勝鬘寶窟 1.48

1.48

Third, the section on differences in receiving the precepts. According to the Yingluo jing, there are three modes of receiving the precepts: First, receiving them in the presence of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, whereby one obtains the true superior-grade precepts. Second, after the nirvāṇa of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, if within a thousand li there is a bodhisattva who has previously received the precepts, one requests them to be one's Dharma master, saying: 'Instruct me in the precepts; I bow at your feet before you.' One should speak with these words: 'I request the great venerable one to be my master and confer the precepts upon me.' The disciple thereby obtains the precepts of the true Dharma; this is the middle-grade precepts. Third, after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, when within a thousand li there is no Dharma master, one should kneel on both knees and join one's palms before images of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, making a vow by oneself to receive the precepts. One should speak thus: 'I, named so-and-so, address the buddhas and great bodhisattvas of the ten directions: I will train in all the bodhisattva precepts.' This is the inferior-grade precepts. The second and third are also explained in this manner. Now, Queen Śrīmālā met the Buddha directly in person, which is the superior grade; yet it was a self-vowed reception, not conferred by the Buddha. However, as for the second, receiving from a Dharma master, there are two kinds: If one relies on the Yingluo jing, the precept master does not perform a formal karmavācanā ritual, but first has one bow to all buddhas of the past, next bow to the buddhas of the future, and next bow to the buddhas of the present. Having made these three bows, it is likewise for the Dharma and the Saṅgha. Next, he has one receive the precept-dharma of the three refuges, next has one repent of sins of the three times, and subsequently confers the ten inexhaustible precepts directly. If according to the Bodhisattvabhūmi, the bodhisattva precept master first performs a karmavācanā for the recipient, and then confers the marks of the precepts. These are merely preliminary upāyas before and after, not the direct conferring of the precepts themselves. Furthermore, just as in receiving the five precepts or the ten precepts, only after receiving the three refuges and having the marks of the precepts explained is it termed receiving the precepts. This means that only by receiving the three refuges and having the marks of the precepts explained again does one obtain the precepts. How is this known? For example, one who directly receives only the three refuges obtains only the refuges and does not obtain the precepts; just as in receiving the precepts of a great bhikṣu, the karmavācanā is performed beforehand, and the precepts have already been received completely, after which the four pārājikas and so forth are explained so that the recipient may firmly uphold them—it is not that explaining the marks of the precepts constitutes receiving the precepts. By this evidence one knows that the karmavācanā must first be performed before the precepts can be conferred. As for why there is no karmavācanā in the Yingluo jing or the Brahmā Net Sūtra, it may be that they were abbreviated above, or that the styles of teaching are not fixed, but applied according to the circumstances. Question: For a bodhisattva precept master, does one use a householder or a monastic? Answer: It is open to both the clerical and the lay. The Yingluo jing states: 'Husbands, wives, and the six relations may mutually serve as masters.' Question: As for the third, receiving precepts before a buddha image, if there is no buddha image, may one take the vows by oneself? Answer: According to the Samantabhadra Contemplation Sūtra, one need only invite with an open mind Śākyamuni as the upādhyāya, Mañjuśrī as the ācārya, Maitreya as the instructing master, all buddhas as the venerable witnesses, and all bodhisattvas as fellow students, regardless of whether there is an image or not. Question: Why is it that the precept-dharma alone must necessarily be received? Answer: It is intended to show that evil can be ceased abruptly. Because the precepts take the cessation of evil as their fundamental principle, there is a method of reception, since it arises abruptly through an earnest vow. Good is difficult to generate simultaneously; other practices all take the cultivation of good as their fundamental principle, so there is no method of reception, as it is generated gradually. Question: If evil can be ceased abruptly while good cannot be generated abruptly, then delusion should also be extinguished abruptly, while understanding could not be generated abruptly. Answer: Precepts are the characteristic of cessation; their characteristic is tranquil, hence there is always a precept-dharma. Evil has the sense of abrupt cessation; other virtues are the characteristic of activity, which arise only through cultivation, and all virtues cannot be cultivated at once. Extinguishing delusion and giving rise to understanding are both the practice of virtue, so they are not analogous to this. Question: What is the difference between generating the precepts through a self-vow and generating them from a master? Answer: If it is from a precept master, when the ritual is completed, they all arise simultaneously. Now, since they arise from the mind and are spoken by the mouth, they are generated as they are expressed, not all at once. Question: What merit is gained from conferring and receiving the precepts? Answer: The Yingluo jing states: 'If one can teach one person to leave the household life and confer the bodhisattva precepts upon them, it surpasses building eighty-four thousand stupas. One who receives the precepts falls into the ranks of bodhisattvas and surpasses the suffering of saṃsāra for three kalpas.' Question: How does receiving the precepts and violating them compare with not receiving and not violating them? Answer: The Yingluo jing states: 'Having the precepts and violating them is superior to having no precepts and not violating them. One who commits a violation is called a bodhisattva; one without violation [who has not received them] is called an outsider.' Question: Among the five precepts, there is receiving one portion, up to receiving the five in full. How is it with the bodhisattva precepts? Answer: The Yingluo jing states: 'Among the ten major precepts, receiving one portion is called a one-portion bodhisattva, up to two portions and three portions. If one receives all ten portions, it is called fully receiving the precepts. If there is a violation among the ten major ones without repentance, one can be made to receive them again. The eighty-four thousand precepts of deportment are all termed minor; if there is a violation, one can be made to repent of the fault, and it is extinguished immediately before an interlocutor.'