菩薩戒本疏 2.77

2.77

"If a disciple of the Buddha, after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, wishes to receive the bodhisattva precepts with a good mind, and makes a self-vow to receive the precepts before an image of the Buddha or a bodhisattva, they should repent before the Buddha for seven days; upon seeing a good sign, they then attain the precepts. If they do not obtain a good sign, they should continue for two periods of seven days, three periods of seven days, or even up to one year, insisting on obtaining a good sign. Having obtained a good sign, they then may receive the precepts before an image of the Buddha or a bodhisattva. If they do not obtain a good sign, although they receive the precepts before an image of the Buddha, they are not said to have attained the precepts. If they previously received the bodhisattva precepts, when receiving the precepts before a Dharma master, they do not need to see a good sign, because these Dharma masters transmit them from master to master; therefore, a good sign is not needed. For this reason, receiving the precepts before a Dharma master immediately confers the precepts, because generating a mind of reverence immediately confers the precepts. If within a thousand leagues there is no master capable of conferring the precepts, one may make a self-vow to receive the precepts before an image of the Buddha or a bodhisattva, but must see a good sign. If a Dharma master, relying on their own understanding of the scriptures, vinaya, and the Mahāyāna learning and precepts, and being a good friend to kings, crown princes, and the hundred officials, when a newly learning bodhisattva comes to inquire about the meaning of the scriptures or the meaning of the vinaya, answers the questions improperly out of a slighting mind, malicious mind, or conceited mind, they commit a duṣkṛta offense."