The Precept of Not Adorning with Flowers and Fragrances among the Eight Precepts of Fasting (aṣṭāṅga-upavāsa)

Original text of the Ekottara Āgama, Volume 16, Gaozhuang Chapter: 如阿罗汉。不着香华．脂粉之饰。我今亦当如是。尽形寿不着香华。脂粉之好。

Explanation: Like an arhat, one does not wear fragrant flowers or adorn oneself with rouge and powder. I too should be like this: for the entirety of this life, I will not wear fragrant flowers, nor take pleasure in rouge and powder, nor adorn myself.

Ornaments of fragrant flowers and cosmetics include all items used to adorn the physical body; apart from necessary clothing, they are all extra decorations. Men have men's adornments, women have women's adornments—all are for embellishing and beautifying the physical body, or for displaying one's status, position, and social class. When worn on the body, they all increase the view of the body and foster self-conceit, making the mind impure and unfavorable for cultivating the Path. They should all be removed, regardless of whether one keeps precepts or not.

On the days of observing the Eight Precepts, not wearing fragrant flowers and garlands also includes not wearing all kinds of gorgeous, luxurious clothing decorated with gold, silver, and other ornaments, various high-end formal attire, as well as women's clothing of all kinds that reveals the figure and charm. Wearing such clothing fosters self-conceit, increases the view of self and the view of the body, arouses desires in people, and is unfavorable for cultivation. The clothing worn by monastics is all loose and ample, not revealing the figure, covering the body completely, and the colors are all dull, impure colors, not bright. Even when the Buddha was in the world, His attire was very simple, not much different from what the bhikṣus wore. When no one offered clothing, He would also go to the charnel ground to pick up cloth used for wrapping corpses, dye it after bringing it back, then patch and mend it before wearing it.

The Buddha is the supreme honored one of the three realms; there is no one in the world more noble than the Buddha, yet His life was so simple and low-key. By comparison, those worldly people who wear gold and silver are simply too extravagant, displaying their desires and attachments everywhere. How can they thus liberate themselves from the suffering of birth and death?

"How excellent, the garment of liberation, the robe for prostration and repentance; I now receive it upon my crown, may I wear it life after life." This is the verse recited when receiving precepts and donning the robe (the plain robe). What does this verse mean? The plain robe is a single rectangular piece of cloth, not shaped like clothing. It is draped over the body and fastened at the shoulder with a button so it does not fall off. This cloth is also called the robe for prostration and repentance, worn when receiving precepts and repenting before the Buddha, and worn when reciting sūtras and during Dharma ceremonies. Putting on this garment represents having obtained the essence of the precepts; with the essence of the precepts, one can keep the precepts; because one keeps the precepts, one can attain the fruit of liberation in the future, with the meritorious benefit of liberation. Therefore, only by receiving and keeping the precepts can one eliminate the view of self and attain liberation; without receiving or keeping the precepts, one cannot eliminate the view of self and cannot attain liberation. Being unable to eliminate the view of self also means being unable to awaken to the true mind and see one's nature; neither the Great Vehicle nor the Small Vehicle can achieve anything. This is precisely the importance of the precepts.

This issue should be considered from the reverse angle: why do many people like to adorn their bodies with fragrant flowers? What is the meaning of adorning the body? For what purpose do men and women decorate and dress themselves up? Sentient beings, because they have not awakened the mind, do not reflect on or question their own and others' daily behaviors; they follow their own habits and tendencies, follow all their own thoughts, not knowing what kind of thoughts these are. All the thoughts of sentient beings are, in the final analysis, the view of the body and the view of mind, which together constitute the view of self. Because the view of self is deeply entrenched, it manifests at all times and in all places; there is no intention to conceal it, nor the ability to conceal or restrain it, not knowing that this is a wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), that it is mistaken, that one can fall into the pit of birth and death and be unable to extricate oneself, and even when the Buddha comes to save and draw one out (of suffering), it is still very difficult.

Taking the body as self is called the view of the body. Sentient beings subconsciously and unconsciously, at all times and in all settings, always attend to their own physical bodies, concerned with how others see them, how others evaluate them, how to make others accept them, like them, and revere them, and thus unconsciously want to attract others' gazes and attention. Those who pay great attention to their appearance all do so because of the view of the body; they like to pose and preen, their behavior is affected, with professional smiles, occasionally fingering their hair and hands, touching up their faces, adjusting their clothes—countless small gestures—all displaying a person's view of the body. The feeling of the body cannot be neglected for even a minute; at no time can they forget the body. One can see how heavy sentient beings' view of the body is.

If one knows what the view of the body is, one can observe whether others have the view of the body and how severe it is, and thus know whether this person has eliminated the view of the body, whether they are a good teacher, and whether what they teach can lead you to eliminate the view of self and walk the path of liberation. Because sentient beings are generally ignorant and unwilling to study the Buddhist sūtras, they lack correct judgment, are easily deceived, take the false as true, and waste enormous amounts of time and energy on wrong paths. Not knowing what the physical and mental state and manifestations of eliminating the view of self are, whether one is a Dharma speaker or a Dharma listener, one cannot conceal one's view of the body and view of self, nor does one know how to conceal it—one cannot even fake it convincingly.

Dharma speakers also know that sentient beings are ignorant and do not understand, and they do not deliberately disguise or conceal; thus it is the foolish delivering the foolish, and no one can climb out of the pit of foolishness. The reason swindlers flourish in the world is that the soil of the world is suitable—suitable for survival, suitable for breeding—and the suitable soil is precisely the ignorance of sentient beings. Therefore, it is the karmic power of sentient beings that summons and attracts the hypocrites.

Returning to the main topic: the reason the Buddha established the precepts to restrain sentient beings' bodily, verbal, and mental actions is so that sentient beings can subdue their incorrect bodily, verbal, and mental actions, subdue their view of body and view of self, laying the foundation for eliminating the view of self, laying the foundation for awakening to the true mind and seeing one's nature, and also laying the foundation for meditative concentration (samādhi). Therefore, if a person is unwilling to receive and keep the precepts, does not abide by the precepts, then meditative concentration will not arise, they will not subdue their own mind or reduce the view of self, will not eliminate the view of self, and will not awaken to the true mind and see their nature.

Those who have no meditative concentration and do not keep the precepts, yet claim to have realized the fruit, awakened to the mind and seen the nature—what fruit did they realize, what mind did they awaken to, what nature did they see? So it is not surprising that some who guide people to realize the fruit and awaken to the mind call upon their followers to comply with afflictions and to abandon the marks of the precepts, saying there is no need to keep precepts with marks. This is because their own afflictions are very heavy. To treat all sentient beings as fools and deceive them is a very unwise move, because the Sahā world is, after all, the Buddha's land, and sentient beings are the Buddha's children. With the Buddha's great compassionate mind, how could He give up caring for and transforming sentient beings? How could He not support sentient beings? How could He allow sentient beings to be maliciously deceived?