The Gradual Stages of Keeping Precepts

Buddhist sūtras frequently speak of the disadvantages of afflictions, and cause and effect also frequently reveal the obstructions caused by afflictions. Yet there are still people who dare to openly despise the precepts, openly urge others to comply with their own afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and brazenly claim that the precepts are all mere appearances—precepts of form—that need not be heeded, that one need not cling to the marks of the precepts or be attached to the marks of the precepts, and that one should instead directly uphold the formless precepts. But the reality is that if one cannot even uphold the precepts of form, how could one possibly uphold the formless precepts, which are more refined and more subtle? If one cannot control the body of form, nor the mouth of form, how could one ever control the formless mind? The actions of body and speech all arise from the actions of the mind; when the mind and speech are not in accord, one can still conceal and pretend. But if one cannot even manage to pretend, how agitated and inverted must that formless mind be—how could it ever be subdued?

Subduing afflictions follows a sequence, always proceeding from the coarse to the subtle. If even the outermost layer of coarse skin cannot be washed clean, how can the deeper layers of filth within be washed away? If one cannot even do simple things well, how can one accomplish complex things? Therefore, the talk and practice of abandoning the precepts of form is practically the conduct of Māra—deludedly seeking to negate the precepts entirely by denying the precepts of form, causing sentient beings to sink into grave afflictions from which they cannot extricate themselves, and in the end to fall into the three evil destinies, transmigrating through birth and death. The reason sentient beings can be deceived is that their ability to discern right from wrong is too poor and their logical thinking too weak. The underlying reason is still that their merit is too deficient and their experience of studying Buddhism too brief and shallow; they always want to take shortcuts and are unwilling to give anything, which is why they are so easily swayed by wrong views and provocations.