The Dignified Deportment of Monastics

The practitioners of the Two Vehicles are divided into those who have realized the Path and those who have not. Practitioners who have realized the Path, having comprehended that the five aggregates and eighteen elements are subject to birth, cessation, and change without inherent reality, and lacking any masterful self, attain the samadhi of non-self. They have eradicated the four marks—free from the notions of self, others, sentient beings, and a lifespan—and have attained the purified Dharma-eye. Consequently, their minds perceive the emptiness and unreality of the four marks, and their engagement with conditioned phenomena related to the self and others diminishes. Due to the precepts naturally arising from the Path, their inner greed lessens, distinctions between self and others and judgments of right and wrong decrease, and they are able to subdue afflictions. After cultivating the first dhyāna, afflictions are severed; greed and hatred are extinguished. At this stage, when interacting with the opposite gender, they experience no desire for love or attachment; their minds are liberated and unobstructed. However, bound by monastic precepts, and to set an example for sentient beings and prevent misunderstandings, practitioners of the third and fourth fruitions adhere to the precepts in speech, conduct, and demeanor, conforming to norms, while their inner state remains unconstrained.

Monastics are the refuge for sentient beings. They must maintain dignified deportment in their outward appearance so that sentient beings, upon seeing them, may develop reverence for the Triple Gem and plant wholesome roots. During the Buddha's time, the World-Honored One established the Sangha for two purposes: first, to enable sentient beings to leave the mundane and attain liberation; second, to serve as a refuge for sentient beings, guiding them to abandon the mundane, take refuge in the Triple Gem, and plant the seeds of liberation. Every monastic, regardless of whether they have realized the Path, sets an example by diligently upholding the precepts, maintaining proper speech and conduct, and possessing all aspects of dignified deportment. When they go on alms-begging rounds, they encounter many sentient beings and thus must be especially mindful of their deportment, lest they be ridiculed and create unwholesome karma leading to bad results. Therefore, when begging for alms, they walk along the road with heads slightly lowered, eyes fixed on the path ahead, not looking left or right, nor casting sidelong glances. They do not raise their heads to gaze directly at the people before them. When meeting the almsgiver, they naturally do not distinguish whether it is a man or a woman, beautiful or ugly. They receive the food in their alms bowl, turn, and depart without exchanging pleasantries. Because the practitioners single-mindedly seek liberation from birth and death, their minds do not dwell on the objects of the six senses nor on worldly affairs. Only thus can they realize the Path and ensure they remain unbound by the five desires and six sense objects of the mundane world.