梵網經

Venerable Ones! (Great Assembly, children of the Buddha), join your palms and listen single-mindedly and attentively! I am now about to recite the preface to the Great Vehicle Dharma of the Buddhas. Let the Great Assembly listen in silence. Whoever among you knows that you have committed an offense should repent. Through repentance, you will attain peace and joy. If you do not repent, your offenses will become still graver. Those who are without fault should remain silent. From this silence, it is known that the Great Assembly is pure.

Venerable Ones (Great Assembly, children of the Buddha), listen attentively! After the Buddha’s nirvana, during the age of the decline of the Dharma, you should revere the Pratimoksha. The Pratimoksha is precisely this precept Dharma.

Upholding these precepts is like encountering a bright lamp while walking through the dark night, like a poor person obtaining precious treasure, like the sick being healed, like a prisoner being released, or like a traveler far from home returning home. You should know that this precept Dharma is the wise teacher of the Great Assembly, no different from the Buddha while he was still in the world. If one has no fear of wrongdoing, wholesome thoughts will be difficult to bring forth.

Therefore, the sutra teaches: Do not regard a minor fault lightly, thinking it can do no harm; though drops of water are small, they gradually fill a great jar. An offense may be committed in a mere instant, yet one may have to suffer in the hells for thousands upon tens of thousands of years. Once one has fallen and lost the human body, it will be difficult to regain it even through ten thousand lifetimes.

Youth does not remain but passes like a galloping horse. Human life is impermanent, swifter than water rushing down a slope. Though alive today, one cannot be assured of tomorrow.

Everyone in the Great Assembly should single-mindedly strive with diligent vigor. Do not be indolent, negligent, or heedlessly given to sleep and rest. At night, you should gather in the mind, recollect the Buddha, and practice meditation.

Do not allow time to pass vainly and without benefit, lest you later be filled with regret. Everyone in the Great Assembly should single-mindedly and reverently accord with these precepts, cultivate in accordance with the Dharma, and diligently study and practice them.

I.—BUDDHA LOCANA:

At that time, for the sake of the Great Assembly, Buddha Locana briefly expounded the “Mind-Ground,” like the tip of a hair among the hundreds of thousands of Ganges-sands of ineffable Dharma gates.

He concluded: “This Mind-Ground is precisely what all Buddhas of the past have expounded, what all Buddhas of the future will expound, and what all Buddhas of the present are now expounding. It is also the Dharma gate that all bodhisattvas have studied, will study, and are now studying.

“For a hundred asamkhya kalpas, I cultivated this Mind-Ground, and thereby came to be called Locana. O Buddhas! Take this teaching of mine and thereby open the path of the Mind-Ground for all sentient beings.”

Thereupon, from the radiant Heavenly-Light Lion Throne in the Lotus-Blossom Dais-Treasury World, Buddha Locana emitted rays of light. From within those rays came a voice addressing the Buddhas seated upon the thousand precious lotus petals: “Receive and uphold this chapter of my Mind-Ground Dharma Gate, and in succession expound it again to the thousand hundred kotis of Shakyamunis and to all sentient beings. All should receive and uphold it, read and recite it, and single-mindedly practice it in obedience.”

After receiving the chapter of the Mind-Ground Dharma Gate, the Buddhas seated upon the thousand precious lotus petals, together with the thousand hundred kotis of Shakyamunis, all rose from their Lion Thrones. Their entire bodies emitted innumerable rays of light. Within each ray appeared immeasurable transformation Buddhas, while at the same time they scattered immeasurable beautiful blue, yellow, red, and white flowers as offerings to Buddha Locana. Having completed their offerings, the Buddhas took their leave and returned.

Upon departing from the Lotus-Blossom Dais-Treasury World, the Buddhas entered the samadhi of the essential nature of empty space and flower-radiance. Each then returned to his former place beneath the Bodhi tree in Jambudvipa.

After emerging from the samadhi of the essential nature of empty space and flower-radiance, the Buddha sat upon the Vajra Heavenly-Light-King Throne and in the Hall of Wondrous Radiance, where he expounded the Ten World-Oceans.

The Buddha then expounded the Dharma of the Ten Abodes in the palace of Shakra; the Dharma of the Ten Practices in the palace of the Yama Heaven; the Dharma of the Ten Dedications in the palace of the Tushita Heaven; the Dharma of the Ten Dhyana Samadhis in the palace of the Heaven of Delight in Transformations; the Dharma of the Ten Grounds in the palace of the Heaven of Mastery over Others’ Transformations; the Dharma of the Ten Vajras in the realm of the First Dhyana; the Dharma of the Ten Patiences in the realm of the Second Dhyana; and the Dharma of the Ten Vows in the realm of the Third Dhyana.

Finally, in the Fourth Dhyana, within the palace of the Great Self-Mastery Heavenly King, the Buddha expounded the chapter of the Mind-Ground Dharma Gate that Buddha Locana had formerly expounded in the Lotus-Blossom Dais-Treasury World. All the thousand hundred kotis of Shakyamunis in their own worlds likewise expounded it in this manner. (As stated in the “Virtuous Kalpa” chapter.)

II.—BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI:

At that time, Buddha Shakyamuni, having first manifested a body in the Lotus-Blossom Dais-Treasury World, then traveled eastward to the palace of the Heavenly King, where he expounded the

“Sutra of Mara Receiving Transformation.” Afterward, he descended to be born in Southern Jambudvipa, in the kingdom of Kapilavastu. King Shuddhodana was his father, and Queen Maya was his mother; his childhood name was Siddhartha. After leaving home and practicing for seven years, he attained the Way at the age of thirty and was called Buddha Shakyamuni. From the Precious Vajra Flower-Radiance Throne at the Bodhimanda of Tranquil Cessation up to the palace of the Great Self-Mastery Heavenly King, the Buddha successively visited ten places to expound the Dharma. At that time, upon contemplating the precious banners and netted canopy of the Great Brahma Heavenly King, the Buddha expounded the Brahmajala Sutra for the Great Assembly.

He taught: “Immeasurable worlds are like the openings in a net. Every world is different from all the others, their differences being immeasurable in number. The Buddha’s teachings are likewise so.”

The Buddha had come to this Saha World eight thousand times, sitting upon the Precious Vajra Flower-Radiance Throne and proceeding up to the palace of the Great Self-Mastery Heavenly King, where he briefly expounded the

“Mind-Ground Dharma Gate” for the entire assembly at each of those Dharma gatherings. Afterward, the Buddha descended from the palace of the Heavenly King and sat beneath the Bodhi tree in Jambudvipa. For all sentient beings upon this earth—the foolish and benighted ordinary beings—he expounded the single precept Dharma of the Vajra Radiant Precious Precepts.

This precept Dharma is what Buddha Locana constantly upheld and recited when he first brought forth the bodhicitta during his period of causal cultivation. This precept Dharma is also the fundamental source of all Buddhas, the fundamental source of all bodhisattvas, and the seed of Buddha-nature. All sentient beings possess Buddha-nature.

All consciousness, form, and mind—all that is sentient, all that is mind—are encompassed within the precept Dharma of Buddha-nature. Because the true cause assuredly and perpetually exists, the Dharma-body assuredly abides forever. These ten Pratimokshas thus appear in the world.

This precept Dharma is revered, received, and upheld by all sentient beings throughout the three times. Now the Buddha will once again expound for this Great Assembly the Precept Chapter of the Inexhaustible Treasury, the precept chapter of all sentient beings, whose fundamental source and intrinsic nature are pure.

I am now Locana,

Seated upon the Lotus Dais.

Upon the thousand encircling lotus petals

I manifest a thousand Shakyamunis.

Each lotus petal contains a hundred kotis of worlds;

In each world is one Buddha Shakyamuni.

All sit beneath their Bodhi trees

And simultaneously attain perfect enlightenment.

These thousand hundred kotis of Buddhas

Have Locana as their original body.

The thousand hundred kotis of Shakyamuni Buddhas

Each bring assemblies numerous as motes of dust;

Together they come to where I am

To hear me recite the Buddha-precepts,

And I then expound the Gate of Amrita.

Now the thousand hundred kotis of Buddhas

Return to their own bodhimandas.

All sit beneath their Bodhi trees

And recite the ten major and forty-eight

Precepts of the Original Teacher, Locana.

The precepts shine like the sun and moon,

And are also like a necklace of precious jewels.

Bodhisattvas numerous as motes of dust

Attain Buddhahood through these precepts.

This is what Locana recited.

I too recite in this way.

You bodhisattvas newly embarked upon the path,

Must reverently receive and uphold the precepts!

Having received and upheld these precepts,

You should transmit them to sentient beings.

Listen attentively as I now recite

The Pratimoksha Dharma,

The treasury of precepts within the Buddha-Dharma.

The great assembly should firmly believe:

You are Buddhas yet to be;

I am a Buddha already accomplished.

Always maintain such faith,

Then the precepts will be complete and perfect.

All beings who possess a mind

Should embrace and safeguard the Buddha’s precepts.

Any sentient being who receives the Buddha’s precepts

Thereby enters the ranks of the Buddhas.

Only after joining the ranks of the Greatly Awakened Ones

Can one truly be called a child of the Buddhas.

The great assembly should all be reverent

And wholeheartedly listen to my recitation.

III. THE BUDDHA ESTABLISHES THE BODHISATTVA PRECEPTS:

At that time, when Śākyamuni Buddha had first attained unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment while seated beneath the Bodhi tree, he began to establish the “Bodhisattva Precepts.” He taught:

Be filial and obedient toward your parents, teachers and Sangha elders, and the Three Jewels. Be obedient to the Dharma of the ultimate path. Filial obedience is called the precepts and is also called restraint. Thereupon, the Buddha emitted immeasurable rays of light from his mouth. At that time, a great assembly numbering hundreds of myriads of kotis—including bodhisattvas, the eighteen Brahmā gods, the beings of the six heavens of the Desire Realm, and the rulers of sixteen great kingdoms—joined their palms and wholeheartedly listened as the Buddha recited the Mahayana Precept-Dharma of all Buddhas.

The Buddha said to the bodhisattvas: “Now, every half-month, I personally recite the precept-dharma of all Buddhas. All bodhisattvas who have first aroused the resolve, up to the bodhisattvas of the Ten Initiations, the Ten Nurturings, the Ten Vajra Stages, and the Ten Grounds, also recite these precepts. For this reason, the light of the precepts issues from my mouth.

This light is emitted for a cause and condition, not without reason. This light of the precepts is neither blue, yellow, red, white, nor black. It is neither material dharma nor mental dharma; neither existent dharma nor nonexistent dharma; neither causal dharma nor resultant dharma.

It is the original source of all Buddhas and the fundamental basis of all children of the Buddha. Therefore, all children of the Buddha must receive and uphold, read and recite, and diligently study this precept-dharma.”

“Children of the Buddha, listen attentively! Whoever receives these Bodhisattva Precepts—whether a king, crown prince, official, bhikshu, or bhikshuni; whether a heavenly being of the Form Realm or the Desire Realm; whether a commoner, eunuch, licentious man or woman, or servant; whether one of the eight classes of ghosts and spirits, a vajra spirit, an animal, or even a transformed being—if that being can understand the Dharma teacher’s words when the precepts are transmitted, then that being may receive the precepts and shall be called foremost in purity.”

IV. THE TEN GRAVE PRECEPTS:

The Buddha told all children of the Buddha:

“There are ten grave precepts. If one who has received the Bodhisattva Precepts does not recite these precepts, that person is not a bodhisattva and is not a child of the Buddha. I myself also recite them in this way. All bodhisattvas have studied them, will study them, and are now studying them. The characteristics of the Bodhisattva Precepts that must be studied have now been explained in brief. You should revere and uphold them wholeheartedly.” The Buddha taught:

1. The Precept Against Killing:

If a child of the Buddha personally kills, causes another to kill, devises means of killing, praises killing, rejoices upon witnessing killing, or even kills through spells or incantations—having the cause of killing, the conditions for killing, the method of killing, or the karma of killing—then that person transgresses. One must never intentionally kill any sentient being that has life. As a child of the Buddha, one should always possess a mind of loving-kindness, compassion, and filial obedience, and devise means to rescue and protect all sentient beings. If, instead, one gives free rein to one’s mind and heartlessly takes life, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

2. The Precept Against Stealing:

If a child of the Buddha personally steals, causes another to steal, devises means of stealing, or even steals through spells or incantations—having the cause of stealing, the conditions for stealing, the method of stealing, or the karma of stealing—then that person transgresses. One must not steal anything belonging to another, whether it belongs to ghosts and spirits or even to thieves and robbers, down to a needle or a blade of grass. As a child of the Buddha, one should always possess a mind of loving-kindness, compassion, and filial obedience, and constantly help all people gain merit and happiness. If, instead, one steals another’s property, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

3. The Precept Against Sexual Misconduct:

If a child of the Buddha personally engages in sexual misconduct, causes another to engage in sexual misconduct, or engages in sexual acts with any woman, female being, or female animal, even a heavenly woman, female ghost, or female spirit, or through an improper orifice—having the cause of sexual misconduct, the conditions for sexual misconduct, the method of sexual misconduct, or the karma of sexual misconduct—then that person transgresses.

As a child of the Buddha, one must never deliberately engage in sexual misconduct with any being. One should possess a mind of filial obedience, liberate all sentient beings, and use the pure Dharma to instruct and guide others. If, instead, one lacks compassion and causes others to give rise to sexual desire, making no distinction even concerning animals, or commits sexual acts with one’s mother, daughter, elder sister, or younger sister among the six close relations, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

4. The Precept Against False Speech:

If a child of the Buddha personally speaks falsely, causes another to speak falsely, or devises means of false speech—having the cause of false speech, the conditions for false speech, the method of false speech, or the karma of false speech—then that person transgresses. This includes saying that one has seen what one has not seen, saying that one has not seen what one has seen, or speaking falsely through body or mind. As a child of the Buddha, one should always maintain right speech and right view and also enable all sentient beings to possess right speech and right view. If, instead, one causes others to engage in wrong speech, wrong views, or wrong action, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

5. The Precept Against Selling Alcohol:

If a child of the Buddha personally sells alcohol or causes another to sell alcohol—having the cause of selling alcohol, the conditions for selling alcohol, or the karma of selling alcohol—then that person transgresses. No kind of alcohol may be sold, for alcohol is a cause and condition for the arising of offenses. As a child of the Buddha, one should enable all sentient beings to possess clear and luminous wisdom. If, instead, one brings intoxication and delusion to all sentient beings, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

6. The Precept Against Proclaiming the Faults of the Fourfold Assembly:

If a child of the Buddha personally proclaims the offenses and faults of monastic bodhisattvas, lay bodhisattvas, bhikshus, or bhikshunis, or causes another to proclaim such offenses and faults—having the cause of proclaiming faults, the conditions for proclaiming faults, the method of proclaiming faults, or the karma of proclaiming faults—then that person transgresses. As a child of the Buddha, upon hearing evil persons, followers of non-Buddhist paths, or followers of the Two Vehicles speak of things contrary to the Dharma and discipline within the Buddha-Dharma, one should always compassionately teach and transform those evil persons so that they give rise to wholesome faith in the Mahayana.

If, instead, a child of the Buddha personally proclaims the offenses and faults found within the Buddha-Dharma, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

7. The Precept Against Praising Oneself and Disparaging Others:

If a child of the Buddha praises oneself and disparages others, or causes others to praise oneself and disparage others—having the cause of disparaging others, the conditions for disparaging others, the method of disparaging others, or the karma of disparaging others—then that person transgresses. As a child of the Buddha, one should bear in place of all sentient beings the suffering and humiliation of contempt and slander, taking what is blameworthy upon oneself and yielding what is good to others. If a child of the Buddha vaunts one’s own abilities and virtues while concealing and suppressing the good qualities of others, thereby causing them to be held in contempt, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

8. The Precept Against Stinginess and Abusive Rejection:

If a child of the Buddha is personally stingy or causes another to be stingy—having the cause of stinginess, the conditions for stinginess, the method of stinginess, or the karma of stinginess—then that person transgresses. When a child of the Buddha sees impoverished people coming to ask for aid, one must provide whatever they need. If, instead, the child of the Buddha becomes angry and hateful and refuses to give even the slightest thing, or, when someone comes seeking instruction in the Dharma, refuses to speak even a single verse or sentence and furthermore drives that person away with abuse and scolding, that child of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva pārājika offense.”

9. The Precept Against Harboring Unrelenting Anger:

If a disciple of the Buddha becomes angry himself or causes others to become angry—through the cause of anger, the conditions of anger, the means of anger, or the karma of anger—the disciple of the Buddha should instead enable all sentient beings to develop wholesome roots free from conflict and should always possess loving-kindness, compassion, and filial respect. Yet, contrary to this, toward any sentient being, even toward a nonsentient being, he uses harsh words to revile and humiliate them, and furthermore strikes them with his hands, feet, knives, or clubs, yet still does not feel appeased. Even when the victim speaks gently, apologizes, and begs to repent and make amends, he still does not relinquish his anger. This disciple of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva parajika offense.”

10. Precept Against Slandering the Three Jewels:

If a disciple of the Buddha slanders the Three Jewels himself or incites others to slander the Three Jewels—through the cause of slander, the conditions of slander, the means of slander, or the karma of slander—a disciple of the Buddha, upon hearing even a single word spoken by heterodox followers or evil persons slandering the Three Jewels, should feel pain as though three hundred sharp spears had pierced his heart. How much more so if he slanders them with his own mouth! If he has neither faith in nor filial reverence for the Three Jewels and even assists evil persons and those of wrong views in slandering them, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “bodhisattva parajika offense.”

V. THE BUDDHA’S CONCLUDING ADMONITION:

Disciples of the Buddha! The foregoing are the ten major precepts of the bodhisattva, which all disciples of the Buddha should study. Of these ten precepts, one must not violate even a single precept by so much as a particle of dust, much less violate all ten!

If anyone violates them, that person will be unable to give rise to the bodhicitta in the present life and will also lose the station of a king, the station of a wheel-turning king, and the station of a bhiksu or bhiksuni. That person will also lose the attainments of the “Ten Initiations,” the “Ten Nurturings,” the “Ten Vajra Stages,” and the “Ten Grounds.” All the wondrous fruits of the eternally abiding Buddha-nature will be lost, and that person will fall into the three evil destinies.

For two or three kalpas, that person will not hear even the names of their parents or of the Three Jewels. Therefore, one must not violate a single precept. All bodhisattvas have studied, will study, and are now studying them.

These ten precepts should be studied and wholeheartedly revered and upheld. (They are explained extensively in the chapter “The Awesome Deportment Regarding the Eight Difficulties.”)

VI. THE FORTY-EIGHT MINOR PRECEPTS:

The Buddha told the bodhisattvas: “Having explained the ten major precepts, I shall now speak of the forty-eight minor precepts.”

1. Precept Against Failing to Respect Teachers and Fellow Practitioners:

If a disciple of the Buddha is about to assume the throne of a king or a wheel-turning king, or is about to take public office, he should first receive the bodhisattva precepts. In this way, all ghosts and spirits will protect the king and the officials, and all Buddhas will rejoice.

Having received the precepts, the disciple of the Buddha should possess filial respect and reverence. If a senior monk, an upadhyaya, an acarya, a greatly virtuous one, or a fellow practitioner of the same learning, views, and conduct comes to his home, he must rise to welcome them, bow in greeting, and inquire after their well-being. In every respect, he must make offerings in accordance with the Dharma, even if this requires selling his own body, his kingdom and cities, or his sons and daughters, and he must provide them with the seven precious substances and a hundred kinds of goods.

If, instead, the disciple of the Buddha gives rise to arrogance, anger, or delusion, refuses to welcome them and bow in greeting, or even refuses to make offerings in accordance with the Dharma, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

2. Precept Against Drinking Alcohol:

If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately drinks alcohol, alcohol is a substance that causes the drinker to produce immeasurable offenses. If one personally hands a cup of alcohol to another to drink, one will incur the evil retribution of being without hands for five hundred lifetimes; how much more so if one drinks it oneself! Nor should one cause others or any sentient beings to drink alcohol, much less drink it oneself. A disciple of the Buddha must not drink any kind of alcohol. If one deliberately drinks it or causes others to drink it, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

3. Precept Against Eating Meat:

If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately eats meat, he must not eat the flesh of any sentient being whatsoever. Those who eat meat lose the heart of great loving-kindness and compassion and sever the seed of Buddha-nature; all sentient beings who see such a person will keep their distance. A person who eats meat incurs immeasurable offenses. Therefore, all disciples of the Buddha must not eat the flesh of any sentient being. If one deliberately eats meat, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

4. Precept Against Eating the Five Pungent Plants:

A disciple of the Buddha must not eat the “five pungent plants”: onions, Chinese chives, garlic, shallots, and asafoetida. These five pungent plants must not be eaten when added to any food. If one deliberately eats them, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

5. Precept Against Failing to Teach Offenders to Repent:

When a disciple of the Buddha sees someone violate the five precepts, the eight precepts, or the ten precepts; break the precepts; or commit the seven heinous offenses, offenses associated with the eight difficulties, or any other offense against the precepts, he must exhort that person to repent. If the disciple of the Buddha does not exhort the offender to repent but instead dwells and lives together with that person, remains together with that person in the bodhisattva assembly, and recites the precepts together with that person without exposing the person’s offense or reminding that person to repent, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

6. Precept Against Failing to Make Offerings and Request the Dharma:

If a disciple of the Buddha sees a Mahayana Dharma master, or fellow Mahayana practitioners of the same learning, views, and conduct, who have traveled from a hundred or a thousand miles away to a Sangha dwelling, house, city, or settlement, he must immediately rise to welcome them, escort them, bow to them, and make offerings to them. Three times each day he must make offerings of a hundred varieties of food and drink, beds and seats, medicines, and all necessities, even if they are worth three taels of gold, and provide them to the Dharma master.

Every day—morning, noon, and evening—he should always request the Dharma master to teach the Dharma and should bow before him. He must never harbor anger, resentment, or distress. He should continually request the Dharma without weariness, valuing only the Dharma and disregarding his own person.

If a disciple of the Buddha does not act in this way, he commits a “minor defiling offense.”

7. Precept Against Failing to Attend Dharma Teachings:

If a disciple of the Buddha is a newly trained bodhisattva, then wherever sutras and Vinaya are being taught, he must bring his sutras and Vinaya texts to the Dharma master’s place to listen to the teachings and ask questions. Whether the teaching is given in mountains or forests, in a grove, monastery, house, or elsewhere, he must go to every place where the Dharma is taught to listen and learn. If the disciple of the Buddha does not go there to hear the Dharma and ask questions, he commits a “minor defiling offense.”

8. Precept Against Turning Away from the Mahayana:

If a disciple of the Buddha entertains the thought of rejecting the eternally abiding Mahayana sutras and Vinaya, claiming that they were not spoken by the Buddha, and instead accepts and upholds scriptures and disciplinary codes based on wrong views, all the prohibitions of the sravakas of the Two Vehicles, and the evil views of heterodox paths, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

9. Precept Against Failing to Care for the Sick:

If a disciple of the Buddha sees any sick person, he must wholeheartedly make offerings to and care for that person just as he would make offerings to the Buddha. Among the eight fields of merit, caring for the sick is the “foremost field of merit.” If one’s parents, Sangha teachers, or disciples suffer from illness, infirmity, or any of the hundred kinds of painful disease, one should care for them until they recover. If, because of resentment or anger, a disciple of the Buddha fails to tend them, or even sees a sick person in a Sangha dwelling, city, settlement, mountain forest, field, or on a road and fails to provide assistance and relief, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

10. Precept Against Storing Instruments of Killing:

A disciple of the Buddha must not store weapons such as knives, clubs, bows, arrows, axes, spears, and the like, or implements used for killing, such as fishing nets, hunting nets, traps, snares, and the like. As a disciple of the Buddha, even if one’s parents are killed by another, one must not take revenge; how much less should one kill any sentient being! One must not store instruments of killing. If one deliberately stores them, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

These ten precepts should be studied, revered, and upheld. (They are explained extensively in the following six chapters.)

11. Precept Against Serving as an Emissary:

If a Buddha-disciple, for the sake of power, profit, or with malicious intent, acts as an envoy to bring two countries into military alliance, causing their armies to wage war and immeasurable sentient beings to be killed, he commits an offense. A Buddha-disciple must not even enter or move about among armies, much less deliberately serve as an intermediary for war. If he deliberately does so, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

12. The Precept Against Unlawful Commerce:

If a Buddha-disciple deliberately sells free persons, male slaves, female servants, or livestock, or trades in coffins, timber for coffins, or vessels for holding corpses, he commits an offense. He must not personally trade in such things, much less direct others to do so. If he deliberately trades in them himself or directs others to trade in them, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

13. The Precept Against Slander:

If a Buddha-disciple, out of malicious intent, slanders a virtuous or wholesome person, a Dharma master, a monastic teacher, a king, or a noble person who is in fact blameless, falsely accusing that person of having committed the seven heinous offenses or the ten major precept violations, he commits an offense. Toward his father, mother, elder and younger siblings, and six classes of relatives, he should harbor compassion and filial obedience; yet if he instead falsely accuses them of committing heinous offenses and falling into the evil destinies, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

14. The Precept Against Setting Fires:

If a Buddha-disciple, with malicious intent, sets fire to mountains, forests, or open country, he commits an offense. From the fourth month through the ninth month, he must not set fires. Nor may he allow fire to spread to houses, towns, monastic dwellings, the fields and trees of others, or the palaces and possessions of spirits. Wherever living beings are present, he must not deliberately burn the place. If he deliberately burns it, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

15. The Precept Against Teaching Doctrines Outside the Mahayana:

A Buddha-disciple must exhort everyone—from disciples of the Buddha, the six classes of relatives, and all spiritual friends, to non-Buddhists and evil persons—to receive and uphold the Mahayana sutras and vinaya. He should explain their principles so that they understand and give rise to the bodhicitta, the Ten Initiating Minds, the Ten Nurturing Minds, and the Ten Vajra Minds. Within these thirty minds, he should explain the functions of each Dharma in their proper sequence. Yet if a Buddha-disciple, out of malicious intent or anger, improperly teaches others the sutras and vinaya of the shravaka and pratyekabuddha vehicles, or the treatises of non-Buddhists holding wrong views, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

16. The Precept Against Teaching the Dharma Confusedly for Profit:

A Buddha-disciple must wholeheartedly study the Mahayana sutras, vinaya, and rules of deportment, and thoroughly understand their principles. When he sees novice bodhisattvas who have come from a hundred or a thousand miles away seeking instruction in the Mahayana sutras and vinaya, he should explain, in accordance with the Dharma, all ascetic practices, including burning the body or burning an arm. If one does not burn one’s body, arm, or finger as an offering to the Buddhas, one is not a renunciant bodhisattva.

One should even relinquish flesh from one’s own body, together with one’s hands and feet, to give to hungry tigers, wolves, and lions, and to all hungry ghosts. Only afterward should he teach the true Dharma to those novices in stages according to each person’s faculties, so that their minds may be opened and illumined. If a Buddha-disciple, for the sake of power or profit, fails to teach when he ought to teach, but instead expounds the sutras and vinaya perversely, with the words confused and without proper order, teaching the Dharma in a manner that maligns the Three Jewels, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

17. The Precept Against Relying on Power to Extort Contributions:

If a Buddha-disciple, for the sake of food, drink, money, possessions, gain, support, or fame, associates closely with kings, princes, and officials, relying upon their authority and power to coerce others into surrendering money or property, and further directs others to seek gain in the same way, he commits an offense. All such pursuits of gain are called evil seeking and excessive seeking; they are entirely devoid of compassion and filial obedience. This Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

18. The Precept Against Serving as a Precept Master Without Understanding:

A Buddha-disciple must study the twelve divisions of the scriptures and regularly recite the precepts. During the six periods of each day and night, he must strictly uphold the bodhisattva precepts and clearly understand their meaning, principles, and the Buddha-nature that is the essence of the precepts. If a Buddha-disciple does not understand even a single verse or sentence, or the causes and conditions underlying the precepts and vinaya, yet falsely claims to understand them, he deceives both himself and others. If, without understanding a single Dharma or knowing a single rule of the vinaya, he nevertheless serves as a precept master and transmits the precepts to others, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

19. The Precept Against Divisive Speech (the Double Tongue):

If a Buddha-disciple, out of malicious intent, sees a precept-observing bhikshu master holding an incense burner in his hands and cultivating the bodhisattva practices, yet personally engages in tale-bearing between parties, causing discord, disparaging the virtuous, and creating many evil karmic deeds, this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

20. The Precept Against Failing to Release Living Beings:

A Buddha-disciple should, out of compassion, practice the release of living beings. All males have been my fathers, and all females have been my mothers. Throughout many lifetimes, I have been born among them.

For this reason, all sentient beings in the six destinies have been my parents. If I kill them and eat their flesh, I thereby kill my own parents and also kill my own former bodies. All substances composed of the four great elements have been the fundamental substance and bodies of my former lives; therefore, I must always practice the release of living beings and encourage others to do so.

Whenever I see worldly people killing living beings, I should devise means to rescue them and free them from suffering and danger. I should constantly teach the bodhisattva precepts in order to liberate sentient beings.

On the anniversary of the death of one’s father, mother, elder brother, elder sister, younger brother, or younger sister, one should invite a Dharma master to expound the sutras, vinaya, and bodhisattva precepts. Through this merit and virtue, the deceased may be reborn in the Pure Land and behold the Buddhas, or may be reborn in the heavenly or human realms. If a Buddha-disciple fails to do the foregoing, he commits a “minor defiled offense.”

These ten precepts should be studied, revered, and faithfully upheld. (Each precept is explained in detail in the “Extinguishing Offenses” chapter.)

21. The Precept Against Repaying Anger with Anger and Blows with Blows:

A Buddha-disciple must not repay anger with anger or blows with blows. Even if his father, mother, elder or younger siblings, or any of his six classes of relatives are killed by another, he must not take revenge. Even if the ruler of the country is murdered, he must not take revenge.

To take a life in recompense for a life is contrary to the way of filial obedience. He must not even keep servants and then beat or revile them, thereby creating immeasurable offenses each day through the three karmic activities, especially through verbal karma. How much less may he deliberately commit any of the seven heinous offenses.

If a renunciant bodhisattva, lacking compassion, deliberately takes revenge—even on behalf of one of his six classes of relatives—this Buddha-disciple commits a “minor defiled offense.”

22. The Precept Against Arrogantly Failing to Request the Dharma:

If a Buddha-disciple who has only recently entered the monastic life and does not yet understand the sutras and vinaya relies upon his own knowledge and intelligence, his noble status or advanced age, his distinguished lineage or birth into a powerful family, or his broad learning, great merit, and wealth, and thereby becomes arrogant and refuses to study the sutras and vinaya under Dharma masters who entered the path before him, he commits an offense.

Such a Dharma master may be of humble lineage, born into a lowly family, young, poor, socially insignificant, or physically impaired, yet may truly possess virtue and thoroughly understand many sutras and vinaya texts. A novice bodhisattva must not judge a Dharma master by his lineage and consequently refuse to approach him to study the principles of the Mahayana. If a Buddha-disciple behaves in this way, he commits a “minor defiled offense.”

23. The Precept Against Arrogantly Failing to Teach Wholeheartedly:

If, after the Buddha has entered nirvana, a disciple of the Buddha gives rise to a wholesome resolve and wishes to receive the bodhisattva precepts, that disciple may personally vow to receive them before images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas. The disciple should repent before the images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas for seven days; upon seeing an auspicious sign, the disciple acquires the precepts. If no auspicious sign is seen, the disciple must repent for fourteen days, twenty-one days, or even as long as a year, seeking to behold an auspicious sign.

After seeing an auspicious sign, the disciple may receive the precepts before images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas. If no auspicious sign has been seen, then even though the disciple receives the precepts before an image of the Buddha, this is still not called acquiring the precepts. If the disciple receives the precepts before a Dharma Master who has received the bodhisattva precepts, there is no need to see an auspicious sign.

Why is this? Because the Dharma Master belongs to a lineage in which the precepts have been transmitted successively, and therefore no auspicious sign is required. Upon receiving the precepts before that Dharma Master, the disciple immediately acquires them; through wholehearted reverence, the disciple acquires the precepts.

If no Dharma Master who can transmit the precepts can be found within a thousand leagues, the disciple of the Buddha is permitted to vow personally to receive the bodhisattva precepts before images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, but must see an auspicious sign.

If Dharma Masters rely upon their own mastery of the sutras, Vinaya, and the Mahayana precepts, associate with the powerful and noble, and, when newly aspiring bodhisattvas come to seek instruction in the meaning of the sutras and Vinaya, become angry or hateful, or treat them with contempt and arrogance, refusing to instruct them wholeheartedly, they commit a “minor defiling offense.”

24.- The Precept Against Failing to Study the Mahayana:

If a disciple of the Buddha has access to the Mahayana Dharma of the sutras and Vinaya—the right view, true nature, and true Dharma-body of the Buddha—but refuses to study and cultivate it diligently, instead casting aside the seven precious treasures and studying the heterodox scriptures and disciplinary texts of the Two Vehicles, non-Buddhist paths, and worldly teachings, thereby extinguishing the seed of Buddhahood and creating causes and conditions that obstruct the Way, this is not the practice of the bodhisattva path. If the disciple deliberately acts in this way, that disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

25.- The Precept Concerning Incompetent Management of the Assembly:

If, after the Buddha has entered nirvana, a disciple of the Buddha serves as a Dharma Master, lecturer, Vinaya Master, meditation master, senior seat, administrator, or guest prefect, the disciple must compassionately and skillfully maintain harmony within the assembly, carefully safeguard the property of the Three Jewels, and not use it without restraint as though it were personal property. If, instead, the disciple disturbs the assembly, causes quarrels and contention, and carelessly squanders the property of the Three Jewels, that disciple of the Buddha commits

“a minor defiling offense.”

26.- The Precept Against Privately Accepting Offerings:

If a disciple of the Buddha is already residing in a Sangha dwelling and later sees visiting bodhisattva bhikshus arrive—whether at a town, a residence belonging to the Sangha or the king, a place of summer retreat, or a great assembly—the resident Sangha must welcome them upon arrival and see them off upon departure, providing them with food and drink, bedding, medicine, houses, rooms, beds, seats, and so forth. If the disciple has nothing personally, the disciple should sell the self, sell the disciple’s children, or cut flesh from the disciple’s own body and sell it in order to obtain provisions for those visiting Sangha members.

If a donor comes to invite the Sangha to a meal, the visiting Sangha members are entitled to participate, and the administrator must assign visiting Sangha members in proper order to attend the meal. If the resident Sangha privately attends the meal without assigning any visiting Sangha members to go, the administrator incurs immeasurable offenses, is unworthy to be called a shramana, does not belong to the lineage of the Shakyas, and is no different from an animal.

This disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

27.- The Precept Against Accepting a Personal Invitation:

A disciple of the Buddha must never accept offerings reserved exclusively for that disciple. Such offerings belong to the Sangha of the ten directions; to accept them privately is to take the property of the Sangha of the ten directions as one’s own share. Likewise, the disciple must not privately accept and use offerings intended for the eight fields of merit: the Buddhas, holy beings, Dharma teachers and Sangha members, one’s father, one’s mother, and the sick. Such a disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

28.- The Precept Against Inviting Sangha Members Individually:

If a disciple of the Buddha—whether a monastic bodhisattva, a lay bodhisattva, or any donor—wishes to invite the Sangha in order to make offerings and prayers, the disciple should go to the Sangha dwelling and inform the administrator. The administrator should say: “By inviting according to the proper order, one receives the worthy and holy Sangha of the ten directions.” Even if a worldly person individually invites five hundred arhats or members of the bodhisattva Sangha, it is still not equal to inviting a single ordinary Sangha member according to the proper order.

In the teachings of the seven Buddhas, there is no practice of inviting Sangha members individually. Inviting Sangha members individually is a practice of non-Buddhist paths and is contrary to the way of filial reverence. If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately issues individual invitations, the disciple commits a “minor defiling offense.”

29.- The Precept Against Sustaining Oneself Through Wrong Livelihood:

If, with an evil mind and for the sake of profit and support, a disciple of the Buddha traffics in the beauty of men or women; personally prepares food for sale; personally mills or pounds grain; practices physiognomy; interprets dreams; predicts whether a child will be male or female; employs talismans, spells, magical arts, or occult crafts; uses methods for raising falcons or hunting dogs; or compounds any of the hundred or thousand kinds of poison, including snake poison, poisons produced from gold or silver, and poison made from gu insects—all without compassion or filial reverence—and deliberately engages in such activities, that disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

30.- The Precept Against Managing Affairs for the White-Robed Laity:

If, with an evil mind, a disciple of the Buddha personally slanders the Three Jewels while feigning reverence for them, professing emptiness with the mouth while acting as though phenomena truly exist, and serves as a manager for the white-robed laity—acting as a matchmaker for laymen and laywomen so that they may engage in sexual relations and thereby create the karma of bondage—or, on the six fasting days of each month and during the three months of prolonged fasting each year, engages in killing, stealing, breaking the fast, or violating the precepts, that disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

These ten precepts should be studied and upheld wholeheartedly and reverently. (They are explained clearly in the “Establishment of the Precepts” chapter.)

31.- The Precept Against Failing to Redeem Those in Bondage:

If, after the Buddha has entered nirvana, in an evil age a disciple of the Buddha sees followers of non-Buddhist paths, bands of thieves, or any evil persons selling images of Buddhas or bodhisattvas, selling parents, selling sutras or Vinaya texts, or selling bhikshus, bhikshunis, practitioners of the bodhisattva path, or those who have aroused the bodhicitta, in order to make them servants of officials or slaves of others, the disciple of the Buddha should give rise to compassion and find a way to rescue them.

If lacking sufficient means, the disciple must solicit donations from various places in order to redeem the images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas and all sutras and Vinaya texts, and to redeem bhikshus, bhikshunis, practitioners of the bodhisattva path, and those who have aroused the bodhicitta. If the disciple does not redeem them, that disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

32.- The Precept Against Harming Sentient Beings:

A disciple of the Buddha must not trade in knives, clubs, bows, arrows, or other instruments of killing. The disciple must not keep false scales or deficient measures. The disciple must not rely upon the power of officials or authorities to seize another person’s property. The disciple must not maliciously bind or imprison people, nor sabotage their successful undertakings. The disciple must not raise cats, foxes, pigs, dogs, and the like. If the disciple deliberately does any of the above, that disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

33.- The Precept Against Wrongful Activities and Distracting Pursuits:

A disciple of the Buddha must not, with an evil mind, go to watch men, women, and others fighting, or armies, generals, bandits, and others waging battle against one another. Nor may the disciple attend theatrical performances, listen to music, play board games, gamble, play shuttlecock, play ball games, and so forth, or engage in divination. The disciple must not serve as an accomplice to thieves or robbers. If the disciple deliberately does any of the above, that disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

34.- The Precept Against Temporarily Abandoning the Bodhicitta:

If a disciple of the Buddha, throughout the six periods of day and night, recites these bodhisattva precepts, they should preserve the precepts in all activities—walking, standing, lying down, and sitting—as firmly as a diamond, like carrying a buoyant float to cross the great sea, and like the bhikshus who allowed themselves to be bound with ropes of grass. They should always have wholesome faith in the Mahayana. They should know that they themselves are Buddhas not yet perfected, whereas all Buddhas are Buddhas already perfected; they should then arouse the bodhi-mind and steadfastly maintain it without retrogression. If even a single thought inclines toward the Two Vehicles or non-Buddhist paths, this disciple of the Buddha commits a minor defiling offense.

35. The Precept against Failing to Make Vows:

A disciple of the Buddha should make these great vows: I vow to be filial and obedient toward my parents, teachers, and members of the Sangha. I vow to encounter good teachers and spiritual friends who will always instruct me in the Mahayana Sutras and Vinaya and teach me about the Ten Resolve-Minds, the Ten Nurturing Minds, the Ten Vajra Minds, and the Ten Grounds, enabling me to understand them clearly and practice in accordance with the true Dharma. I vow to uphold the Buddha’s precepts steadfastly: I would rather die than allow my resolve to weaken. If any disciple of the Buddha fails to make the foregoing vows, they commit a minor defiling offense.

36. The Precept against Failing to Make Solemn Pledges:

After a disciple of the Buddha has made the ten great vows above, they must preserve the Buddha’s precepts. They should solemnly pledge: I would rather leap into a blazing fire, a deep abyss, or a mountain of knives than engage in impurity with any woman (or man) and thereby violate the prohibitions contained in the Sutras and Vinaya of all Buddhas of the Three Times.

They should further pledge: I would rather have my body wrapped in a thousand layers of red-hot iron mesh than allow this body to break the precepts and accept clothing from 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 to break the precepts and consume food offered by faithful donors. I would rather lie upon a vast heap of fire or a red-hot iron plate than allow this body to break the precepts and accept beds or seats from faithful donors.

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

– They should further solemnly pledge: I would rather have my body pounded from head to foot with an iron pestle until it is reduced to ashes and dust than allow this body to break the precepts and receive the reverence and prostrations of faithful donors.

– They should further solemnly pledge: I would rather have my eyes gouged out with hundreds of thousands of swords and spears than use this precept-breaking mind to gaze upon human beauty. I would rather, for one or two kalpas, have my ears pierced through with hundreds of thousands of iron awls than use this precept-breaking mind to listen to pleasing sounds and melodious voices. I would rather have my nose cut off with hundreds of thousands of knives than use this precept-breaking mind to smell fragrances. I would rather have my tongue severed with hundreds of thousands of knives than use this precept-breaking mind to consume people’s fine delicacies. I would rather have my body hacked apart with sharp axes than use this precept-breaking mind to covet fine objects.

– They should further make this vow: May all sentient beings attain Buddhahood.

If a disciple of the Buddha fails to make these solemn pledges, they commit a minor defiling offense.

37. The Precept against Entering Dangerous Places:

A disciple of the Buddha should undertake the dhutanga practices during two periods each year and should practice seated meditation during the summer and winter retreats. They should always carry willow twigs, ash-water, the three robes, an alms bowl, a water vessel, a sitting mat, a khakkhara staff, an incense-burner case, a water-straining bag, a hand towel, a knife, a firestone, tweezers, a rope bed, Sutras, the Vinaya, an image of the Buddha, and an image of a bodhisattva.

When a disciple of the Buddha undertakes the dhutanga practices or travels from place to place over hundreds or thousands of miles, these eighteen articles should always be carried along. The two annual periods for undertaking dhutanga practices extend from the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth day of the third lunar month, and from the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month.

During these two periods, the eighteen articles should always accompany one like a bird’s two wings.

On the days of uposatha, novice disciples of the Buddha should always hold the uposatha observance every half-month and recite the ten major precepts and the forty-eight minor precepts.

When reciting the precepts, they should do so before images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas. If only one person attends the uposatha, that person should recite them. If there are two, three, or even hundreds of thousands of people, one person should recite while all the others listen. The reciter should sit on a higher seat, and the listeners should sit on lower seats. Each person should wear the nine-panel, seven-panel, or five-panel robe of subdued color. During the summer retreat, every matter should likewise accord with the prescribed rules.

When undertaking the dhutanga practices, one must not travel to places fraught with danger: perilous and hostile countries, lands ruled by cruel kings, rugged terrain, dense forests and thickets, places inhabited by lions, tigers, or wolves, or places threatened by floods, storms, fires, bandits, snakes, centipedes, and the like along the roads. One must not enter any such dangerous place. Not only during dhutanga practice, but also during the summer retreat and residence, one must not enter such dangerous places.

If one deliberately enters such places, this disciple of the Buddha commits

a minor defiling offense.

38. The Precept against Violating the Proper Order of Seniority:

A disciple of the Buddha must sit in the proper order prescribed by the Dharma: one who received the precepts earlier should sit in front, and one who received them later should sit behind. Regardless of whether one is old or young, a bhikshu or bhikshuni, a person of high rank such as a king or prince, or even a person of low status such as a eunuch or servant, all should sit according to the proper order: one who received the precepts earlier should sit in front, and one who received them later should sit behind.

They must not behave like deluded non-Buddhists, among whom old and young sit before or behind one another in confusion and without order, no differently from the seating of soldiers and slaves. In my Buddha-Dharma, one who received the precepts earlier sits in front, while one who received them later sits behind.

If a disciple of the Buddha does not sit in the proper order prescribed by the Dharma, they commit a minor defiling offense.

39. The Precept against Failing to Cultivate Merit and Wisdom:

A disciple of the Buddha should always encourage and guide everyone to establish Sangha dwellings in mountains, forests, gardens, and fields; to build stupas, residences for retreats, and places for seated meditation during the summer and winter. All facilities for practicing the Way should be established.

A disciple of the Buddha should expound the Mahayana Sutras and Vinaya to all sentient beings. When illness arises, when the country faces calamity or invasion, on the anniversaries of the deaths of one’s father, mother, elder or younger siblings, preceptor, or acharya, and at each weekly memorial observance up to the seventh week, one should also expound the Mahayana Sutras and Vinaya. At all vegetarian assemblies held for prayer, when setting out to conduct business, or when encountering disasters such as floods, storms, or fires; when boats and ships drift upon great rivers or vast seas; or when one encounters rakshasas and the like, one should also read and recite the Mahayana Sutras and Vinaya.

This applies even to every karmic retribution, the three evil realms, and the eight difficulties; to the seven heinous offenses; to being confined in cangues, fetters, and chains that bind the hands and feet; and to those afflicted by excessive lust, anger, delusion, or illness. For all of these, one should expound these Mahayana Sutras and Vinaya.

If a novice disciple of the Buddha fails to practice as described above, they commit a minor defiling offense.

These nine precepts should be studied and reverently upheld with wholehearted devotion. (They are explained extensively in the “Brahmadanda” Chapter.)

40. The Precept against Conferring the Precepts Inequitably:

If a disciple of the Buddha confers the precepts upon others, they must not discriminate among them. Kings, princes, officials, bhiksus, bhiksunis, laymen, laywomen, men engaged in sexual misconduct, women engaged in sexual misconduct, Brahma gods of the eighteen realms of form, devas of the six desire realms, persons with deficient faculties, persons possessing both sexual organs, eunuchs, servants, and all ghosts and spirits may receive the precepts. They should instruct them that all garments and bedding must be blended in color: blue, red, black, and purple should be dyed into subdued colors in harmony with the Way.

In every land, whatever clothing the people of that country wear, the garments of bhiksu teachers must be distinct from those of laypeople.

When anyone wishes to receive the bodhisattva precepts, the teacher must ask: “In this present life, have you committed any of the seven rebellious offenses?” A bodhisattva Dharma teacher must not confer the precepts in this life upon anyone who has committed any of the seven rebellious offenses.

The seven rebellious offenses are these: maliciously causing the body of a Buddha to bleed; harming a noble sage; killing one’s father; killing one’s mother; killing one’s preceptor; killing one’s acharya; disrupting the Karma Sangha or the Dharma-Wheel Sangha. If one has committed any of the seven rebellious offenses, one cannot attain the precepts in this present life. All other persons may receive the precepts.

According to the Dharma governing monastics, they do not bow to kings, parents, the six classes of relatives, or ghosts and spirits.

Anyone capable of understanding the Dharma teacher’s words may receive the precepts. If someone comes from a hundred or a thousand miles away to seek the Dharma, but the bodhisattva Dharma teacher, out of malice or anger, fails promptly to transmit the bodhisattva precepts to that person, the teacher commits a “minor defiling offense.”

41. The Precept Against Becoming a Teacher for Personal Gain:

If a disciple of the Buddha teaches others and inspires faith in the Mahayana Dharma, the bodhisattva should serve as a Dharma teacher and instruct them in the precepts. Upon seeing someone who wishes to receive the bodhisattva precepts, the bodhisattva should tell that person to invite two great teachers: a preceptor and an acharya.

The teacher must ask whether that person has committed any of the seven rebellious offenses. If the person has committed any of the seven rebellious offenses in this present life, the Dharma teacher must not confer the precepts upon them. If the person has not committed any of the seven rebellious offenses, the teacher may confer the precepts.

If the person has violated any of the ten major precepts, the teacher must instruct them to repent before images of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. During the six periods of day and night, that person must recite the bodhisattva precepts and earnestly bow to all Buddhas of the Three Times until auspicious signs appear. They should repent in this manner for seven days, fourteen days, twenty-one days, or even an entire year, continuing until auspicious signs appear.

These are the auspicious signs: seeing a Buddha come and stroke the crown of one’s head, seeing radiant light, seeing precious flowers, and other extraordinary visions. Seeing such auspicious signs indicates that one’s offenses have been extinguished. If no auspicious sign appears, then even repentance is of no avail.

Such a person cannot attain the precepts in this present life, though they may receive the precepts to increase wholesome benefit.

If a person has violated any of the forty-eight minor precepts, confession and repentance before another person will extinguish the offense; it is not like an offense involving the seven rebellious acts.

The Dharma teacher who instructs others in the precepts must clearly understand these teachings. If the teacher does not understand the Mahayana sutras and Vinaya; the minor and major precepts; which modes of conduct are proper and which are improper; the truth of ultimate meaning; the nature of the seed acquired through cultivation; the nature developed through nurturing; the intrinsic seed-nature; the indestructible nature; the nature of the seed of the Way; and the nature of the true Dharma;

if the teacher does not comprehend, one by one, the greater and lesser contemplative practices, their emergence and entry within these teachings, the ten branches of meditation, and all Dharma practices, yet, for wealth and profit, fame, improper seeking, excessive gain, and the desire for many disciples, pretends to understand all the sutras and Vinaya in order to receive offerings, that disciple of the Buddha deceives both themselves and others.

If such a person deliberately serves as an instructing teacher and transmits the precepts to others, this disciple of the Buddha commits a “minor defiling offense.”

42. The Precept Against Teaching the Precepts to Evil Persons:

A disciple of the Buddha must not, for wealth or profit, teach these great precepts of the Buddhas to persons who have not received the bodhisattva precepts, to followers of non-Buddhist paths, or to those holding wrong views. Kings are excepted; apart from them, the precepts must not be taught to any such persons. Those who have not received the Buddha’s precepts are called animals; life after life, they are born without encountering the Three Jewels. Like wood and stone, they lack conscious awareness. They are called followers of non-Buddhist paths and people of wrong views, no different from plants and trees. If a disciple of the Buddha expounds the precepts of the Buddhas to such evil and misguided persons, that disciple commits a “minor defiling offense.”

43. The Precept Against Deliberately Conceiving the Intention to Violate the Precepts:

If a disciple of the Buddha, moved by faith, leaves the household life and receives the Buddha’s true precepts, but then deliberately conceives the intention to violate the precepts, that person must not receive offerings from any donor; must not walk upon the land of the nation’s people; and must not drink their water. Five thousand great ghosts constantly stand before that person and denounce them as a “great bandit.”

Whenever that person enters a room, house, city, or village, the ghosts continually follow and sweep away their footprints. Everyone in the world reviles that person as a thief within the Buddha-Dharma. No sentient being wishes to look upon them. A person who violates the precepts is no different from an animal, a plant, or a blade of grass. If a disciple of the Buddha deliberately destroys the Buddha’s precepts, that disciple commits a “minor defiling offense.”

44. The Precept Against Failing to Make Offerings to the Sutras and Vinaya:

A disciple of the Buddha should always single-mindedly receive, uphold, read, and recite the Mahayana sutras and Vinaya. They should use paper, cloth, fine fabric, silk, bamboo slips, or tree bark—even flaying their skin for paper, drawing their blood for ink, taking their marrow for fluid, and splitting their bones to make writing implements—to transcribe the sutras and Vinaya. They should make cases and chests of gold and silver in which to keep the volumes of the sutras and Vinaya.

If a disciple of the Buddha fails to make offerings to the sutras and Vinaya in accordance with the Dharma, that disciple commits a “minor defiling offense.”

45. The Precept Against Failing to Teach and Transform Sentient Beings:

A disciple of the Buddha should possess great compassion. Whenever entering any house, city, or village and seeing sentient beings, the disciple should proclaim: “All of you should receive the Three Refuges and the Ten Precepts.” Upon encountering buffaloes, cattle, dogs, horses, pigs, goats, and so forth, the disciple should think inwardly and say aloud: “You animals, bring forth the bodhicitta.” Whenever a disciple of the Buddha travels to mountains, forests, rivers, fields, or any other place, the disciple should cause all sentient beings to bring forth the bodhicitta.

If a disciple of the Buddha fails to arouse the resolve to teach and transform sentient beings, that disciple commits a “minor defiling offense.”

46. The Precept Against Teaching the Dharma Contrary to the Dharma:

A disciple of the Buddha should always possess great compassion and arouse the resolve to teach and transform others. When entering the homes of wealthy donors or attending any assembly, the disciple must not stand while expounding the Dharma to laypeople, but must sit upon a high seat before the assembly of laypeople.

A bhiksu Dharma teacher must not stand upon the ground while expounding the Dharma to the fourfold assembly. When teaching the Dharma, the Dharma teacher should sit upon a high seat and receive offerings of incense and flowers, while the fourfold assembly and other listeners sit below. They should treat the Dharma teacher with the filial obedience shown to their parents, honor and obey the teacher as their master and elder, and act as Brahmins do in serving fire. If a disciple of the Buddha expounds the Dharma in a manner contrary to the Dharma, that disciple commits a “minor defiling offense.”

47. The Precept Against Imposing Unlawful Restrictions:

If disciples of the Buddha, having faithfully accepted the Buddha’s precepts, whether kings, princes, officials, or members of the fourfold assembly, rely upon their exalted status and power to destroy the precepts and discipline of the Buddha-Dharma, establishing laws and regulations that restrict the fourfold assembly of the Buddha, forbidding them to leave the household life and practice the Way, and also forbidding the creation of images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, as well as stupas and scriptures of the Vinaya;

if they further appoint officials to supervise and restrict the fourfold assembly, establish registers recording the number of Sangha members, and make bhiksus and bodhisattvas stand upon the ground while white-robed laypeople sit upon elevated seats, committing many acts contrary to the Dharma, as soldiers and slaves serve their masters—these bodhisattvas rightly ought to receive offerings from everyone, yet instead they are compelled to serve as underlings of officials.

This is contrary to both Dharma and discipline.

If kings and officials have sincerely accepted the Buddha’s precepts, they must not commit such offenses that destroy the Three Jewels. If they deliberately do so, they commit a “minor defiling offense.”

48.—The Precept Against Destroying the Buddha-Dharma:

If disciples of the Buddha, having left the household life with wholesome intentions, then, for the sake of fame and material gain, expound the Buddha’s precepts to kings and officials and cause bhiksus, bhiksunis, and recipients of the bodhisattva precepts to be shackled and bound like prisoners and military slaves, they are like worms within a lion’s body devouring the lion’s own flesh, rather than worms coming from outside to devour it. In the same way, disciples of the Buddha themselves destroy the Buddha-Dharma; neither non-Buddhists nor heavenly Maras can destroy it.

Those who have received the Buddha’s precepts should safeguard the Buddha’s precepts and discipline as tenderly as they cherish an only child and as reverently as they honor their parents; they must not destroy them.

When disciples of the Buddha hear non-Buddhists or evil persons revile and slander the Buddha’s precepts and Dharma with malicious words, they should feel anguish as though three hundred sharp spears had pierced their hearts, or a thousand blades and ten thousand clubs had struck and shattered their bodies. They would rather willingly remain in hell for a hundred kalpas than hear evil persons utter words that slander the Buddha’s precepts and Dharma. How much more must they refrain from being unfilial and disobedient by personally destroying the Buddha’s precepts and Dharma, or by creating causes and conditions that induce others to destroy them. If they deliberately destroy the precepts and Dharma, these disciples of the Buddha commit a “minor defiling offense.”

These nine precepts should be diligently studied and wholeheartedly revered and upheld.

VII.—GENERAL CONCLUSION:

The Buddha taught: “Disciples of the Buddha! These are the forty-eight minor precepts, which you must accept and uphold. The bodhisattvas of the past recited them, the bodhisattvas of the future will recite them, and the bodhisattvas of the present are now reciting them.

“Disciples of the Buddha, listen attentively! These ten major precepts and forty-eight minor precepts have been recited, will be recited, and are now being recited by all Buddhas throughout the three periods of time. I, too, now recite them in the same way.”

VIII.—TRANSMISSION:

The Buddha continued: “All members of the great assembly—kings, princes, officials, bhiksus, bhiksunis, faithful laymen, and faithful laywomen—who accept and uphold the bodhisattva precepts should accept, uphold, read, recite, expound, and copy this text of the precepts of the eternally abiding Buddha-nature, so that it may circulate forever. All sentient beings should continually transmit and teach it to one another without interruption. By doing so, they will encounter all Buddhas and be received by the hands of all Buddhas. Life after life, they will forever escape the three evil destinies and the eight difficult circumstances. They will always be reborn among human beings or in the heavenly realms.

“Here beneath this bodhi tree, I have now briefly expounded the precepts and Dharma of all Buddhas. Everyone in the great assembly should single-mindedly study the Pratimoksa and joyfully put it into practice.

“Each matter is explained clearly in the ‘Exhortation to Study’ section of the ‘Formless Heavenly King’ chapter.”

At that time, the trainees throughout the trichiliocosm sat listening attentively as the Buddha recited the precepts. With wholehearted reverence, they joyfully accepted and upheld them. When Sakyamuni Buddha had finished expounding the ten inexhaustible precepts and Dharma from the “Dharma-Gate of the Mind-Ground” chapter, previously taught by Vairocana Buddha in the Lotus-Blossom Platform Treasury World, the thousand hundred million Sakyamuni Buddhas likewise expounded them in the same way.

From the palace of the Great Sovereign Heavenly King to this place beneath the bodhi tree, they taught the Dharma in all ten places, so that all bodhisattvas and the countless members of the great assembly might accept, uphold, read, recite, explain, and elucidate the meaning of the Dharma in the same way.

Throughout the thousand hundred million worlds, the Lotus-Blossom Platform Treasury World, and worlds as numerous as motes of dust, all Buddhas likewise expounded them in the same way: the Treasury of the Minds of All Buddhas, the Treasury of the Grounds, the Treasury of the Precepts, the Treasury of Immeasurable Practices and Vows, and the Treasury of Cause and Effect and the Eternally Abiding Buddha-Nature. Thus all Buddhas finished expounding immeasurable treasuries of Dharma.

All sentient beings throughout the thousand hundred million worlds accepted and upheld them, joyfully putting them into practice.

As for the extensive exposition of the characteristics of the practices of the mind-ground, they are described in the “Seven Practices of the Buddha Flower-Radiance King” chapter.

IX.—VERSES IN PRAISE OF THE PRECEPTS AND DHARMA:

The wise, endowed with samadhi and wisdom,

Who accept and uphold this Dharma,

Though they have not yet attained Buddhahood,

Will enjoy five benefits:

First, the Buddhas of the Ten Directions

Will compassionately watch over and protect them always.

Second, at the time of death,

Their right mindfulness will be joyful.

Third, wherever they are reborn,

They will have bodhisattvas as companions.

Fourth, all their merits and virtues,

And the perfection of morality, will be accomplished.

Fifth, in this life and lives to come,

They will possess the precepts, merit, and wisdom.

Such are the disciples of the Buddha;

The wise should carefully contemplate this.

Those who cling to appearances and grasp at a self (ordinary beings)

Cannot obtain this Dharma.

Those who sink into and remain attached to quiescence (the Lesser Vehicle)

Likewise cannot sow its seed.

Those who wish the sprout of bodhi to emerge

And wisdom to illuminate the world

Should carefully contemplate

The true nature of all dharmas:

Neither arising nor ceasing,

Neither eternal nor annihilated,

Neither identical nor different,

Neither coming nor going.

Within the essence of this one mind,

Diligently cultivate its adornments;

The practices of bodhisattvas

Must be learned in proper sequence.

Regarding the stages of learning and “no-more-learning,”

Do not give rise to discriminating thoughts.

This is the “Foremost Way,”

Also called the Mahayana Dharma.

All errors of conceptual proliferation

Are thereby entirely extinguished;

The unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha

Is thereby fully accomplished.

Therefore, disciples of the Buddha

Should arouse a courageous resolve

And strictly uphold the Buddha’s precepts,

Perfectly pure like a radiant jewel.

The bodhisattvas of the past

Have already studied these precepts;

Those of the future will study them,

And those of the present are studying them now.

This is the path traveled by the Buddhas,

The path praised by the Buddhas.

I have now finished expounding the precepts;

The merit and virtue are immeasurable.

I dedicate them to all sentient beings,

That together they may attain “All-Knowing Wisdom.”

May all who hear this Dharma

Attain the Buddha Way.