天台菩薩戒疏 1.4

1.4

The first section also has two parts: first, explaining the name; second, presenting the essence. First, in explaining the name: the single word "precept" is *śīla* in Sanskrit, and is also called *vinaya*, *prātimokṣa*, and so forth; here it is translated as "cool and refreshing." It eliminates the faults of the three delusions and secures liberation. Now, what is called a "precept" can guard the three karmas and halt the wrongs of the three delusions; hence it obtains this name. Broadly speaking, it does not exceed the four universal vows and the three cumulative precepts. Attaining the Way and knowing the Dharma is the precept of embracing wholesome dharmas; vowing to sever afflictions is the precept of restraint; vowing to liberate sentient beings is the precept of embracing sentient beings. How much more so in that each single vow is fully endowed with the three cumulative [precepts], and each single precept possesses these three minds! For instance, upholding non-killing halts evil from arising, universally freeing the essence from defilement—this is the precept of restraint, the cause of the dharmakāya; restricting [oneself] to practice wholesome deeds and the like, knowing the Dharma and realizing the truth, where karmic fruition naturally endures—this is the precept of embracing wholesome dharmas, the cause of the saṃbhogakāya; halting evil and practicing good, taking compassion as the root, and using the four siddhāntas to benefit beings—this is the precept of embracing sentient beings, the cause of the nirmāṇakāya.

These three cumulative precepts, according to the *Dazhidulun*, conceptually penetrate ten types: First, unbroken, which refers to upholding the natural precepts of the ten wholesome actions up to the ten major precepts; if violated and broken, one is unfit to receive and use them. Second, unbreached, and third, unpunctured, which refer to the forty-eight minor precepts; if violated, it is like a vessel cracked or punctured and leaking. Fourth, unmixed with thought, which is the non-arising of desire. Fifth, conforming to the Path, and sixth, unattached, which refer to seeing the principle of ultimate truth and leaving the delusions of view and thought within the three realms. Seventh, praised by the wise, and eighth, sovereign: these refer to the bodhisattva's benefiting of others being praised by wise persons. Ninth, conforming to concentration, and tenth, fully endowed: these refer to realizing the Śūraṅgama Samādhi of the Middle Way, not rising from the cessation absorption yet manifesting deportment, showing bodies in the ten realms, and transforming beings in accordance with their forms. These ten kinds prohibit and guard the three karmas, and all generally receive the name of "precept." They guide and transport body and mind to the shore of nirvāṇa, and are also collectively called a "vehicle"; hence there are the distinctions of the five vehicles such as humans and devas.

What is upheld at present penetrates principle through phenomena; in a single moment of mind, the ten precepts are fully present. The phenomenal upholding of the first four takes causes and conditions as its sphere; the principal upholding of the latter six realizes that the sphere is the Buddha-nature. The Middle Way is eternal, its essence being only the single mind, fully containing ordinary beings and sages, dependent and primary [retributions], causes and effects. Although fully contained, it is empty; nothing is not the dharmadhātu. This is called contemplation—namely, the threefold contemplation in a single mind. Emptiness is the contemplation of emptiness, contemplating the nature as ultimate truth, upholding the two precepts of sharing with the Path and being unattached. Full endowment is the contemplation of provisionality, contemplating the nature as conventional truth, upholding the two precepts of being praised by the wise and being sovereign. The dharmadhātu Buddha-nature is the contemplation of the middle, contemplating the nature as the Middle Way supreme truth, upholding the two precepts of conforming to concentration and being fully endowed. Thus the *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā* says: "Whatever dharma arises from causes and conditions, I declare that it is empty; it is also a provisional designation, and is also the meaning of the Middle Way." Sphere and wisdom are both mind; the grasper and grasped are darkly unified; unified yet not unified, the four and the six are distinctly apparent. Thus, grounded in the stage of verbal identity and the beginning of the stage of contemplation and practice, one upholds all ten precepts and is called a bodhisattva.

Next, in presenting the essence: when first generating the perfect aspiration, requesting and receiving [them] from a master, with body and speech dedicated and sincere, this is called the manifest precept, having form and mind as its essence. When the three karmans are completed, receiving the Dharma into one's bosom, the manifest action ceases and departs, [yet its efficacy extends] up to the future; this is called the unmanifest precept, having only the mind of the true mark as its essence. Thus the *Yingluo jing* says: "The precepts of all ordinary beings and sages entirely take the mind as their essence. Because the mind is inexhaustible, the precepts are also inexhaustible." The Mahāyāna sūtras have no third category, unlike the Śrāvaka vinaya which takes that which is neither form nor mind as the precept-essence.