What actions of a bodhisattva constitute a crime?

Original text of the Bodhisattva Upāsaka Five Precepts Code of Conduct Sūtra: 菩萨如是见如是语。菩萨不应乐于涅槃。应背涅槃。不应畏烦恼。不应灭烦恼。何以故。菩萨三阿僧祇往来生死故。如是语者。犯重垢罪。

Explanation: If a bodhisattva holds such views and speaks such words, he commits a grave defiled offense: a bodhisattva should not delight in and cling to nirvāṇa, but should turn his back on nirvāṇa. A bodhisattva should not fear afflictions, nor should he extinguish afflictions. Why is this said? Because a bodhisattva must traverse birth and death throughout three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. One who speaks in this way commits a grave defiled offense.

Why does a bodhisattva with such views commit a grave defiled offense? Because through the practice spanning three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, a bodhisattva must realize the nirvāṇa of both the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna, and ultimately must realize the apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa of a buddha at the fruition stage. Therefore a bodhisattva should delight in nirvāṇa and incline toward nirvāṇa, and should not go against nirvāṇa. Although a bodhisattva delights in nirvāṇa, he does not enter the arhat's nirvāṇa without remainder.

A bodhisattva's practice also requires extinguishing the ignorance of both the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna, eliminating all kinds of afflictive defilements, and with a pure mind leading sentient beings in their practice, guiding them to liberation. A bodhisattva should not go against nirvāṇa and harbor a mind of afflictive defilement, for a defiled mind can harm body and mind, making it impossible to deliver sentient beings or exert a positive influence on them. If a bodhisattva goes against nirvāṇa, he will sink into birth and death, unable to save himself, let alone save sentient beings. If he himself is not liberated, how can he enable sentient beings to attain liberation? A bodhisattva's attitude toward afflictions should be this: a bodhisattva should fear afflictions and should extinguish afflictions—extinguishing afflictions, yet not extinguishing them completely. If afflictions are extinguished completely, he will realize the fourth fruit of arhatship and upon death will inevitably enter nirvāṇa without remainder, thereby abandoning sentient beings and the Buddha Way.

If a bodhisattva does not sever afflictions, he cannot save himself—how could he save sentient beings? Therefore a bodhisattva must also sever afflictions, realizing the first, second, and third fruits, cutting off afflictions to the degree of the third fruit, but should not sever afflictions completely and realize the fourth fruit. It is enough for a bodhisattva to cultivate the Hīnayāna only to the third fruit, which suffices to reach the stages of the first through seventh bhūmis in Mahāyāna practice, without impeding the bodhisattva's path and making it even more convenient to deliver sentient beings. When he reaches the seventh bhūmi, under the Buddha's blessing he will then sever afflictions completely, realize the eighth bhūmi, and yet not enter nirvāṇa without remainder.

Although a bodhisattva practices and delivers sentient beings in the world throughout three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, he does not traverse birth and death like ordinary beings; rather, he continuously extinguishes both segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death. Only when both coarse and subtle birth and death are completely severed can Buddhahood be accomplished.

Original text: 何以故。如菩萨乐于涅槃。畏于烦恼。比于声闻。千万倍不可为喻。何以故。声闻之人顺自为己。菩萨常为一切众故。菩萨虽处有漏。于灭烦恼而得自在。过于罗汉处无漏者上。

Explanation: Why is this said? Because if a bodhisattva delights in and clings to nirvāṇa and fears afflictions, his mental conduct still surpasses that of śrāvakas by far more than ten million times. Why? Because śrāvakas, after all, follow their selfish nature and consider only themselves, heedless of sentient beings' birth and death, whereas bodhisattvas constantly take all sentient beings into consideration. Although a bodhisattva dwells amid tainted afflictions, he is nonetheless fully at ease in extinguishing afflictions—able to extinguish them completely the moment he wills it. Because the last trace of affliction is deliberately retained, the bodhisattva surpasses the arhat who dwells in the untainted state.

Original text: 若菩萨起身口业。应自防护。莫使他人慢惰罪。若故不自护。使他惰罪者。犯重垢罪。若不作意自护。放散所作。生他罪者。犯轻垢罪。不犯者。若外道。若随出家。如法所作。若值多嗔恶人。是名不犯。

Explanation: When a bodhisattva is about to engage in bodily and verbal actions, he should protect himself well, not producing evil conduct that would cause sentient beings to ridicule him, thereby giving rise to contempt in them, to the point that they incur offenses through irreverence. If a bodhisattva deliberately fails to guard his own bodily and verbal conduct, causing sentient beings to commit offenses of irreverence, the bodhisattva commits a grave defiled offense. If a bodhisattva does not take care to guard his bodily and verbal actions, being careless and lax, letting body and mouth act at will, and thereby causing others to produce wrongdoing, he commits a minor defiled offense.

The circumstances in which no offense is committed are: if he encounters adherents of non-Buddhist paths and must rebuke their non-Buddhist practices and false dharmas, there may be conflicting bodily and verbal actions, and this does not constitute an offense; or if a bodhisattva leaves home in accordance with conditions, and his bodily and verbal conduct accords with reason and the Dharma, there is no offense; or if he encounters many malicious people full of anger, and in order to discipline these evil people he does not restrain his bodily and verbal conduct, resulting in verbal and behavioral conflict, this likewise does not constitute an offense.

Speaking of this, if a person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions are habitually undisciplined, displaying very obvious afflictions of the three poisons—greed, anger, and delusion—and frequently causing sentient beings to slander and disparage him, and consequently to slander the Three Jewels, the Buddhist sutras, the Dharma principles, and other bodhisattvas—is such a person a qualified bodhisattva, and does he commit an offense? Such a person is not a qualified bodhisattva and commits a grave defiled offense. When a person, through his own impure bodily, verbal, and mental actions, causes large numbers of sentient beings to slander, even to slander the Dharma, is the wrongdoing not very great? It is very great. If a person deliberately, with immense afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion, causes large numbers of sentient beings to slander the Dharma and lose faith in it, is he not a member of Māra's faction? He is a member of Māra's faction. Those who knowingly protect and shield a member of Māra's faction who has greed, anger, and delusion and who harms sentient beings are accomplices, and are equally guilty.

Therefore, to judge whether a person is a true bodhisattva or a good teacher, one must consider everything comprehensively, not looking at only one aspect while ignoring the rest. Among these, bodily, verbal, and mental actions are the most important criteria, best revealing a person's true nature, most telling, and most influential, bearing on the credibility and prestige of Buddhism as well as its rise and decline. Therefore every Buddhist learner must attend to purifying his own bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and must never create evil karma of the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion.