotus Dais Treasury. Thus, immeasurable Buddhas expound immeasurable Treasuries of All Dharmas. These five treasuries encompass everything without remainder, and the Precept Treasury is the most important among them. When this essential point is understood, the myriad practices are perfected and the fruit of sagehood becomes complete. Therefore, all Buddhas of the three times expound them in common, and all sentient beings throughout hundreds of thousands of millions of worlds reverently receive and uphold them, joyfully practicing them as taught.

The characteristics of the mind-ground: the mind-ground is originally without characteristics, yet the precepts may be upheld or violated; these are the characteristics of the mind-ground. There are general characteristics and particular characteristics. The ten major precepts are the general characteristics, and the forty-eight minor precepts are the particular characteristics. The general characteristics are immeasurable, and the particular characteristics are likewise inexhaustible—layer upon layer without end, like Indra's jeweled net. If one wishes to elaborate upon the characteristics of the phenomena and principle of this mind-ground, they are clearly explained in the Chapter on the Seven Practices of this sutra. However, that chapter is unavailable in our land.

II. CONCLUDING VERSES, DEDICATION OF MERIT, AND CIRCULATION

Although these verses were not spoken by the Buddha, their wording and meaning are wholly complete. They may have been left by worthies and sages of India, or composed by wise persons of this region, to praise the observance of the precepts, encourage study, liberate sentient beings, make vows, and dedicate merit. In the Bhikshu Pratimoksha, the opening section presents verses of praise, the next sets forth the characteristics of the precepts, and the concluding section contains verses dedicating merit, thereby corresponding to the threefold request. Here the opening verses of praise are missing because this scripture is not preserved in its entirety; only the upper and lower chapters remain.

The verse says:

Those fully endowed with steadfast patience and wisdom

Now uphold the Dharma in this way.

Although they have not yet attained Buddhahood,

They gain five great benefits.

Explanation:

“Steadfast” here means firm and enduring. Patience is patience with regard to beings and dharmas, while wisdom is prajnaparamita wisdom. Through the arising of patience with regard to dharmas, the mind remains unmoved; through prajnaparamita wisdom, delusion is eliminated and the true principle of ultimate truth is realized, enabling one to know these great precepts of the mind-ground. Therefore, they cannot be undertaken by foolish ordinary beings or those of the Lesser Vehicle whose wisdom is shallow; only those whose wisdom penetrates deeply can receive and uphold them. Although they have not yet attained Buddhahood, those who can receive and uphold this precept-Dharma will certainly attain Buddhahood in the future.

Although they have not yet attained Buddhahood, during the intervening time they will, life after life, first obtain five kinds of blessed benefits bestowed by the Buddha.

First, the Buddhas of the ten directions

Compassionately and constantly protect them.

Second, at the time of death,

With right view, their minds are joyful.

Third, wherever they may be born,

They are always companions of bodhisattvas.

Fourth, the myriad merits

Are all accomplished through the precepts.

Fifth, from this time onward,

Their merit, wisdom, nature, and precepts become complete;

Only then are they children of the Buddhas.

Explanation:

1. Because they firmly preserve the mind-ground precept-Dharma of all Buddhas, they are cherished, compassionately remembered, and constantly protected by the Buddhas. Thus, they may securely cultivate the path, fulfill their own practice, avoid regression and loss, and give demonic obstacles no opportunity to cause disruption. Therefore, the Prajnaparamita Sutra states: “The Tathagata skillfully protects and keeps all bodhisattvas in mind.”

2. Because they themselves possess right view and clearly understand the causes and effects of good and evil, they know that violating the prohibitory precepts leads to rebirth in the evil destinies and thus constantly give rise to a mind of apprehension. They know that upholding the precepts leads to rebirth in a Buddha-land and thus their minds are always joyful. This is what the Bhikshu Pratimoksha means when it says: “As one beholds oneself in a mirror, joy or sorrow arises according to whether one appears beautiful or ugly.”

3. This means that the bodhisattvas of the three times revere, honor, cherish, preserve, and protect this precept-Dharma. They study and receive and uphold it together. Life after life and kalpa after kalpa, wherever practitioners may be, they will always join the ranks of the Three Worthies and Ten Sages, be guided by great bodhisattvas, and become their companions.

4. This means that by practicing the six paramitas and myriad practices, they acquire immeasurable merit. If they can practice and uphold even one precept from this chapter on precepts, all other merits will be accomplished as well.

5. This means that these precepts are the fundamental precepts of Buddha-nature. One's intrinsic nature is originally good; when bodily and verbal karma are pure, evil naturally ceases and good naturally arises.

Ceasing evil is wisdom; giving rise to good is merit. If one steadfastly upholds the prohibitory precepts in this life, merit and wisdom will naturally increase. In a future life, when merit and wisdom are complete—the twofold adornment of merit and wisdom—the fruit of Buddhahood will be attained, and one will bear the title “Honored One Perfect in Both.” All children of the Buddha are born from these precepts.

Those who can presently receive and uphold the prohibitory precepts gradually perfect their merit and wisdom; only they are true children of the Buddha, destined to inherit the fruit of Buddhahood in the future.

The wise should skillfully contemplate and discern.

Those who previously clung to the mark of self

Cannot obtain this Dharma.

Those who burn up body and seize realization—the Two Vehicles—

Likewise cannot sow the seed.

Those who wish the sprout of bodhi to emerge,

With wisdom illuminating the world,

Should carefully contemplate

The true characteristics of all dharmas:

Neither arising nor ceasing,

Neither eternalism nor annihilationism,

Neither identical nor different,

Neither coming nor going.

Within the essence of this one mind,

Diligently cultivate its adornments.

What bodhisattvas must practice

Should be learned in proper sequence.

Whether one is still in training or beyond training,

Do not give rise to conceptual discrimination.

This is the supreme path,

Also called the Dharma of the Great Vehicle.

All faults of frivolous conceptual elaboration

Are completely extinguished through this.

The Buddha's unsurpassed wisdom

Is entirely accomplished through this.

Explanation:

Definitive and complete understanding is called wisdom. That is, one uses prajnaparamita wisdom to contemplate, reflect upon, and carefully examine, clearly recognizing that ordinary beings of non-Buddhist paths have become deluded and lost the true mind and intrinsic nature. They mistakenly cling to a divine self, falsely taking the four great elements to be the characteristics of themselves and the conditioned reflections of the six sense-objects to be their minds; therefore, they cannot give rise to this precept-Dharma of the mind-ground.

“Those who burn up body and seize realization” refers to followers of the Two Vehicles, who extinguish the body and annihilate cognition, grasping at the realization of the nirvana of biased emptiness; therefore, they cannot sow the seed of bodhi. Those who wish to nurture the sprout of the bodhi path and attain perfect enlightenment in the future must use the sun of wisdom to illuminate and dispel the darkness of the world, destroying the dark house of ignorance and afflictions belonging to sentient beings.

At that very moment, they must use prajnaparamita wisdom to contemplate and illuminate the true characteristics of all dharmas. All dharmas arise from causes and conditions. Whatever arises from conditions has no intrinsic nature and, in its very essence, is emptiness.

Emptiness itself is true emptiness. True emptiness is without characteristics and therefore is called the True Characteristics; it is precisely the fundamental essence of mind. The true characteristics of true emptiness do not belong to the conditioned body and mind; therefore, they neither arise nor cease.

They do not belong to the two extremes; therefore, they are neither annihilationist nor eternalist. They do not fall within conceptual calculation; therefore, they are neither one nor different. They are originally apart from motion and stillness; therefore, there is neither coming nor going.

Thus, all dharmas are nothing but the one mind. Bodhisattvas who wish to realize this adorned fundamental mind-ground must activate its functioning from within the mind, using skillful wisdom to illuminate clearly the realm of mind. That realm is itself the True Characteristics; therefore, it is said that one contemplates in stillness.

What must be done means that a bodhisattva should progressively train in morality, concentration, and wisdom, and diligently cultivate the six paramitas and the myriad practices. There is no precept that is not upheld, no dhyana that is not cultivated, and no sentient being that is not delivered. This is called: “Within the gateway of the myriad practices, not a single Dharma is abandoned”; hence it is called Training. Contemplate a single thought as unborn: both before and after are cut off, and the myriad dharmas are all extinguished. This is called: “Upon the point of a needle, not even a mote of dust is established”; hence it is called Beyond Training.

If a thought of discrimination arises, it is precisely the conditioned mind-consciousness, not prajnaparamita wisdom; therefore, one cannot enter the Supreme Truth of the Middle Way.

Mahayana is translated into Chinese as the Great Vehicle. The slightest arising of discriminative thought is the existence and nonexistence of ordinary beings and the one-sided views of the conditioned Two Vehicles; it is not the Great Vehicle’s Middle Way. If one enters the principle of the Middle Way, then erroneous views and frivolous theories—whether of existence, nonexistence, neither existence nor nonexistence—are thereby extinguished.

Sarvajnata is translated into Chinese as the wisdom that knows all aspects. At the causal stage it is called prajna; at the resultant stage it is called sarvajnata, namely, the omniscience of all Buddhas. The Buddhas’ wisdom of all modes arises entirely through not giving rise to discrimination, extinguishing all frivolous theories, directly entering the principle of the Middle Way, and then allowing its wondrous functioning to flow forth.

Therefore, all disciples of the Buddha

Must bring forth a courageous and vigorous mind,

Solemnly uphold the Buddha’s precepts,

Perfect and radiant like a luminous pearl.

The bodhisattvas of the past

Have all trained in these precepts;

Those of the future will train in them,

And those of the present are training in them.

This is the path trodden by the Buddhas,

That which the Buddhas praise.

Explanation:

“Therefore” means that, continuing from the preceding passage and introducing what follows, those who wish to realize the sarvajnata of all Buddhas must bring forth a courageous and vigorous mind, diligently cultivate, and steadfastly preserve the pure precepts of all Buddhas as they would guard a luminous pearl. The essential nature of a luminous pearl is originally pure, radiant, and perfect. Great beings uphold the precepts with such strictness that they permit not the slightest defilement; hence they are Pure. They neither violate nor impair them; hence they are Perfect. They completely destroy the darkness of delusion that obscures the mind; hence they are Radiant. This is skillful mindfulness and practice.

Bodhisattvas of the three times alike uphold these precepts and thereby realize the fruit of great bodhi; all Buddhas of the ten directions have alike upheld them in proceeding toward nirvana. A Buddha is the Sage among sages and is therefore called the Lord of Sages. Disciples of the Buddha should cultivate courageously in this way and safeguard the pure precepts; thus they are praised in common by all Buddhas.

I have now finished expounding the precepts

And dedicate the merit to all sentient beings,

That together they may attain omniscience.

May all who hear this Dharma

Attain the Buddha Way.

Explanation:

“I” is how the composer of the verse refers to himself; those who now recite the precepts may likewise refer to themselves in this way.

“Conforming” means not contradicting the words of the sutra, while “accordance” means not contradicting the purport of the precepts. That is to say: I now expound these great precepts of the Mind-Ground, which are an accumulation of immeasurable merit and virtue. Without any thought of greed or reluctance, I dedicate all of it to sentient beings so that they may all proceed together toward the Buddha’s omniscience, rather than toward the lesser fruits of humans and devas or of the Two Vehicles.

I further vow that all who hear this Dharma of the precepts shall attain the unsurpassed Way. This is because every word and every phrase of these precepts flows forth from Vairocana’s Mind-Ground. This is the original source of all Buddhas and the root of bodhi.

Therefore, once anyone has heard this Dharma of the precepts, the seed of Buddhahood has been planted; how could that person fail to attain perfect enlightenment?

Yet faculties may be keen or dull, and practitioners may be diligent or indolent; therefore, attainment may be swift or slow. But if one attains correspondence in a single thought, the preceding thought is unborn—so how could the succeeding thought exist and then be extinguished? Sentient beings and Buddhas are nondual; from the beginning they have been one. How, then, could there be either slowness or swiftness?