五戒の細則
Chapter 8: Miscellaneous Talks on the Precepts
I. The Purpose and General Outline of the Precepts
Ordinary sentient beings all have more evil than goodness, frequently committing evil karma, and drifting along with that evil karma they become regular visitors to the three evil destinies. In order to free sentient beings from the suffering of birth and death in the cycle of the six destinies, the Buddha gradually established many precepts. When the Buddha had just attained the Way and the conditions for establishing precepts had not yet appeared, in order to restrain His disciples' bodily, verbal, and mental actions and lead them onto the correct path of practice, the Buddha admonished His disciples, saying: 诸恶莫作，众善奉行，自净其意，是诸佛教。This statement is the general principle guiding practice, and it is also the purpose and general outline of the precepts. From this general outline, specific branches and detailed items can be further expanded to guide sentient beings to gradually and deeply receive and uphold the various precepts, to perfect the three untainted studies of precepts, meditation, and wisdom, and gradually attain buddhahood. The meaning of this general outline is: do not commit any evil deeds, practice all wholesome dharmas, purify one's own mind — this is the disciplinary conduct taught by the Buddhas of the ten directions.
Cutting off all evil and cultivating all goodness — when evil deeds are completely severed and wholesome deeds are perfected, the Buddha Way is accomplished. Within this process are contained the studies of meditation and wisdom, because without meditative concentration evil cannot be cut off and goodness cannot be cultivated, and without wisdom evil likewise cannot be cut off and goodness cannot be cultivated. With wisdom one can fully recognize and discern good and evil and their karmic retribution, and only then can one cut off evil and cultivate goodness. The deeper and subtler the meditative concentration, the deeper and subtler the evil that is cut off and the deeper and subtler the wholesome dharmas that are cultivated; the deeper and subtler the wisdom, the more and subtler the evil that is cut off and the more and subtler the goodness that is cultivated. Therefore, the three untainted studies of precepts, meditation, and wisdom are one inseparable whole; if they are separated, the Buddha Way cannot be accomplished. The notion of wanting only wisdom while rejecting precepts and meditation is extremely biased and devoid of wisdom. Then what exactly does practice cultivate? Our minds should now be clear about this.
Cutting off evil and cultivating goodness is the general outline. Under this general outline, there are many branches ranging from coarse to subtle, from shallow to deep. The deeper and subtler the branches, the deeper the wisdom displayed and the lighter — even to the point of none — the ignorance and afflictions. What corresponds to these branches are the various vinaya dharmas of the Great and Small Vehicles. The coarsest and most basic are the Small Vehicle's five precepts, ten wholesome deeds, and the eight precepts of fasting; somewhat deeper and subtler are the Small Vehicle's śrāvaka precepts: the śrāmaṇera precepts, śrāmaṇerī precepts, bhikṣu precepts, and bhikṣuṇī precepts; the deepest and subtlest are the Great Vehicle bodhisattva precepts: the lay bodhisattva precepts, monastic bodhisattva precepts, and the bodhisattva precepts of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. All these branch precepts cannot depart from the general outline, cannot depart from the purpose of cutting off evil and cultivating goodness. The branch precepts respectively correspond to wisdom of varying depth. Among them, the wisdom corresponding to the Small Vehicle precepts is the patience with non-arising of the first fruit through the fourth fruit and of the pratyekabuddhas; the wisdom corresponding to the Great Vehicle precepts is the patience with non-arising of the ten abodes through the ten dedications, and the patience with the non-arising of dharmas from the first bhūmi to the tenth bhūmi.
With different degrees of wisdom, the degree of cutting off evil and cultivating goodness differs. This wisdom is manifested in being able to distinguish and discern good and evil and their boundaries, and thereby to cut off evil dharmas and practice wholesome dharmas. When sentient beings are deeply mired in ignorance and lack wisdom, they cannot recognize what is an evil dharma and what is a wholesome dharma, nor can they attend to the consequences of wholesome and unwholesome actions. Wisdom is divided into worldly cognitive wisdom, Small Vehicle cognitive wisdom, and Great Vehicle cognitive wisdom; with different degrees of wisdom, the understanding of wholesome and unwholesome dharmas also differs.
In the process of upholding the precepts, being able to accurately distinguish good from evil is extremely important. What is an evil dharma? An evil dharma is conduct that harms others' interests; such conduct may benefit oneself or may not benefit oneself, but ultimately it causes harm to oneself. Therefore evil deeds are afflictive actions devoid of wisdom. Any bodily, verbal, or mental action that harms others' interests is an evil deed, arising from ignorance. The heavier the ignorance, the heavier the evil deeds; to whatever degree ignorance is eliminated, to that degree evil dharmas are lightened. The coarsest evil deeds do the greatest harm to sentient beings, and sentient beings can generally discern and perceive them. Slightly subtler evil deeds do not harm sentient beings very obviously or directly, are not easy to discern and perceive, and are often habitual actions that are not easily reflected upon. The subtlest evil requires the deepest wisdom to break through; if ignorance is not removed and wisdom is insufficient, one cannot recognize evil and cannot conquer afflictions. From this it can be seen that cutting off evil requires wisdom; without wisdom, one cannot recognize the harm of evil dharmas and their consequences, and cannot subdue the evil mind.
What is a wholesome dharma? Opposite to evil dharmas, any bodily, verbal, or mental action that benefits sentient beings is a wholesome dharma, and any action that benefits sentient beings also benefits oneself. Therefore, doing good that benefits both self and others is an act of wisdom; without wisdom one cannot do good. The deeper the wisdom, the greater the wholesome deeds and the greater the benefit to self and others.
The Buddha's teaching as a whole is the dharma that enables sentient beings to cut off evil and cultivate goodness. Receiving and upholding the precepts is practice, running through the entire process of cultivation: from worldly great evil, to the Small Vehicle's lesser evil, to the Great Vehicle's subtle evil, until finally all ignorance is extinguished and one becomes purely good; at the same time, from worldly small goodness, to the Small Vehicle's goodness of selfless liberation, to the Great Vehicle's great goodness of benefiting others, and further to the bodhisattvas' loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity — the unconditioned great loving-kindness and the ten inexhaustible vows — up to the ultimate goodness of the Buddhas, who establish pure lands in the ten directions and deliver all sentient beings, reaching the utmost of goodness. Precepts, meditation, and wisdom are inherently one inseparable whole; from one whole they evolve into three, as a skillful means to gather in sentient beings and guide them to practice step by step. Therefore, receiving and upholding the precepts is very important. In daily life we should frequently reflect on our own bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and not drift along with evil habits without knowing it ourselves. Self-awareness is a very important link in practice; only after knowing can one correct, and after correcting, afflictions and karmic obstructions are subdued, and one steps onto the correct track of practice and will sooner or later attain buddhahood.
II. The Result of Keeping the Precepts Is Freedom of Body and Unobstructed Mind
In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Venerable Aniruddha said: 我以持身，身得自在，次第持心，心得通达。
The precepts are like traffic rules. Because the roads are crowded with vehicles and horses traveling in all directions — east, west, south, and north — without traffic rules, vehicles traveling toward each other would collide if reactions were a bit slow, causing the tragic scene of wrecked cars and dead people. If there were no traffic lights, vehicles, horses, and people would become entangled together and no one could move. If driving on the right side were not stipulated, people would collide with people, and people with vehicles, with unthinkable consequences. If there were no crosswalks, people crossing the road at will would have a great chance of colliding with vehicles.
A person who understands this principle will not complain that traffic rules cause many inconveniences and make one's walking and travel unfree. That kind of freedom obtained at great cost is not the safest; freedom is not worth mentioning compared with life. Obeying traffic rules may at first feel unfree, but after it becomes a habit, any discomfort will completely disappear; one feels that obeying traffic rules is a matter of course, and will rebuke and warn those who do not obey them. Any feeling is a matter of the mind. Once the mind is subdued, nothing matters anymore, and there is no feeling of freedom or lack of freedom.
The precepts are the same. At first when keeping the precepts one feels unfree, with all sorts of restraints, because it runs contrary to previous habits. After it becomes a habit, one feels that keeping the precepts is a matter of course; all feelings of discomfort and restraint automatically disappear; there is no thought of violating the precepts, nor any feeling of keeping or upholding them. At this time all actions are performed at will and all conform to the precept standards; the mind is at ease with the precepts, without precept-marks, becoming keeping without keeping, observing without observing; there is no precept or non-precept, violation or non-violation, completely transcending the precepts — such a person is neither called a keeper of precepts nor a violator of precepts — natural, free, at ease.
III. What Actions Constitute Offenses for a Bodhisattva
Original text of the Bodhisattva Upāsaka Five Precepts Code of Dignity Sūtra: 菩萨如是见如是语。菩萨不应乐于涅槃。应背涅槃。不应畏烦恼。不应灭烦恼。何以故。菩萨三阿僧祇往来生死故。如是语者。犯重垢罪。
Explanation: If a bodhisattva has such views and speaks such words, he commits a grave defilement offense: a bodhisattva should not delight in nirvāṇa, should turn his back on nirvāṇa; a bodhisattva should not fear afflictions, nor should he extinguish afflictions. Why is this said? Because a bodhisattva must traverse birth and death for three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. One who speaks thus commits a grave defilement offense.
Why does a bodhisattva with such views commit a grave defilement offense? Because through the practice of three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, a bodhisattva must realize the nirvāṇa of both the Great and Small Vehicles, and ultimately must realize the Buddha-fruit nirvāṇa of non-abiding. Therefore a bodhisattva should delight in nirvāṇa and incline toward nirvāṇa, and should not go against nirvāṇa. Although a bodhisattva delights in nirvāṇa, he does not enter the arhat's nirvāṇa without remainder.
A bodhisattva's practice also requires extinguishing the ignorance of both the Great and Small Vehicles and eliminating various afflictive defilements, leading sentient beings in practice with a pure mind and guiding them to liberation. A bodhisattva should not turn his back on nirvāṇa with an afflicted, defiled mind; a defiled mind can harm body and mind, making it impossible to deliver sentient beings or have a positive influence on them. If a bodhisattva turns his back on nirvāṇa, he will sink into birth and death, unable to save himself, much less save sentient beings — if he himself is not liberated, how can he enable sentient beings to be liberated? A bodhisattva's attitude toward afflictions should be: a bodhisattva should fear afflictions and should extinguish afflictions; he must extinguish afflictions, yet must not extinguish them completely. If afflictions are completely extinguished, he will realize the fourth-fruit arhatship and at death will necessarily enter nirvāṇa without remainder, thereby abandoning sentient beings and the Buddha Way.
If a bodhisattva does not cut off afflictions, he cannot save himself — how could he save sentient beings? Therefore a bodhisattva must also cut off afflictions, realizing the first, second, and third fruits, cutting afflictions to the degree of the third fruit, but should not completely extinguish afflictions and realize the fourth fruit. A bodhisattva only needs to cultivate to the third fruit on the Small Vehicle level, which is sufficient to reach the stages of the first through seventh bhūmi bodhisattvas on the Great Vehicle path, without affecting the bodhisattva's career and making it even more convenient to deliver sentient beings. When cultivating to the seventh bhūmi, the bodhisattva then, under the Buddha's blessing power, completely extinguishes afflictions and realizes the eighth bhūmi without entering nirvāṇa without remainder.
Although a bodhisattva practices and delivers sentient beings in the world for three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, he does not traverse birth and death like ordinary beings; rather, he continuously extinguishes segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death. Only when both coarse and subtle birth and death are completely severed can the Buddha Way be accomplished.
Original text: 何以故。如菩萨乐于涅槃。畏于烦恼。比于声闻。千万倍不可为喻。何以故。声闻之人顺自为己。菩萨常为一切众故。菩萨虽处有漏。于灭烦恼而得自在。过于罗汉处无漏者上。
Explanation: Why is this said? Because if a bodhisattva delights in nirvāṇa and fears afflictions, his mental conduct is still more than tens of millions of times stronger than that of śrāvakas. Why? Because śrāvakas, after all, follow their selfish nature and consider only themselves, disregarding the birth and death of sentient beings, whereas bodhisattvas always consider all sentient beings. Although a bodhisattva dwells in the afflicted, tainted state, he is very much at ease with regard to extinguishing afflictions — afflictions can be extinguished the moment he wishes to extinguish them, because the last trace of affliction is deliberately retained. Therefore a bodhisattva surpasses the arhat who dwells in the untainted state.
Original text: 若菩萨起身口业。应自防护。莫使他人慢惰罪。若故不自护。使他惰罪者。犯重垢罪。若不作意自护。放散所作。生他罪者。犯轻垢罪。不犯者。若外道。若随出家。如法所作。若值多嗔恶人。是名不犯。
Explanation: When a bodhisattva is about to produce bodily and verbal karma, he should protect himself well, not producing evil deeds that cause sentient beings to ridicule, thereby making sentient beings give rise to contemptuous minds and incur offenses through disrespect. If a bodhisattva deliberately fails to protect his own body and speech, causing sentient beings to commit the karmic offense of disrespect, the bodhisattva commits a grave defilement offense. If a bodhisattva does not take care to guard his bodily and verbal karma, being lax and indulgent, letting body and speech run loose and acting at will, causing others to give rise to evil, he commits a light defilement offense.
The circumstances of not committing an offense are: unless one encounters non-Buddhists and needs to rebuke their non-Buddhist practices and false dharmas, in which case bodily and verbal conflict is permissible and does not constitute an offense; or when a bodhisattva leaves home in accordance with conditions, and his bodily and verbal conduct accords with reason and Dharma, there is no offense; or when one encounters many hateful, evil people, and in order to punish these evil people does not restrain bodily and verbal actions, resulting in verbal and physical conflict — this does not constitute an offense.
Speaking thus, if a person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions are frequently undisciplined, displaying very obvious three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion, frequently causing sentient beings to slander and slight him, and consequently to slander the Three Jewels, the Buddhist sutras, the dharma principles, and other bodhisattvas — is such a person a qualified bodhisattva, and does he commit offenses? Such a person is not a qualified bodhisattva and commits a grave defilement offense. When a person, through his own impure bodily, verbal, and mental actions, causes large numbers of sentient beings to slander, even to slander the Dharma, is the evil not great? It is very great. If a person deliberately, with extremely great afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, causes large numbers of sentient beings to slander the Dharma and lose faith in it, is such a person a member of Māra's faction? He is a member of Māra's faction. Those who knowingly protect and shield a member of Māra's faction who has greed, hatred, and delusion and harms sentient beings are accomplices and are equally guilty.
Therefore, to judge whether a person is a true bodhisattva or a good teacher requires all-around consideration; one cannot look at only one aspect while ignoring the rest. Among these, bodily, verbal, and mental actions are the most important criteria of assessment; they best reveal a person's essence, are most telling, have the greatest influence, and concern the credibility and prestige of Buddhism as well as its rise and fall. Therefore every Buddhist learner must pay attention to purifying his own bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and must never create evil karma of greed, hatred, and delusion.
IV. Speaking of the Sangha's Faults Is Evil
From the day there were monastics, Buddhism established the Saṅgha; when the monastic Saṅgha perishes, Buddhism perishes — this has the basis of the Buddhist sutras. All those who have been shaved and received the monastic precepts belong to the Three Jewels, serve the function of representing the Dharma, and represent Buddhism. As for how well they represent it, that is an internal matter of the monastics and the Saṅgha, and outsiders have no right to interfere.
Monastics have precepts and the constraints and norms of cause and effect; even if they violate the precepts, laypeople are not permitted to gossip about it. Therefore the Buddha did not allow laypeople to read the monastics' precepts, lest they compare monastics' words and deeds against the precept clauses, then give rise to arrogant minds, expose offenses, and publicize the monastics' faults, creating the evil karma of slandering the Three Jewels, with fearsome retribution. Monastics have the Saṅgha to manage them; the Saṅgha will handle monastics' faults and offenses. For those without a Saṅgha, or those the Saṅgha cannot manage, the Dharma-protecting deities and cause and effect will manage them; but laypeople have no qualification to manage, and laypeople absolutely must not speak of any fault of the Saṅgha.
On the self-confession day (pravāraṇā), monastics confess their own violations of the precepts and expose one another's violations and faults; laypeople are not permitted to eavesdrop. If someone eavesdrops, the Dharma-protecting deities will behead them with a sword. This is precisely to prevent laypeople from knowing the monastics' precept violations and faults and then criticizing and publicizing them. If laypeople criticize and publicize the faults of monastics, whether or not there is truth to it, it is evil karma of slander, and at death the retribution is the three evil destinies or hell. For those with great evil karma, there is flowering retribution (puṣpa-phala) in this very life, unable to wait for the retribution in future lives.
Some people only see the monastics' shortcomings and cannot see the worldly benefits the monastics have renounced. Even if monastics frequently violate precepts and often do evil, could they possibly do more evil than laypeople? Laypeople eat fish and meat every day and are constantly unable to relinquish their greed. Comparatively speaking, whose karma is greater? Otherwise, with so many people considering themselves lofty and pure, why don't they leave home and assume the identity of a monastic? Is leaving home difficult? It is not difficult; it is precisely because they cannot let go of the various greed and pleasures of the world, and the world's benefits are hard to relinquish. So they take the layperson's identity as noble and great, criticizing monastics and the Saṅgha everywhere. Since the Saṅgha is supposedly so unworthy, why not make the great resolve, renounce worldly greed, and bravely leave home for Buddhism, for sentient beings, and for one's own long-kalpa career of the Way? Would protecting Buddhism and sentient beings with a monastic body not be more beneficial?
During the Buddha's time, no matter how Devadatta and the bhikṣu Sunakṣatra did evil, it was the Buddha and the Saṅgha who restrained and punished them; others had no right to interfere. If the Buddha could not manage them and the Saṅgha could not manage them, there was karmic sanction — falling into hell while still alive. During the Buddha's time, the group of six bhikṣus committed countless evils, and after the Buddha's nirvāṇa they remained bhikṣus. When the Buddha entered nirvāṇa, the group of six bhikṣus drank alcohol and ate meat, loudly clamoring in celebration of the Buddha's nirvāṇa; the Buddha, having no alternative, covered the eyes and ears of the heavenly beings so they would not hear or see it, but the Buddha did not display supernatural powers to punish them.
When the Buddha is in the world, the Buddha is the greatest; when the Buddha has entered nirvāṇa, the precepts are the greatest — whoever's precept authority is greater, that one is regarded as greatest and most honored. The manifestations of regarding the precepts as greatest are: first, monastics and laypeople do not dwell mixed together, and those with different precepts do not dwell mixed together — even if all are monastics, if their precepts differ they still cannot dwell mixed together; second, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, in performing Buddhist affairs, and at the upoṣadha assembly, those who received the precepts earlier come first and those who received them later come after; monastic bodhisattva precepts rank before lay bodhisattva precepts, and lay bodhisattva precepts rank before the lay five precepts and eight precepts.
V. What Is the Offense of Destroying the Sangha?
Destroying the Saṅgha includes destroying the Saṅgha community and the monastics outside the Saṅgha community. A group composed of four or more monastics is called a Saṅgha community, and these four monastics must all be monastics who have received full ordination and possess the monastic precept substance. If strife is stirred up within the Saṅgha community until only three monastics remain, it is no longer a Saṅgha community, and thus the Saṅgha is dispersed. Those who fight the Saṅgha apart create the offense of the Avīci hell and will undergo the retribution of the Avīci hell at death.
Monastic groups of fewer than three people, though they cannot be called a Saṅgha community, are still called the Saṅgha assembly. If one also stirs up disputes among them, sowing discord, it is called disrupting the Saṅgha assembly, and the offense is likewise a hell offense. When one monastic leads a group of disciples, though they cannot form a Saṅgha community, if the role he plays for Buddhism is also considerable, then sowing discord between the master and disciples, splitting apart master and disciples, is also an extremely great offense. If this monastic's status is quite special, with a decisive influence on the future and development of Buddhism and great power to gather in sentient beings, and someone slanders him and splits apart his disciples, such an offense is extremely, extremely great — greater than the offense of destroying other Saṅgha communities, and certainly it is Avīci hell karma.
VI. Why Is the Offense of Slandering the Three Jewels the Greatest?
The Buddhist sutras are all the Buddha's true words; the Buddha does not deceive sentient beings. Many people feel that any casual remark commenting on the Three Jewels is nothing, no big deal; yet the weight of that one sentence may be considerable, and one is often unaware of it. A single wholesome thought is the cause of ascending to heaven to enjoy pleasures; a single evil thought is the cause of falling into hell. What one says and does with regard to the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha is especially weighty, not the same as words and deeds within worldly dharmas. If one sentence destroys or slanders the Three Jewels, whether truthful or untruthful, it is a cause of hell.
A single statement of discord is called double-tongued speech; sowing discord that undermines the harmony of the Saṅgha community, the harmonious relations among monastics, among laypeople, or between monastics and laypeople — all are causes of hell. The mouth creates the most karma. To avoid evil results, one should well protect the karma of speech and guard against disaster issuing from the mouth. When there is nothing, do not speak; when there is something, speak little and speak well; avoid stirring up trouble and creating disputes out of nothing. In this way one remains pure oneself, leaving no faults behind — this is the conduct of the intelligent and wise; the opposite is the conduct of foolish people heavy with afflictions.
Slander is divided into baseless slander and grounded slander; "ground" means evidence and fact. Saying something exists when it does not, or saying something does not exist when it does, inverting the facts — this is baseless slander. When the matter is real and what is said is factual, it is called grounded slander. With regard to the Three Jewels, both cases count as slander, and the offense is very great. Speaking of the Saṅgha's faults is a great offense; even if the matter is true, speaking of it to others, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is an offense, and maliciously publicizing it is an even greater offense.
Why is creating karma among the Three Jewels the heaviest offense? Because the Three Jewels bestow the greatest kindness upon worldly sentient beings and have the greatest merit; they can bring sentient beings liberation, enabling them to leave suffering and attain happiness, and are sentient beings' greatest field of merit. Creating evil karma within one's own field of merit is naturally the greatest offense, with the greatest influence. If, because of one's slander, sentient beings lose faith in the Three Jewels, it is tantamount to cutting off sentient beings' path to liberation — this offense is certainly heavier than any other. In the world, doing evil to those who have been kind to oneself is also despised by people and spurned by the world; how much more so doing evil, within the Buddha's teaching, to the Three Jewels, who can bring one the merit of liberation over immeasurable kalpas — how could such an offense be small?
All who create evil karma do so because of afflictions, because of the self in their minds. Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt: because there is greed in the mind, when greed is not satisfied and things cannot be obtained, evil karma is created; because there is hatred in the mind, when things do not go as one wishes, hatred arises; the mind is often deluded, not knowing the wholesome and unwholesome, true and false, good and bad (kuśala-akuśala, satya-mithyā, śubha-aśubha), and out of ignorance creates evil karma; the self in the mind blazes fiercely and, unable to be concealed, bursts forth, crushing others and creating evil karma; because there is doubt in the mind, unable to ascertain the cause and effect of good and evil, evil karma is created.
All evil karma is created because of the self; all afflictions arise because of the self. The self is the chief culprit, causing the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) to be unsevered, the three evil destinies to be unavoidable, and suffering to be endless. Therefore every Buddhist learner should make a great resolve: one must subdue that chief culprit and destroy that chief culprit; only then can one leave suffering and attain happiness, only then can one's own mind be at peace, and only then can the world be at peace. Therefore eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) can bring blessings to the world and bless sentient beings, and the greatest beneficiary is still oneself — although there is no more self, having no self is truly wonderful.
VII. No One May Publicize the Unwholesome Aspects of a Monastic's Bodily, Verbal, and Mental Actions
Regarding monastics' lifestyles and conduct in practice, laypeople and all worldly people should not, and have no right to, slander, criticize, rebuke, or revile them. However, when facing a monastic who proclaims erroneous dharma principles, proclaiming content contrary to the original meaning of the Buddhist sutras and the dharma of liberation, teaching the Dharma as non-Dharma — what should be done in such a situation?
Dharma principles concern the issue of sentient beings' birth and death, transmigrating life after life; this is a matter of great importance, and errors should be corrected. Apart from this, any worldly behavior of a monastic or the Saṅgha should not be criticized or publicized, especially malicious publicity — publicity with ulterior motives, driven by personal selfishness, aiming to achieve personal goals, or sowing discord — with the aim of damaging a monastic's image. This offense is very heavy, sometimes even beyond redemption through repentance, and there may also be flowering retribution (puṣpa-phala) in this life. Flowering retribution in this life is much lighter than the retribution in future lives; where there is flowering retribution there will surely be future-life retribution, and the two together constitute a very heavy retribution.
Even monastics should not publicize or deliberately and openly criticize other monastics' bodily, verbal, and mental actions, causing laypeople to know and give rise to ridicule, creating evil karma and falling into the three evil destinies to undergo retribution for such karmic conduct. Toward any sentient being who has made the Great Vehicle bodhi resolve, one should be respectful and admiring; toward those of great merit and virtue, one should be respectful. If one also gives rise to slanderous thoughts and actions toward them, the offense is also great, causing one's own merit to be rapidly exhausted, to the point that various adverse and contrary conditions appear. In matters that damage one's own merit, one must be patient and restrained, and not create them.
Slandering the Three Jewels, slandering people of virtue, and creating all other evil karma is like spitting at the sky — the spit falls back onto one's own face; like lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet. Do not contend with others, do not contend with cause and effect, and do not contend with the tathāgatagarbha; human calculation cannot surpass heaven's calculation, and cannot surpass the tathāgatagarbha's law of cause and effect. Conversely, all the wholesome karma and meritorious karma a person creates also returns to himself — he is the one who benefits. Wholesome karma is created for oneself, and oneself receives the wholesome retribution; all retribution falls upon oneself, landing nowhere else.
VIII. Explanation of the Repentance Text
Repentance text: 从于无始，以至今生，毁破三宝，作一阐提。
谤大乘经，断学般若，杀害父母，出佛身血。
污僧伽蓝，破他梵行，焚毁塔寺，盗用僧物。
起诸邪见，拨无因果，狎近恶友，违背良师。
自作教他，见闻随喜，如是等罪，无量无边。
故于今日，生大惭愧，克诚披露，求哀忏悔。
惟愿三宝，慈悲摄受，放净光明，照触我身。
诸恶消灭，三障蠲除，复本心源，究竟清净。
往昔所造诸恶业，皆由无始贪嗔痴，从身语意之所生，今对佛前求忏悔。
Explanation: If we list out the contents of this repentance text item by item and each of us checks against them, how many of these items have we each committed? Or have we committed them all? Some evil karma has already undergone evil retribution, but how much evil karma still exists in the form of karmic seeds within the tathāgatagarbha, not yet manifesting to undergo evil retribution, or not yet fully retributed?
"Destroying the Three Jewels and becoming an icchantika" refers to the offense of slandering the Buddha, slandering the Dharma, and slandering the Saṅgha, destroying the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, causing sentient beings to lose their faith in and reliance upon the Three Jewels and thereby regress from the bodhi resolve. Such a person has severed the wholesome roots, cut off the Buddha's lineage, can never attain liberation, and does not enter nirvāṇa — this is called an icchantika.
"Slandering the Great Vehicle sutras and cutting off the study of prajñā" — what actions constitute slandering the Great Vehicle sutras? Saying that the Great Vehicle sutras were not spoken by the Buddha but were fabricated by later people — this slanders the Great Vehicle sutras, causing sentient beings to no longer trust and study the Great Vehicle sutras, thereby also cutting off students' prajñā wisdom; the offense is extremely great.
"Killing one's parents and drawing the Buddha's blood" — one who kills his parents commits an extremely great offense, not knowing the kindness of parents, repaying kindness with enmity; the retribution is falling into the Avīci hell. What actions constitute drawing the Buddha's blood? The Buddha has three bodies: the Dharmakāya Buddha (dharma-kāya-buddha), the Sambhogakāya Buddha (saṃbhoga-kāya-buddha), and the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha (nirmāṇa-kāya-buddha). Whoever harms or insults these three bodies is drawing the Buddha's blood. The Buddha came to this Sahā world with the five-aggregate body of His Nirmāṇakāya; sentient beings harming this manifested flesh body of the Buddha, or damaging Buddha statues, is drawing the blood of the Buddha's Nirmāṇakāya. Ordinary sentient beings cannot come into contact with the Sambhogakāya Buddha and cannot draw the Buddha's blood, and the bhūmi-level bodhisattvas who can contact the Sambhogakāya would absolutely never draw the Buddha's blood. Due to foolish ignorance, sentient beings most often slander and destroy the formless Dharmakāya Buddha: some deny the existence of the Dharmakāya Buddha, some wantonly attack and distort the Dharmakāya Buddha — all are drawing the Dharmakāya Buddha's blood, committing the five heinous offenses.
"Defiling monasteries and destroying others' pure conduct" — committing defiled acts within monastery temples, such as drinking alcohol, eating meat, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and committing all evil karma of greed, hatred, and delusion, all constitute defiling monasteries. Destroying the pure precept conduct and precept substance of monks and nuns, and engaging in sexual acts with monks or nuns. These offenses generally cannot be purified through repentance, and one will also fall into hell to undergo retribution.
"Burning down stupas and temples and stealing Sangha property" — burning and damaging monastery temples and the property within them, stealing the belongings of the present Saṅgha — the evil karma and offenses of these acts are immeasurable, and the retribution is also in hell, with difficulty of escape.
"Giving rise to wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) and denying cause and effect" — holding all wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) in the mind, claiming that all actions have no cause and effect and no retribution. Due to such wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), one falls into the three evil destinies and endures the suffering of offenses for long kalpas.
"Being intimate with evil friends and turning against good teachers" — closely associating with evil friends and joining them in wrongdoing, turning against the earnest teachings of good teachers, falling due to the evil karma created, and being unable to escape the suffering of birth and death.
"Doing it oneself and teaching others, rejoicing upon seeing and hearing it" — not only creating evil karma oneself, but also teaching others to create all evil karma; seeing others create evil karma and feeling joy in one's heart, encouraging others' evil habits. For example, when a deluded ordinary person says the Great Vehicle is not the Buddha's teaching, some people, upon seeing and hearing it, rejoice and praise the speaker, saying he speaks well — thereby adding a share of the greatest and most extreme evil karma through rejoicing; the retribution will be as great as it can be; having fallen into the Avīci hell, it is very hard to come out again. Not rejoicing in what should be rejoiced, yet wantonly rejoicing in what should not be rejoiced — ignorant and foolish.
"From beginningless time until this present life" — one has continuously been creating these heaviest evil karmas. Now, having studied Consciousness-only to this degree, one is still creating such serious evil karma. How severe is sentient beings' defilement, how evil their minds! When will they begin to put an end to evil karma and never create it again? When will evil karma come to an end?
"Such offenses as these are immeasurable and boundless" — offenses and evil retributions like the above are immeasurable and boundless in number. The evil is so great, blocking the way ahead like a mountain, making it impossible to move a single step — how can one eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and see the mind, and attain liberation? Sentient beings truly have offenses like mountains, evil karma piled upon evil karma!
IX. The True Meaning of the Threefold Refuge
Threefold Refuge Vow Text: 我皈依佛竟，宁舍身命，终不皈依自在天魔等；皈依如来，至真等正觉，是我所尊，慈愍故。我皈依法竟，宁舍身命，终不皈依外道典籍；皈依如来所说三藏十二部一切经典，是我所尊，慈愍故。我皈依僧竟，宁舍身命，终不皈依外道邪众；皈依清净福田僧，是我所尊，慈愍故。
After the threefold refuge, why is the above vow also needed? Because only after sincerely making the vow can one truly accomplish the threefold refuge, not taking refuge in non-Buddhist assemblies and non-Buddhist dharmas, and not entering among the non-Buddhists. Non-Buddhist paths are not the Buddha's path. Although some of their methods are useful for the five-aggregate material form, they cannot liberate the material body and the five aggregates (pañca-skandha); they are not definitive dharmas, not a path that leads to liberation. Becoming engrossed in them and going astray can only obstruct one's own practice. Therefore one must vow not to follow the Īśvara-deva Māra, not to study non-Buddhist texts, and not to follow non-Buddhist false assemblies. In this, one needs the power of wisdom to discern non-Buddhist Māra assemblies and non-Buddhist dharmas; if one cannot distinguish right from wrong, it is very difficult to truly accomplish the threefold refuge.
Nowadays many Buddhist learners study texts other than the Buddhist sutras. According to the instructions of the threefold refuge, is their refuge then not complete? Only the dharma principles in the Buddha's teaching and sutras can liberate sentient beings. If non-Buddhist dharmas outside the Buddha's teaching could also liberate sentient beings, would the Buddha's coming to the Sahā world to deliver beings have been meaningless? Non-Buddhist dharmas are all not definitive; no matter to what miraculous degree they cultivate, they cannot liberate from the suffering of birth and death in transmigration, so in the end they all took refuge in the Buddha and the Three Jewels and only then attained liberation. Now we instead honor non-Buddhist dharmas — is this not somewhat inverted?
After receiving the bodhisattva precepts, studying non-Buddhist dharmas is even more a violation of the precepts. The Buddha does not allow bodhisattvas to waste time and energy on useless things, except for bhūmi-level bodhisattvas who study non-Buddhist dharmas in order to deliver non-Buddhists, and thereby refute non-Buddhist dharmas and lead non-Buddhist assemblies into the Buddha's path. Only bhūmi-level bodhisattvas can fully understand the content of non-Buddhist dharmas and not be deceived by them; therefore the Buddha permits bhūmi-level bodhisattvas to read non-Buddhist theories and to explain and refute their non-definitive aspects, in order to ferry non-Buddhist disciples into taking refuge in the Three Jewels and seeking liberation. Bodhisattvas who have seen the mind but not yet attained the bhūmis do not yet fully have the ability to recognize the flaws in non-Buddhist dharmas and cannot refute non-Buddhists; therefore the Buddha does not allow mind-seeing bodhisattvas and ordinary Buddhist disciples to study non-Buddhist dharmas.
Of course, within non-Buddhist dharmas there is a certain amount of wholesome dharma: some methods beneficial to maintaining the material body, and some content concerning understanding the worldly realm and improving moral cultivation. Such content is of great benefit for being a person; we need only take these benefits, while also knowing that such content is not definitive and is to be refuted. Then temporary study and absorption is permissible; most important is to follow good teachers within Buddhism and single-mindedly study the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha's teaching transcends the wholesome dharmas of non-Buddhists and transcends the marvels of non-Buddhist dharmas; the great supernatural powers of the sages and saints are even more wondrous. But these are all by-products of practice; as long as one diligently cultivates the Way, all dharmas will be perfected. The fear is taking the non-definitive aspects of non-Buddhist dharmas as one's refuge, and instead being bound by them, unable to attain liberation — that would be a pity.
X. The Function of the Precept Substance of the Five Precepts
The precept substance is unmanifest form (avijñapti-rūpa), possessing the function of preventing precept violations. If after receiving the precepts one's mind changes, one can restrain oneself, and upon encountering conditions for violating the precepts one can avoid them and not violate them, this shows that one has the precept substance and that the precept substance has taken effect.
The threefold refuge is taking refuge in the mind in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, becoming a disciple of the Three Jewels, but it does not equal receiving the five precepts. Receiving precepts confers the precept substance; taking refuge does not confer the precept substance of the five precepts. The precept substance has the function of preventing precept violations, and there are also many precept-protecting deities guarding it, able to prevent wrong and stop evil, so that one undergoes no evil karmic retribution or less of it, and one's practice is swift. If one violates the precepts immediately after receiving them, it indicates that one may not have obtained the precept substance. The reasons for not obtaining the precept substance are: first, the precept master's precept conduct may be impure, and he himself has no precept substance, so he cannot enable you to obtain the precept substance from him; second, one's own evil karma may not have been purified through repentance, creating obstruction at the time of receiving the precepts — one needs to repent and purify again and receive the precepts again, until the precept substance is obtained.
If the monastic who transmits the precepts to you has himself violated the precepts and lost the precept substance, then receiving precepts from him, you also will not obtain the precept substance. Therefore, to be safe, one may receive the precepts several times. If the precept master's practice and virtue are good, the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and Dharma-protecting deities will protect him well; at the time of receiving the precepts the blessing power is great, the response is great, and after receiving the precepts the change is great, and one's career of the Way will advance relatively quickly.
