The Ten Inexhaustible Treasuries

Chapter Twenty-Two

 

II. The Treasury of Precepts

Sutra:

“Disciples of the Buddha, what is the Bodhisattva Mahasattvas’ Treasury of Precepts? These Bodhisattvas accomplish precepts which are universally beneficial, precepts of non-reception, precepts of non-dwelling, precepts of being without regret, precepts of being without contention, precepts of never harming, precepts of being without defilement, precepts of being without greed or seeking, precepts of never making mistakes, and precepts of never making violations.

Commentary:

Bodhisattva Forest of Merit and Virtue says, “Disciples of the Buddha, what is the Bodhisattva Mahasattvas’ Treasury of Precepts? These Bodhisattvas accomplish precepts which are universally beneficial. There are Three Collections of precepts.

• Precepts of good dharmas
• Precepts of the Vinaya
• Precepts of benefitting living beings.

The first kind are called precepts of good dharmas; they are all wholesome dharmas. Precepts of the Vinaya tell how all the rules of deportment should be kept. The third kind, which we will now discuss, is the precepts of universally benefitting living beings. There are also the precepts of non-reception, precepts of non-dwelling, precepts of being without regret, precepts of being without contention, precepts of never harming, precepts of being without defilement, precepts of being without greed or seeking, precepts of never making mistakes, and precepts of never making violations. Together these ten kinds of precepts make up the Precept Treasury.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts which are universally beneficial? These Bodhisattvas receive and uphold pure precepts for the fundamental reason of benefitting all living beings.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts which are universally beneficial? These Bodhisattvas receive and uphold pure precepts. Why do they do this? For the fundamental reason of benefitting all living beings. They receive these precepts just because they want to benefit all living beings. They do this by adhering to the precepts. How? For instance, because they hold the precepts of not killing, all living beings are able to enjoy longevity, and as a result they can live longer. Because the Bodhisattvas don’t steal, other living beings won’t incur some kind of loss. Moreover, the Bodhisattvas don’t engage in sexual misconduct, they don’t lie and they don’t take intoxicants. All of these precepts have some benefits towards living beings, therefore they are categorized as the precepts of universally benefitting living beings.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of non-reception? These Bodhisattvas do not receive or practice any of the precepts of external paths. Of their own nature they are vigorous, and they respectfully uphold the equal and pure precepts of all Buddhas, Thus Come Ones, throughout the three periods of time.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of non-reception? We always talk about receiving the precepts. But what do we have here? Precepts of non-reception? We have to receive the precepts, right? How is it that we don’t receive the precepts? Actually, it means these Bodhisattvas do not receive or practice any of the precepts of external paths, the heterodox teachings. It doesn’t mean that they don’t receive the precepts of the Buddhas. It means that they don’t receive the precepts of outside ways. The experiences or states of external ways are not ultimate. For this reason Bodhisattvas do not receive the precepts of outside ways. Of their own nature they are vigorous and they respectfully uphold the equal and pure precepts of all Buddhas, Thus Come Ones, throughout the three periods of time. They cultivate and vigorously uphold the precepts of the Buddhas of the past, present, and future—all of the Vajra bright, pure and equal, jewelled precepts.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of non-dwelling? When these Bodhisattvas receive and uphold precepts, their minds do not dwell in the desire realm, they do not dwell in the form realm, and they do not dwell in the formless realm. Why not? Because they do not uphold the precepts with the hope of being born in those places.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of non-dwelling? We should constantly cultivate and take these precepts as our teacher. This means that we dwell in the precepts. Bodhisattvas receive and uphold precepts. It is said:

When living beings receive the Buddhas’ precepts,
They immediately enter all Buddhas’ positions.
Those whose level is identical to Great Enlightenment,
Are true disciples of the Buddha.

-Brahma Net Sutra

Why does the Sutra refer to non-dwelling? Actually it goes on to explain;

When these Bodhisattvas receive and uphold precepts, their minds do not dwell in the desire realm, they do not dwell in the form realm, and they do not dwell in the formless realm. When these Bodhisattvas receive precepts, their hearts do not dwell in the desire realm; in their minds there is no desire. They don’t dwell in the form realm; in their minds there is no mark of form.

And they do not dwell in the formless realm; in their minds there is no attachment to a mark of formlessness. In the desire realm there is sexual desire. In the form realm, although there are no thoughts of sexual desire, there is still and awareness of beautiful forms. In the formless realm, even the appearance of form is gone. But if you get attached to their absence you still won’t get out of the three realms. But Bodhisattvas don’t dwell in those three realms. Why not? Because they do not uphold the precepts with the hope of being born in those three places. Why don’t they dwell in the three realms? It is because they do not want to ascend to the heavens. They do not want to reap the rewards of blessings of heavenly beings. Why is this? When heavenly beings have exhausted their blessings in the heavens, they still have to come back down and live as people.

When the heavenly beings who have not completely drained their blessings are reborn, they are reborn as rich and prosperous people. If you have opened the five eyes and take a look, you’ll know that many Westerners are actually descended from the heavens. For this reason, they have many rewards of blessings. Many are like this. However, there are also many who have come from the hells. Not all people in the west are from the heavens. There are also many who have come from the sea and many from empty space. Don’t jump to the conclusion that all Americans are heavenly beings. Not all Americans are, but there are some like this.

Those heavenly beings become oil and coal magnates, automobile or airline tycoons. They think these things are enjoyable, so they come down to play with airplanes, locomotives, and steamships. This is because when they were cultivating the Way, they were always thinking, “The heavens are incredible. I’ll have to go up to the heavens and enjoy the blessings there. Then when my blessings are exhausted, I’ll come back down to earth to become a trucking tycoon or a steamship magnate, or an airplane magnate, or a flying duck tycoon, or a flying dog magnate.” When this kind of karma ripens, they descend to the earth and actualize their false thinking.

What about those people from the hells? They either become lazy bugs, smart bugs, or stupid bugs; it’s not fixed, but they won’t be tycoons.

“Non-dwelling” in the precepts means these Bodhisattvas do not want to ascend to the heavens, because those are blessings with outflows. When their heavenly blessings are exhausted, they still have to suffer. This is the reason they keep those precepts of non-dwelling.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of being without regret? These Bodhisattvas always rest in thoughts free from remorse or regret. Why? Because they do not commit heavy offenses, they do not practice flattery or deceit, and they do not break the pure precepts.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of being without regret? These Bodhisattvas always rest in thoughts free from remorse or regret. They never make the same mistake twice. Confucius’ disciple, Yen Yuan, was like this. “Yen Yuan did not transfer his anger and he did not make the same mistake twice.” When he was angry with one person, if another person came along, he would not take his anger out on him. Maybe he would be feeling bad or depressed, but when he saw someone else, he would appear happy. He did not transfer his anger to innocent people, and he never made the same mistake over again.

People are not sages and saints,
Who among them does not make mistakes?

Everyone makes mistakes, but Yen Yuan did not ever make the same mistake twice. When he made a mistake, he corrected it immediately. Some people may start to think, “I don’t want to learn from Yen Hui. Why? Because he was short lived.” Even though he was so good, and did not transfer his anger or make the same mistake twice, unfortunately he died at an early age.

Why did he die? Because he was too good. He was truly a good youth. He died at the age of thirty-three. The real reason was because he had fulfilled his mission and so he could afford to die. It is not because he did not transfer his anger that he died. It’s not because he did not make the same mistake twice that he died. Don’t think you are smart and jump to the wrong conclusions.

Why don’t the Bodhisattvas harbor regret? Because they do not commit heavy offenses, or you could say that they do not commit the same offense twice. Once they know their mistake, they could never repeat it. Moreover, they do not practice flattery or deceit. They don’t flatter rich people. They don’t put up a false façade to deceive others. They are not like those who see some influential people and start “boot-licking”, thinking of flattering things to say. And they do not break the pure precepts. They always guard and uphold the pure precepts, they do not break them. This is another reason they do not have regret.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of non-contention? These Bodhisattvas do not critizicize what is already established, how much the less try to set things up their own way. Their minds are always in accord with precepts that tend toward Nirvana, completely receiving and upholding them and not violating them. Nor do they use precepts as a way to disturb other beings, causing them to give rise to suffering. It is only because they want everyone to always be happy that they uphold the precepts.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of non-contention? These Bodhisattvas do not criticize what is already established, how much the less try to set things up their own way. These Bodhisattvas do not criticize the rules that have been set up previously. They do not find fault in the established rules. They do not say, “Those old timers were dim wits and all of the rules they set up are really stupid. They are not adequate and don’t satisfy the demands of modern times.” These Bodhisattvas are not like that. They do not change established rules or created something new. They don’t say, “Let me create some new rules.”

They uphold the precepts of non-contention: they do not go against moral codes set up by the ancient people or the Buddhas of the three periods of time. Their minds are always in accord with precepts that tend toward Nirvana, completely receiving and upholding them and not violating them. They do not break the precepts or commit offenses, but instead always receive and uphold them. Nor do they use precepts as a way to disturb other beings. They do not use the precepts as a means to trouble living beings. They don’t say, “Don’t do this, I am keeping the precepts. You are really disgusting. Why—I adhere to the precepts and you are disturbing me, you are troubling me. I’m cultivating and you are interrupting me! I’m reciting the precepts and you are interrupting me!” Bodhisattvas don’t disturb others. They don’t keep precepts for the purpose of causing them to give rise to suffering. It is only because they want everyone to always be happy that they uphold the precepts. It is only for this reason they adhere to the precepts. Therefore, this is called the precept of non-contention.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of never harming? These Bodhisattvas do not rely on precepts to study deceptive mantras or create potions in order to harm living beings. It is only for the sake of rescuing and protecting living beings that they uphold the precepts.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of never harming? These Bodhisattvas do not rely on precepts to study deceptive mantras. These Bodhisattvas don’t hold the precepts in order to study the magic spells of outside ways or mantras of heavenly demons. Nor do they take precepts so as to create potions in order to harm living beings. They do not concoct potions or drugs or dharmas that will harm living beings, causing them to be confused about the dharmas that they cultivate. Harming living beings means causing them to lose their proper mindfulness and give rise to all kinds of deviant knowledge and views.

It is only for the sake of rescuing and protecting living beings that they uphold the precepts. They do not hold precepts in order to harm or trouble living beings. Nor are they like the person talked about yesterday who maintains the precepts in such a way as to cause other living beings to become afflicted.

For example a certain Precept Master might go to another monastery and be so attached to the fact that he is maintaining the precepts that he causes everybody else to be unhappy. Another example might be a person who is a vegetarian but gets really angry at home when people prepare vegetables that aren’t totally pure. He says, “I planned to eat vegetarian food today! What are you giving me that filthy stuff for?!” This person gets really angry and upsets everyone around him. So think about it. Being a vegetarian is a good thing but because that person gets incredibly angry, the whole thing becomes an evil affair.

Maintaining the precepts is also a wholesome activity, but if a person who maintains the precepts talks about the Vinaya, the precepts, and is not expedient about it and causes other people to become afflicted and turn away from resolving themselves to attain Bodhi, then the whole thing of maintaining precepts becomes an evil affair.

For example, here in the Bodhimanda everything we do is good. We all wish to turn and walk on the right path. But within this good activity we shouldn’t mix in a bad temper, anger, and hatred. This is something we shouldn’t do. This is just like preparing some delicious food but then not being careful and allowing some human or dog excrement to get mixed in with the pure food. If nobody knows about this they will still go ahead and eat it, but it will upset them because even though they can’t see it, the filth in the food will make them sick. If they can see there is filth mixed in with the pure vegetables then who would want to eat it? Doing good affairs and getting angry at the same time is the same principle.

So when we do good affairs we shouldn’t mix in any bad. When you get angry, you are producing bad causes and if the causes are bad, the effects will be bad. It’s just because of this that you will not have conditions with anybody at all. So if we are to maintain the precepts we don’t want to afflict and annoy other living beings. We want to cause all living beings to be happy. Maintaining the precepts is for the sake of saving living beings, not harming them.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of being without admixture? These Bodhisattvas do not attach to prejudiced views nor do they hold a mixture of precepts. They only contemplate the arisal of conditions and uphold world-transcending precepts.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of being without admixture? The precepts of being without admixture means that these precepts do not have the tenets of externalist religions mixed in with them. These Bodhisattvas do not attach to prejudiced views. These Bodhisattvas who cultivate the Ten Inexhaustible Treasuries are not attached to prejudiced views. They aren’t attached to views of a body, prejudiced views, views of prohibitive morality, a view of grasping at views, or deviant views. Nor do they hold a mixture of precepts. They don’t receive or maintain any externalist precepts that are confused and not pure. They only contemplate the arisal of conditions. They investigate the doctrine of how things come into being. And uphold world-transcending precepts. They maintain the precepts which can cause them to transcend the triple world.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of being without greed or seeking? These Bodhisattvas do not manifest strange appearances or display their own virtue. It is only for the sake of perfecting the Dharmas of escape that they hold the precepts.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of being without greed or seeking? How does one refrain from greed in holding the precepts? These Bodhisattvas do not manifest strange appearances or display their own virtue. Maintaining the precepts is just maintaining the precepts, it’s not a means to seek things from people. So it says, “These Bodhisattvas do not manifest strange appearances.” They don’t go around looking special to show off their virtue.

For example, they don’t put themselves on show or attract notice to the fact that they are cultivators. They don’t call attention to whatever meritorious virtues they may have. They don’t do anything which would seem to say, “Look at me, take a look at me. Look at my meritorious virtues, they’re HUGE! There is no one who has meritorious virtues as complete as mine, as great as mine!” The Bodhisattva would never say, “Look at the Golden Gate Bridge: I built it!” or “I established Buddhism in America, take a look and see how incredibly huge my meritorious virtues are! Don’t you know? I have built a lot of monasteries and I’ve printed a lot of Sutras, and I’ve helped huge numbers of people.”

Bodhisattvas do not broadcast their own merit and virtue. But it is only for the sake of perfecting the Dharmas of escape that they hold the precepts. These Bodhisattvas won’t act like they are special so as to cause people to believe in them.

None of you saw this, but a long time ago I had a disciple in America who took refuge by letter through the mail. He carried around a big bottle gourd and wore huge colorful clothes and looked really strange. He went to the park and lectured to people and explained principles to them. This was more than fifteen years ago. Before I came he was doing all of these strange things and after I arrived he quit, he stopped doing this. This is called displaying an unusual appearance to cheat people. Such conduct is based on greed. One uses whatever kind of discipline one has to climb on conditions, seek advantages, or beg from people. But Bodhisattvas don’t maintain the precepts for this reason. They only maintain the precepts to perfect transcendental dharmas of escaping the Triple Realm. This is why they maintain the pure precepts.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of never erring? These Bodhisattvas do not aggrandize themselves and say, ‘I hold precepts.’ When they see people who have violated precepts, they do not slight or slander them or cause them to feel remorseful, but they simply singlemindedly hold the precepts.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of never erring? These Bodhisattvas do not aggrandize themselves and say, ‘I hold precepts.’ These Bodhisattvas are not arrogant with respect to the precepts, saying, “I maintain the precepts. Don’t you recognize me? I’m one who cultivates by maintaining the precepts. I’m a Vinaya Master, all of you should recognize me!” A Bodhisattva does not say that he is one who maintains the precepts. They don’t propagandize themselves.

When they see people who have violated precepts, they do not slight or slander them or cause them to feel remorseful. When these Bodhisattvas see someone who does not maintain the precepts, they don’t slight the person or slander him. They don’t look condescendingly upon him or say anything nasty about him and cause him to be embarrassed. They simply singlemindedly hold the precepts. They just unify their minds and concentrate on maintaining the precepts themselves.

Sutra:

“What are the precepts of never making violations? These Bodhisattvas have eternally severed killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, double-tongued speech, harsh speech, unprincipled speech, greed, hatred, and deviant views. They thoroughly uphold the ten good deeds. When those Bodhisattvas uphold these precepts of never making violations, they have this thought, ‘All living beings violate the pure precepts because they are upside down. Only the Buddhas, World Honored Ones, can know the causes and conditions that make living beings upside down so they violate the pure precepts. I should accomplish Unsurpassed Bodhi and extensively proclaim true and actual Dharmas for living beings so they can separate from being upside down.’

This is called the Bodhisattva Mahasattvas’ Second Treasury, that of Precepts.

Commentary:

“What are the precepts of never making violations? These Bodhisattvas have eternally severed killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, double-tongued speech, harsh speech, unprincipled speech, greed, hatred, and deviant views. These Bodhisattvas forever expel thoughts of desire. They don’t kill, steal, or commit acts of sexual misconduct. They don’t lie, gossip, bad-mouth, or say anything that is unprincipled. They are not greedy or hateful, and they don’t have deviant views. This list includes the three evils of the body, the four evils of the mouth, and the three evils of the mind. “Deviant views” just refers to stupidity. If a person weren’t stupid, he wouldn’t have any deviant views.

They thoroughly receive and uphold the ten good deeds. They completely receive and uphold the ten kinds of good karma. This is just the turning away from the ten kinds of bad karma. The ten kinds of bad karma become the ten good karmas.

When those Bodhisattvas uphold these precepts of never making violations, they have this thought, they think to themselves, ‘All living beings violate the pure precepts because they are upside down. Why do living beings slander and violate the precepts? It’s because they are upside down. It’s because they are topsy-turvy. It’s because they have deviant knowledge and deviant views. Only the Buddhas, World Honored Ones, can know the causes and conditions that make living beings upside down so they violate the pure precepts. It’s only the Buddhas, the World Honored Ones, who are able to know the causes and conditions that cause beings to be turned upside down.

I should accomplish Unsurpassed Bodhi and extensively proclaim true and actual Dharmas for living beings so they can separate from being upside down.' The Bodhisattva thinks, “In the future I shall perfect Unsurpassed Bodhi. I’ll accomplish the Unsurpassed Way a little bit sooner and at that time broadly and vastly, for the sake of living beings, explain the true and actual Dharma. At that time, I’ll explain true and actual principles for living beings and cause them to separate far away from being upside down and to maintain the pure precepts.”

This is called the Bodhisattva Mahasattvas’ Second Treasury, that of Precepts.

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