Nine More Minor Precepts

The Buddha said: "Disciples of the Buddha — after the Buddha's final passing, in an evil age, if you see outsiders, evildoers, or thieves selling images of the Buddha, a bodhisattva, or one's own parents, trading in the scriptures and discipline, selling monks or nuns, or even a bodhisattva who has set out on the path — whether to serve as a government slave or as anyone's servant — a bodhisattva who witnesses this should give rise to a compassionate mind, using whatever skillful means are available, teaching wherever they go, and using their own means to ransom back the images of the Buddha or a bodhisattva, and to ransom monks, nuns, bodhisattvas who have set out on the path, and the scriptures and discipline themselves. If you fail to ransom them, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should not keep knives or weapons, bows or arrows; you should not trade using light scales or small measures to cheat others; you should not rely on official power or position to take another's property; you should not bind or confine others with harmful intent, or sabotage another's accomplishments; nor should you raise cats, weasels, pigs, or dogs. If you intentionally do this, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should not, out of an unwholesome mind, watch quarrels between men and women, or battles between armies, soldiers, or thieves. Nor should you listen to the blowing of conches, drums, and horns, or to lutes, zithers, flutes, harps, and the sound of song and performance. You should not gamble at dice, chess, board games, finger-flicking games, backgammon, ball games, stone-throwing, pitch-pot, or the game of the eight roads to the walled city; nor practise divination with a mirror and fingernail, with milfoil stalks, with willow twigs, with a bowl, or with a skull. You should not serve as a messenger for thieves. None of these should be done. If you intentionally do any of them, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — guard and uphold the precepts, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, reciting them at all six periods of day and night, holding them as firmly as a diamond, as one who carries an inflated raft to cross a great ocean, as a monk bound by a single blade of grass who will not break free of it. Constantly give rise to genuine faith in the great vehicle, knowing that you yourself are a buddha not yet realized, while the buddhas are buddhas already realized. Give rise to the mind of awakening, and let it never leave your thoughts, moment after moment. If you give rise to even a single thought inclined toward the lesser vehicles or outside paths, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should constantly make every vow: to be filial and devoted to your parents, teachers, monastics, and the Three Jewels; to obtain a good teacher, fellow students, and good spiritual friends who will constantly teach you the great vehicle's scriptures and discipline — the Ten Minds of Development, the Ten Minds of Long Nurturing, the Ten Vajra Minds, and the Ten Grounds — so that you come to understand them, practise according to the dharma, and firmly hold the Buddha's precepts, willing to give up your very body and life rather than let this vow leave your thoughts, moment after moment. If any bodhisattva fails to make this vow, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should always practise ascetic discipline during the two designated periods, and hold meditation retreats in winter and summer, entering the summer retreat with these eighteen things: willow twigs, cleansing powder, the three robes, a water bottle, a bowl, a sitting mat, a walking staff, an incense censer, a water strainer, a hand towel, a knife, a fire striker, tweezers, a folding seat, the sūtras and discipline, an image of the Buddha, and an image of a bodhisattva. Whether practising austerities or travelling from place to place, a hundred or a thousand miles, a bodhisattva should always carry these eighteen things. Ascetic discipline is practised from the fifteenth day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the third month, and from the fifteenth day of the eighth month to the fifteenth day of the tenth month; during these two periods, these eighteen things should stay with the body always, like a bird's own two wings. On the day of the fortnightly recitation, newly training bodhisattvas gather twice a month to recite the ten grave and forty-eight minor precepts before images of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Whether one person, two, three, or even a thousand are present, only one person recites at a time — the reciter sits in the high seat, the listeners sit below, each wearing a robe of nine, seven, or five panels. The summer retreat should be observed exactly according to the dharma. When practising asceticism, one should not enter dangerous places: not a country in turmoil or ruled by a cruel king, not treacherous terrain or dense wilderness, not places where lions, tigers, or wolves are found, not places threatened by flood, fire, or storm, nor roads haunted by thieves or venomous snakes — none of these dangerous places should ever be entered. Whether practising austerities or observing the summer retreat, these dangerous places should never be entered. If you intentionally enter such a place, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should sit in proper order according to the dharma: whoever received the precepts first sits toward the front, whoever received them later sits toward the back — regardless of age, whether monk, nun, person of standing, king, prince, or servant of any station, whoever received the precepts first should sit toward the front, and whoever received them later should sit accordingly after. Do not follow the confused custom of outside paths, where seating has no order at all, older or younger, first or last — this is the disordered way of soldiers and servants. In our own Buddha's teaching, whoever comes first sits first, and whoever comes later sits after. If a bodhisattva does not sit in this proper order, this is a light offense."

"Disciples of the Buddha — you should constantly teach and transform every being, establishing monasteries, forest retreats, gardens and fields, raising stūpas, and building places for winter and summer meditation retreat — every place needed for practice should be established. A bodhisattva should expound the great vehicle's scriptures and discipline for the sake of every being. In times of sickness, national calamity, or the threat of bandits, on the day a parent, sibling, preceptor, or teacher passes away, and through the following weeks up to forty-nine days afterward, you should recite and expound the great vehicle's scriptures and discipline. At times of seeking merit through religious gatherings, in the course of travel or livelihood, when threatened by great fire, great flood, storms at sea, or the dangers of rivers, seas, or malevolent spirits, you should also recite and expound this sūtra and its discipline. And in the face of every kind of karmic retribution — the three kinds of retribution, the seven heinous acts, the eight difficult circumstances, chains, fetters, and bondage of the body, excessive lust, excessive anger, excessive delusion, or persistent sickness — you should recite and expound this sūtra and its discipline as well. If a newly training bodhisattva fails to do this, this is a light offense. These nine precepts should be studied and upheld with a reverent mind — they are explained in the Chapter on the Platform of Brahmā."