Speaking of Monks' Faults Is Evil

Buddhism established the Saṅgha from the very day the first monastics appeared; when the monastic Saṅgha perishes, Buddhism perishes—this has a basis in the Buddhist sūtras. All those who have been shaved and ordained under the monastic precepts belong to the Three Jewels, serving a role of representing the Dharma and standing for Buddhism. As for how well they represent it, that is an internal matter of the monastics and the Saṅgha, and outsiders have no right to interfere.

Monastics are bound and regulated by precepts and by cause and effect; even if they violate the precepts, laypeople are not permitted to gossip and criticize. Therefore the Buddha did not allow laypeople to read the monastics' precepts, lest they measure monastics' words and deeds against the precept clauses, then give rise to arrogance, accuse them of offenses, and publicize the faults of monastics, thereby creating the evil karma of slandering the Three Jewels, with fearsome retribution. Monastics are governed by the Saṅgha, and the Saṅgha will deal with monastics' faults and offenses; for those without a Saṅgha, or those the Saṅgha cannot govern, the Dharma-protecting deities and cause and effect will govern them—but laypeople have no standing to govern, and laypeople must absolutely never speak of any fault of the Saṅgha.

On the day of self-confession (pravāraṇā), monastics confess of their own accord the precepts they have violated and expose to one another the precepts violated and faults committed; laypeople are not allowed to eavesdrop. If anyone eavesdrops, the Dharma-protecting deities will cut off their head with a sword. This is precisely to prevent laypeople from learning of the precept violations and faults committed by monastics and then criticizing and publicizing them. If laypeople criticize and publicize the faults of monastics, whether or not such faults actually exist, it is the evil karma of slander, and at the end of life the retribution is rebirth in the three evil paths or in hell. For those with grave evil karma, the flowering retribution (puṣpa-phala) manifests in this very life—they cannot even wait for the retribution of later lives.

Some people only see where monastics fall short, but are blind to the worldly benefits monastics have renounced. Even if monastics frequently violate precepts and often commit evil deeds, could they possibly commit more evil than laypeople? Laypeople eat fish and meat every day and are constantly entangled in desires hard to relinquish; comparing the two, whose karma is greater? Otherwise, with so many people regarding themselves as lofty and pure, why do they not go forth and take on the identity of a monastic? Is going forth difficult? It is not difficult—it is simply because they cannot let go of the various desires and pleasures of the world, and the benefits of the world are hard to renounce. So instead they regard the lay status as superior and exalted, and everywhere criticize monastics and the Saṅgha. Since the Saṅgha is supposedly so wretched, why not give rise to great resolve, renounce worldly desires, and bravely go forth for the sake of Buddhism, sentient beings, and one's own long-eons path-cultivation? Would it not be far more beneficial to protect Buddhism and sentient beings with a monastic body?

In the Buddha's time, whether Devadatta or the monk Sunakṣatra committed evil deeds, it was the Buddha and the Saṅgha who restrained and punished them; others had no right to interfere. If the Buddha could not govern them and the Saṅgha could not govern them, cause and effect would sanction them—falling into hell while still alive. In the Buddha's time, the group of six monks committed countless evil deeds, yet even after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa they remained monks. At the time of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the group of six monks drank alcohol and ate meat, clamoring loudly in celebration of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa; the Buddha, having no alternative, covered the eyes and ears of the heavenly beings so they would not hear or see it, but the Buddha did not manifest supernatural powers to sanction them.

When the Buddha was in the world, the Buddha was supreme; after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the precepts are supreme—whichever precepts carry the greater authority, that one is regarded as supreme and exalted. The manifestations of regarding the precepts as supreme are: first, monastics and laypeople do not live mixed together, and those with different precepts do not live mixed together—even among monastics, if their precepts differ, they still may not live mixed together; second, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, in performing Buddhist affairs, and at the uposatha (poṣadha) assembly, those who received the precepts earlier come first and those who received them later come after; monastic bodhisattva precepts rank before lay bodhisattva precepts, and lay bodhisattva precepts rank before the lay five precepts and eight precepts.