Ten More Minor Precepts

The Buddha said: "Disciples of the Buddha — you should not repay anger with anger, or a blow with a blow. Even if your own parents, siblings, or close relatives are killed, you should not seek revenge. Even if a ruler is killed by another, you should not seek revenge on their behalf. To answer killing with killing goes against the very way of filial devotion. A bodhisattva should not even keep servants who strike and revile others, for this alone gives rise daily to boundless offenses of speech through the three kinds of action — how much more so the deliberate commission of one of the seven heinous acts. A renunciant bodhisattva who, lacking compassion, seeks revenge — even against harm done within their own family — this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — a bodhisattva newly gone forth, who does not yet understand the teaching, but relies on their own cleverness, or their high birth, or their advanced age, or their prominent family and lineage, or their great learning, wealth, or the seven treasures they possess — and, out of this pride, does not go to learn from a dharma teacher who studied before them — this is wrong. That teacher may be of humble birth, young, of low station, poor, or lacking in physical faculties, and yet genuinely possess virtue, and fully understand the scriptures and discipline. A newly training bodhisattva should not judge a teacher by their lineage, and if they fail to go and learn the ultimate truth from that teacher, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — after the Buddha's final passing, if someone wishes with a sincere mind to receive the bodhisattva precepts, they may vow to receive them for themselves before an image of the Buddha or a bodhisattva. They should confess before that image for seven days, and if they obtain an auspicious sign, they have received the precepts. If they do not obtain such a sign, they should continue for two weeks, three weeks, or even a full year, until an auspicious sign is obtained. Only once the sign is obtained have they truly received the precepts before that image. If no sign is obtained, even though they received the precepts before the image, they have not actually received them. If, however, one receives the precepts directly from a living teacher, no such sign is required — why is this? Because that teacher received the precepts in turn from their own teacher, in unbroken succession, so no sign is needed; receiving the precepts before a living teacher, one receives them at once, through the very seriousness of the intention. If there is no teacher able to confer the precepts within a thousand miles, one may receive them before an image of the Buddha or a bodhisattva, but an auspicious sign is then required. If a dharma teacher, relying on their own understanding of the great vehicle's scriptures and discipline, and their friendship with kings, princes, and officials, is approached by a newly training bodhisattva with a question about the meaning of a sūtra or the discipline, and responds with a careless, unwholesome, or arrogant mind, failing to answer properly, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — where the Buddha's own scriptures and discipline, the true dharma, true view, true nature, and true dharma-body of the great vehicle already exist, if you fail to diligently study and practise them, and instead set aside these seven treasures to study the mistaken views of the lesser vehicles, outside paths, secular writings, or scattered Abhidharma commentaries and records, this cuts off buddha-nature and obstructs the path — it is not the practice of the bodhisattva way. If you intentionally do this, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — after the Buddha's final passing, one who serves as the leading dharma teacher, the head of a monastery, the head of instruction, the head of meditation practice, or the leader of travel, should give rise to a compassionate mind, skillfully resolving disputes and quarrels, carefully guarding the property of the Three Jewels, never using it without restraint as though it were their own. But if, on the contrary, they throw the community into discord and use the property of the Three Jewels according to their own whim, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — one who resides first in a monastery, on seeing a visiting bodhisattva monk arrive at that monastery, house, or city — even during the summer retreat, or at a great assembly — the resident monastics should welcome them on arrival and see them off on departure, providing food, lodging, bedding, and a proper seat, giving them everything they need. If there is nothing else to give, one should, if necessary, sell one's own body, or one's sons and daughters, to provide for them. If a lay patron comes to invite the assembly of monastics to a meal, and a visiting monastic is entitled to a share of that offering, the head of the monastery should take turns assigning visiting monastics to receive such invitations. But if the resident monastics alone receive the invitation, without including the visiting monastics, the head of the monastery incurs boundless offense — no different from an animal, no true renunciant, no true child of the Buddha. If you intentionally do this, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should never accept a private invitation whose offering benefits you alone, when that offering rightfully belongs to the whole community of monastics in every direction. To accept such a private invitation is to take what belongs to the community of the ten directions for oneself alone — property that belongs to the eight fields of merit: the buddhas, the sages, one's own teachers, and the sick — and to use it for oneself is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — when a renunciant bodhisattva, a lay bodhisattva, or any patron wishes to invite monastics as a field of merit in pursuit of some wish, they should go to the monastery and ask the one responsible for its affairs. To invite monastics in their proper turn is to receive the noble community of the ten directions itself; whereas to single out and invite five hundred famous arhats or bodhisattva-monks by name falls short of simply inviting one ordinary monastic according to their proper turn. To selectively invite monastics by name is the way of outside paths — none of the seven past buddhas ever taught such selective invitation, and it goes against the very way of filial devotion. If you intentionally invite monastics selectively in this way, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should not, out of an unwholesome mind and for the sake of profit, trade in the bodies of men or women, prepare food for sale by your own hand, grind or pound grain for others' hire, practise physiognomy or divination, interpret dreams as fortunate or unfortunate, determine the sex of an unborn child, practise sorcery or crafts of deception, train hawks for hunting, or compound the hundred poisons and the thousand poisons, snake venom, or the toxins of raw metals — all of this done with no compassion at all. If you intentionally do this, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should not, out of an unwholesome mind, slander the Three Jewels yourself while falsely appearing devoted to them, speaking of emptiness with your mouth while acting entangled in attachment; nor should you arrange meetings between men and women for the sake of lustful entanglement on a layperson's behalf, nor commit killing, stealing, or breaking a fast and violating the precepts on the six fasting days or during the three long fasting months of the year. If you do so, this is a light offense. These ten precepts should be studied and upheld with a reverent mind — they are explained fully in the Chapter on Establishing the Precepts."