What Conduct of a Bodhisattva Constitutes an Offense

Original text of the Sūtra on the Code of Conduct of the Bodhisattva Upāsaka's Five Precepts: 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 nirvāṇa, but should turn his back on nirvāṇa. A bodhisattva should not fear afflictions, nor should he eliminate afflictions. Why is this said? Because a bodhisattva must traverse birth and death throughout three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. One who speaks thus commits a grave defiled offense.

Why does a bodhisattva with such views commit a grave defiled offense? Because through the cultivation of three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, a bodhisattva must realize the nirvāṇa of both the greater and lesser vehicles, and ultimately must realize the non-abiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa) of a buddha at the fruition stage. Therefore a bodhisattva should delight in nirvāṇa and incline toward nirvāṇa, not turn against nirvāṇa. Although a bodhisattva delights in nirvāṇa, he does not enter the arhat's nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).

A bodhisattva's cultivation also requires eliminating the ignorance of both the greater and lesser vehicles and removing all manner of defiled afflictions, so that with a pure mind he can lead sentient beings in cultivation and guide them to liberation. He should not turn against nirvāṇa with a mind defiled by afflictions, for a defiled mind can harm body and mind, making it impossible to deliver sentient beings or exert a positive influence upon them. If a bodhisattva turns 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 eliminate them—eliminating afflictions yet not extinguishing them completely. If he extinguishes them completely, he will realize the fourth fruit of arhatship and, upon the end of his life, will certainly enter nirvāṇa without remainder, thereby abandoning sentient beings and the buddha path.

If a bodhisattva does not sever afflictions, he cannot save himself—how then could he save sentient beings? Therefore a bodhisattva must also sever afflictions, realizing the first, second, and third fruits, cutting afflictions to the level of the third fruit, but should not sever them completely and realize the fourth fruit. It suffices for a bodhisattva to cultivate the lesser vehicle only to the third fruit, which is enough for him to reach the stages of the first through seventh bhūmis in his Mahāyāna cultivation, without impeding his bodhisattva career and indeed making it more convenient to deliver sentient beings. When he cultivates to the seventh bhūmi, he then severs afflictions completely under the Buddha's empowering blessing, realizes the eighth bhūmi, yet does not enter nirvāṇa without remainder.

Although a bodhisattva cultivates and delivers sentient beings in the world throughout three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, he does not traverse birth and death as ordinary beings do; rather, he continuously eliminates segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death. Only when both coarse and subtle birth and death are completely severed can he accomplish the buddha path.

Original text of the Sūtra on the Code of Conduct of the Bodhisattva Upāsaka's Five Precepts: 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 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 the birth and death of sentient beings, whereas bodhisattvas constantly take all sentient beings into consideration. Although a bodhisattva dwells amid tainted afflictions, he is nonetheless fully at ease in eliminating afflictions—afflictions can be extinguished the moment he wills it, because the last trace of affliction is deliberately retained. Therefore a bodhisattva surpasses the arhat who dwells in the untainted state.

Original text of the Sūtra on the Code of Conduct of the Bodhisattva Upāsaka's Five Precepts: 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 invite ridicule from sentient beings, thereby causing them to develop contempt and incur offenses through their irreverence. If a bodhisattva deliberately fails to guard his 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 lax and dissolute, letting his body and speech run wild and acting at will, thereby causing others to produce evil, he commits a minor defiled offense.

The circumstances in which no offense is committed are: if he encounters followers of non-Buddhist paths and needs to rebuke their heterodox practices and false dharmas, his bodily and verbal conduct may involve confrontation—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, no offense is committed; or if he encounters many malicious people full of anger, and in order to discipline these wicked people he does not restrain his bodily and verbal conduct, resulting in verbal or physical confrontation, this likewise does not constitute an offense.

Speaking of this, if a person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions are habitually careless, displaying very obvious afflictions of the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion, and he frequently causes 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. If a person's own impure bodily, verbal, and mental actions cause large numbers of sentient beings to slander, even to slander the Dharma, is the evil not enormous? It is enormous. If a person deliberately uses immense greed, anger, and delusion to cause large numbers of sentient beings to slander the Dharma and lose faith in it, is such a person part of Māra's faction? Yes, he is part of Māra's faction. Those who knowingly maintain and shield Māra's faction, aware that it has greed, anger, and delusion and 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 from every angle, not looking at only one aspect while ignoring the rest. Among these, bodily, verbal, and mental actions are the most important criteria of assessment; they most reveal a person's essential nature, are most telling, and have the greatest impact, bearing on the credibility and prestige of Buddhism as well as its rise and decline. Therefore every Buddhist learner must pay attention to purifying his bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and must never create evil karma of greed, anger, and delusion.