The Meaning of the Non-Precept Nature of Precepts

Precepts are fundamentally without precepts, meaning that the precept-dharma is a dharma arising from causes and conditions, and originally does not exist. It was only because the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings in the Sahā world are not tranquil, and their minds are defiled, that the Buddha established the precept-dharma to restrain the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of his disciples. If there were no body of the five aggregates, there would be no need to restrain it with the precept-dharma; and if the five aggregates, after cultivation, attain purity and non-action, the precept-dharma is likewise no longer needed to restrain them. On the other hand, the original mind, the tathāgatagarbha, has no material body, no bodily, verbal, or mental actions, and no defilement, so it simply does not need to be restrained by the precept-dharma at all; He neither receives precepts, nor keeps precepts, much less violates precepts. It is the material body of the five aggregates that needs to receive precepts, keep precepts, and at times violates precepts. Therefore it is said that precepts are fundamentally without precepts: the precepts are formed after the fact, a dharma that arises and ceases—that is, they are false and illusory.