The world of Tzu Chi June 2020 (Vol.123)

2020 • 06 50 harma Uphold precepts to keep mind and body pure A mong the six realms, it is rare to be born as a human. Life as a human is a pivotal point in the cycle of birth and death—whether we will go to heaven or to hell depends on our actions in this life. Everything is created by the mind; we undertake spiritual practice not only to escape hell, but to transcend even heaven and break away from the three realms so that we can come and go freely to transform and deliver sentient beings. As spiritual practitioners, we need to attain Samadhi, and to attain Samadhi, we rely on upholding precepts. Thus, the sutra says, “ Bhiksus , after my passing, revere and honour Pratimoksa .” “Pratimoksa” are the precepts. The word can be translated as “going towards liberation”. If we can meticulously uphold the precepts and follow the rules, we will be able to keep our minds and bodies pure. When we uphold precepts, our bodies and minds will naturally have no afflictions or guilt, and we will avoid all kinds of troubles. Let us take the monastic practitioners at Jing Si Abode as an example. Everyone works willingly and happily; they know that practising with me is very hard, but everyone’s heart is filled with joy, and they are thus willing to accept the long-term challenges and training here. It usually takes two years, sometimes even three or four years, before they can be initiated as nuns. But as long as we abide by the Buddha’s teachings and maintain our initial aspiration to attain Bodhi, we will be able to joyfully uphold the precepts. Pratimoksa can also be explained as “liberation by type of precepts”. The precepts that we uphold are of different types—there are five precepts upheld by lay practitioners, the precepts for lay Bodhisattvas, and there are the precepts for bhiksus , bhiksunis and Bodhisattvas who have renounced lay life. These precepts come in stages and must be followed according to our different roles. There are seven types of disciples of the Buddha. Those who renounce lay life include bhiksus, bhiksunis, sramaneras, sramanerikas and siksamanas (female novices). Bhiksus have 250 precepts, bhiksunis have 348 precepts, sramaneras and sramanerikas need to uphold ten precepts, and siksamanas need to uphold six practices. There are two groups of lay practitioners, male and female ( upasaka and upasika ), who need to uphold five precepts. Although these seven types of disciples CHAPTER 2 - UPHOLD PRECEPTS