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Eightfold Precepts Q & A2014-02-17
♦ Spoken by Dharma Master Jin Fan
English Translation by Lotus Lee
Question: Dharma Master, can we use down quilts?
Answer: Do you think it is OK to use them? The goose must be killed to get the down and that is against the precepts. Anything that requires the killing of a sentient being is a violation of the precepts and an infringement on compassion. Living beings come in two categories: sentient beings and non-sentient beings. Sentient beings have flesh and blood, like mosquitoes and ants. When you go after them, they run. Why? Because they want to live, for “wanting to live and being afraid to die” is the nature of all sentient beings.
Let me tell you a story. Once there was a butcher whose last name was Wang. One day, he purchased a cow and a calf (her calf). After he returned home with the cows in tow, he went to sharpen his long knife in preparation for killing the cow. Before he finished, someone knocked on the door, and he left to answer it. As soon as the butcher left, the calf put the knife in its mouth and ran to the butcher’s next door neighbor, a farmer named Sun. The calf used its horns to knock on the door. When the farmer opened the door, he saw the calf holding the knife in its mouth. Having swallowed half of the knife, the calf proceeded to swallow the entire knife right before the farmer’s eyes. The farmer then knew that the calf was begging for help.
When the butcher returned, he couldn’t find the knife or the calf, so he went looking for them. The famer knew that
the butcher was going to kill the cow, so he decided to be compassionate and bought both the cow and her calf at double the original price. The mother cow and the calf were happily reunited. From then on, both the cow and her calf plowed the farmer’s fields. A few years later, the cow died, and the farmer thought the calf would probably die soon too, due to the long knife in its stomach. However, for some mysterious reason, the calf did not die, but continued to plow the fields for more than twenty years.
The farmer’s family knew that the calf once swallowed a knife, so when the calf finally died, they opened its stomach to see if it was still there. The knife was there, but had many thick layers of muscle wrapped around it. Consequently, the calf was never hurt. Not wanting its mother to be killed, the filial calf swallowed the knife. Therefore, from this story, we can see that not only do living beings treasure their lives they would even go so far to save the lives of their loved ones, or other sentient beings. If we are truly compassionate, we should never harm another sentient being, even if they are as small as an ant or a mosquito. They are all flesh and blood, and have the desire to live!
With repentance and reform comes peace
Now we are having Emperor Liang’s Jeweled Repentance at Gold Sage Monastery. Repentance is actually a very good Dharma door for cultivation. The Buddha said that there are two kinds of wise people in the world: one never commits evil, and the other may commit evil, but is capable of repentance and reform after the deed was done. Not only does creating negative karma hurt our wisdom and Dharma Body, it also harms other beings. Therefore, if you can repent and reform, and refrain from creating more negative karma in the future, you will also be a wise person.
Repentance is like washing clothes. When our clothes are dirty, we do not need to throw them away; once we wash them, they can be worn again. Or, if our hands touch something that is dirty or smells bad, we do not need to cut them off. As long as we wash our hands, we can still eat and do work with them. Repentance and reform works in the same way. After we have created negative karma, if we can change ourselves and sincerely repent and reform, the karma will be eradicated. After our offenses have been eradicated, our mind and body will be at peace. Therefore, the vinaya says: “With repentance and reform comes peace.”
The best repentance and reform is to keep the mind and body pure at all times
When we are repenting, it is best to uphold the precepts at the same time. Just now we were talking about Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s fourth vow: to repent of karmic obstacles. This vow combines repentance and precepts. The sutra says: “The Bodhisattva thinks: ‘From beginningless kalpas ago, due to greed, anger, and delusion, I have used my body, mouth, and mind to create various kinds of negative karma.’” The Bodhisattva who is cultivating the ten great vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva thinks to himself: from beginningless kalpas ago, due to the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion, I have used my body, mouth, and mind to create evil karma. The body can create three kinds of negative karma: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; the mouth can create four kinds: false speech, flowery speech, evil speech, and divisive speech; the mind can create three kinds: greed, anger, and delusion. Therefore, negative karma arises from the body, mouth, and mind, and is caused by greed, anger, and delusion.
How much negative karma have we created? The chapter on Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s conduct and vows says: “If this negative karma had a physical appearance, not even empty space could contain it.” This means that the negative karma that we have created with the body, mouth, and mind starting from beginningless kalpas past is limitless and boundless. Consequently, we have to repent and reform our negative karma, but it is not something that can be finished in a single lifetime.
How do we repent of negative karma that was already created? The chapter on Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s conduct and vows says: “In front of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in lands throughout the Dharma Realm as many as extremely fine particles, I sincerely repent and reform with pure body, mouth, and mind, and resolve never to create negative karma again.” I now use pure karma of the body, mouth, and mind to repent. How to repent? One repents before the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three times, and after repenting, resolves to never create such karma again. In this way, one will attain purity, and will “always abide in pure precepts and in all virtue.” After one repents, one should uphold the pure precepts. By combining repentance and precepts, one will obtain limitless and boundless virtue.
We know that cultivation is to accumulate merit and virtue. If we have insufficient virtue, then we will bump into obstacles in cultivation, or when we wish to leave the home life. Therefore, we should repent of our offenses frequently. There are many ways to do so. Reciting the Buddha’s name, bowing to the Buddhas, and bowing in repentances ceremonies are all forms of repentance. The best method of repentance is to keep one’s body and mind pure at all times.
Repentance and reform will help us fulfill our wishes
By using the repentance ritual manuals that the patriarchs composed, such as Great Compassion Repentance, which is held at CTTB daily, the annual Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance, Emperor Liang’s Jeweled Repentance, Water Repentance, or Earth Store Repentance, we can enable our body, mouth, and mind to regain purity. However, it is crucial to be sincere during the process of repentance, and to refrain from creating more negative karma afterwards. Other than eradicating our offenses, repentance can also fulfill our wishes and make cultivation easier.
Ten years ago, there was a mother who brought her son to CTTB for Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance. In the beginning, the son had no interest in Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance and only came out of devotion to his mother and the opportunity to go sightseeing in America. But since he was already in CTTB, he participated in the repentance as well, and came to enjoy this Dharma Door. The following year, he returned for the repentance, and after the third year, he became a monastic. Now, he is a bhikshu at CTTB, and has participated in full sessions of Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance for more than ten years in a row. I believe that through participating in repentance ceremonies, many people have realized that not only can these ceremonies eradicate our offenses they are also a Dharma Door that can open the gateway to cultivation.
Perhaps you are not used to attending full sessions of repentance ceremonies at the monastery yet, due to the inevitable fatigue and body aches that follow. However, when I was a shramanera, my favorite time of year at CTTB was Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance. Please don’t laugh at me; the reason I liked it was not because I enjoyed the repentance itself, but because Ten Thousand Buddhas Repentance was the most relaxed schedule we had. As shramaneras, our training was tougher at the time, and there was a lot of work that we had to do. Even half an hour of rest in a day was a luxury. During the repentance, there would be a break each hour, since we also got more time to rest, it felt like a luxury. Also, the hard work built up our strength so the bowing did not tire us out.
In cultivation, you should become familiar with what you originally were not, and become unfamiliar with what you originally knew very well
Cultivation is to become acquainted with what you did not know, and become unfamiliar with what you knew very well. For instance, in the past, you were not accustomed to reciting the Buddha’s name, but now, the more you recite it, the more used to it you become. Or, in the past, you were not used to bowing to the Buddha, but now it does not make your legs sore or your back hurt, and you no longer get tired. Another example is that you started out not knowing the pronunciations for the characters in the Great Compassion Mantra, the Shurangama Mantra, or in other sutras, but now you can recite them from memory. These are all examples of “becoming acquainted with what you did not know before,” and they all signify progress in your cultivation.
However, you should also distance yourself from what you used to know. Why? Because these mundane pleasures and happiness of the five desires are the opposite of cultivation. For instance, in the past, you had the habit of watching TV, visiting friends, reading the newspaper, or listening to music. Now you should refrain from doing them altogether, or try to do them as little as possible. As you gradually distance yourself from them, you may find that you are not drawn to them anymore.
True freedom comes from seeming lack of freedom
Speaking of leaving the home life, why do we need preparation beforehand, like the shramanera training class at CTTB where the members uphold the eightfold precepts? The Dharma-gupta-vinaya says there are ten things that monastics must endure: the wind, the rain, the cold, the heat, hunger, thirst, eating one meal a day, poisonous insects, speech unfavorable to the ear, and the precepts. Monastics must endure the wind and the rain, and the heat and the cold; they must be able to bear hunger and thirst, especially those who leave home in CTTB and its branch monasteries. The first condition is to eat one meal a day, and the second is to always wear the kasaya sash. Enduring a single meal is eating one meal a day. Before we become accustomed to it, it is a challenge, because we do get hungry. However, that is only the process of getting use to it.
Enduring poisonous insects, such as mosquitoes and ants, means that we do not kill them. For example, if we encounter ants, we should put them elsewhere while dwelling in a compassionate state of mind. Another is to endure speech that is unfavorable to the ears. If people criticize and slander us with bad intentions, we have to bear it. Monastics have more precepts—shramaneras have ten precepts, and bhikshus have 250 precepts plus the Bodhisattva precepts. The precepts regulate the three karmas of the body, mouth, and mind, so upholding precepts is to make them into a habit. At first, we are not accustomed to it and feel very restricted. But it is precisely because of this seeming lack of freedom that we will attain true freedom in the future, because true freedom comes from restraint. Attaining liberation starts from here.
Question: What do we do with clothes and blankets that are stuffed with down if we already have them?
Answer: If you have already received the precepts, you shouldn’t use them. You can give them to people who have not yet received the precepts or to charities. In CTTB, if people gave us food that had eggs or were impure in similar ways, we would send the food to homeless shelters or give it to people who needed food. My point is, if the things can still be used give them to people in need. You don’t have to throw them away.
Question: Can we go shopping today?
Answer: The eightfold precepts do not bar you from buying things, but you have to consider what is it you want to buy. If you are going to buy pretty clothes, then that is not right, because the intention of upholding the eight precepts is to live simple life. If you are going to buy music CDs, that is not right, because the eightfold precepts bar singing, dancing, and entertaining diversions. There is also a precept against eating at improper times, so you shouldn’t go out to buy food either. The point is to see what you are going to buy. Do it only when it is absolutely necessary. This morning I said that the eightfold-precepts actually include nine of the shramanera precepts, and only lack the precept against handling money, jewelry and gold. If you would like to uphold the precepts even more purely, I would suggest that you refrain from handling money today altogether. Perhaps some people may have to go home to make dinner for their family. If there is no one else who could do it for you, then you are practicing the Bodhisattva path and an exception can be made.
Question: If a mother takes her daughter to get an abortion, the daughter is forced to kill, the mother pays money to get others to kill, and the doctor accepts the money to do the act of killing, who commits the severest offense?
Answer: If a mother takes her daughter to get an abortion and the daughter had the abortion against her will, then she was forced. The doctor took the money and then performed the act of killing. Out of all possible kinds of killing, the offense of killing a human is most severe. The fetus also has life, so getting an abortion is equivalent to killing a human. Therefore, do not get abortions because it is a form of killing. If you have the opportunity to read the Bodhisattva precepts in the Brahma Net Sutra, you will see that killing includes the causes, conditions, method, and action of killing—the conditions for killing, the method of killing, and the action of killing make many different situations and degrees of killing possible. Broadly speaking, killing is divided into killing personally, instructing others to kill, and rejoicing at the sight of killing. To avoid the problem of abortion, the Venerable Master said that young people (who are still students) are not mature enough should not get romantically involved, just like fruit should not be picked before it is ripe. They should wait until they are at least twenty-five years old. If people are married and get pregnant, they ought to have the responsibility to have the child; if the pregnancy is out of wedlock, then that counts as a form of sexual misconduct.
Question: When we take the eightfold precepts, we cannot sleep on high and wide beds, but that is what we usually sleep on. What do we do?
Answer: If you haven’t received the eightfold precepts, that is not a violation of precepts, since you had that bed already. However, when you sleep on the bed, you should not be attached to comfort and pleasure. You can picture it as a grass or wooden bed. I guess this is a matter of attitude. Of course, if you think that the bed is too luxurious, you can give it to others and get a smaller bed if you are so willing. The eightfold precepts says that the bed should be shorter than eight of the Tathagata’s fingers stacked end to end. The Buddha’s finger is two inches long, so eight fingers stacked end to end is one foot six inches, the maximum height of the bed. As for the area of the bed, the Agama Sutra says that the maximum area is eight by four feet.
Question: Shariras are found in the remains of some people’s ashes after they have been cremated. Why?
Answer: Some say that shariras are the outcome of a person’s cultivation. Shariras may be found in the remains of some people who, when they were alive, upheld the precepts and cultivated, but whether there are shariras or not should not be the judging factor of someone’s cultivation. We should not use the size and number of shariras to decide if people have reached profound levels of cultivation. There were some Dharma Masters in the past whose entire bodies became shariras, such as the Sixth Patriarch, Great Master Hanshan, and Dharma Master Cihang in Taiwan. Does it mean that they have the highest level of cultivation? Using such standards to make judgments is bad because we will make a lot of discriminations.
In July of this year, when I went to Calgary, there was a cancer patient who only had one or two months left to live. He asked Dharma Masters to go to the hospital to transmit the three refuges and the five precepts. Since this was a special case, another Dharma Master and I went to the hospital. Sitting in the wheelchair, the layperson was in good spirits and had a lucid mind. He did not seem to be fearful about his situation. We transmitted the three refuges and the five precepts, and spoke the Dharma for him, hoping that he would recite the Buddha’s name in the little time he had left, and seek to be reborn in the Pure Land. After five weeks, I received an email from someone in Calgary, saying that this layperson had already passed away. The strange thing was that although he had only taken refuge, received the precepts, and recited the Buddha’s name for five weeks, after cremation, there were shariras found in his ashes. I saw the pictures and noticed that his shariras looked quite similar to those of the Venerable Master. Therefore, I do not think that we should use shariras to judge a person’s level or duration of cultivation. I believe that cultivation is an accumulation that is related to our past lives, not just the present life.
Question: How should we cultivate repentance Dharma Door in accord with the Dharma? For instance, if we recite the Junti Mantra, do we have to transfer the merit in a special way?
Answer: There are many Dharma Doors of repentance, like the Great Compassion Repentance held at CTTB every day. The Venerable Master taught us to focus on a single Dharma Door. If we are sincere and have faith in one Dharma Door then that Dharma Door can eradicate our offenses. If you think whatever you are doing is insufficient and you need to look for other ones, then, like the Venerable Master said, you’ve wasted a lot of time on the road.
Question: I’m busy, and I do not have time to come to the monastery to receive the eightfold precepts. Could I take the precepts at home by myself? It seems that there are books that teach people how to do so.
Answer: It is harder to receive the precepts at home than it is in the monastery. Why? Let’s talk about the Brahma Net Sutra Bodhisattva precepts. If you wish to receive the Brahma Net Sutra Bodhisattva precepts and receive the precepts from a Dharma Master who has already received the precepts, then you will obtain the precept substance right away. That is because the precepts are transmitted from master to master. The Bodhisattva precepts of this Dharma Master were transmitted to him by another Dharma Master. Now that he transmits the Bodhisattva precepts to you, you receive the precepts as well. However, if you wish to do so by yourself, you have to bow to the Buddhas for a week, two weeks, or three weeks, or even for one year, two years, or three years, until you see auspicious signs, such as light, flowers, or the Buddha rubbing the crown of your head. You would have to be most sincere for that to happen, and we have no idea how long it would take. But when you are here, you only need to spend a couple of hours in a ceremony in front of the Dharma Master, and you will receive the precepts. Why would you leave behind the easy method and choose the hard way?
