The Dignified Deportment of Monastics

Practitioners of the Two Vehicles are divided into those who have already seen the Path and those who have not yet seen the Path. Practitioners who have already seen the Path, because they have realized that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are subject to arising, ceasing, and change, devoid of true reality, without any sovereign self, have realized the samādhi of no-self, broken through the four marks—having no mark of self, no mark of person, no mark of sentient being, and no mark of life span—and have attained purity of the Dharma eye. Therefore, in their minds, the four marks feel empty and unreal, and conditioned dharmas pertaining to the four marks of self and person become fewer and fewer. Because of the precepts realized through the Path (dharmacarya-saṃvara), greed and lust naturally diminish in their minds, conflicts and disputes over self and others lessen, and they can subdue afflictions. After cultivating the first dhyāna of meditative concentration, afflictions are severed, and the afflictions of greed, lust, and ill will are extinguished. At this point, when in contact with the opposite sex, there is no mind of craving and desire; the mind is free and unobstructed. However, because of the monastic precepts, and in order to set an example for sentient beings, and also to avoid letting sentient beings form misunderstandings, those of the third and fourth fruits abide by the precepts in their words, deeds, and conduct, conforming to the standards, while inwardly they are unrestrained.

Monastics are the refuge of sentient beings; in outward appearance they must observe dignified deportment, so that sentient beings who see them will give rise to reverence toward the Three Jewels and plant wholesome roots. When the World-Honored One established the Saṅgha in his lifetime, it was first for sentient beings to leave the mundane world and attain liberation, and second to serve as the refuge of sentient beings, guiding them to leave the mundane world and take refuge in the Three Jewels, planting the seeds of liberation. Every monastic, whether or not they have seen the Path, leads by example, scrupulously observing the precepts, with regulated speech and conduct, and endowed with all dignified deportment. When they go on alms rounds with their bowls, they come into contact with many sentient beings, and should all the more be endowed with dignified deportment, lest they be ridiculed by sentient beings, creating evil karma and reaping evil retribution. Therefore, when they go for alms, walking along the road, they lower their heads and look at the path ahead, not glancing left or right, nor looking sideways, nor raising their heads to stare directly at the crowd before them. When they meet a donor of offerings, they certainly do not distinguish whether the person is male or female, beautiful or ugly; taking the bowl of food, they turn and leave, without words of polite formality. Because these practitioners single-mindedly seek liberation from birth and death, their minds are not on the realms of the six sense objects, nor on worldly affairs; only thus can they realize the Path, and only thus can they be assured of not being entangled by the worldly five desires and the six sense objects.