Jìngxíng Pǐn淨行品
A bodhisattva who skillfully applies the mind — 善用其心 — turns every single act of an ordinary day, from putting on a robe to washing a bowl, into a wish for the awakening of all beings; nothing is too small to be practice, and nothing is left outside the path.
The Avataṃsaka Sūtra (華嚴經, the "Flower Garland Sūtra") is one of the largest and most cosmic scriptures in the Mahāyāna canon — an ocean of interpenetrating worlds, radiant Buddhas, and the fifty-two stages of the bodhisattva path. Inside that vastness, the Chapter of Pure Conduct is something different: a close, practical, almost domestic text. It has no cosmic vision, no other-world Buddha. It simply asks — and then answers, 141 times — how a single day of an ordinary practitioner's life can be turned entirely toward the liberation of others.
This intimacy of scale is exactly why the chapter has always circulated more widely, and been chanted more often, than almost anything else in the Avataṃsaka. It is the one part of this enormous sūtra you can actually carry into a kitchen, a hallway, or a hospital room.
The Chapter of Pure Conduct did not start out as a chapter. It circulated independently for centuries before it was folded into the Avataṃsaka — the clearest sign of how prized it was on its own. The earliest known Chinese translation is Lokakṣema's 《諸菩薩求佛本業經》 (2nd century CE, Eastern Han); Zhi Qian of the Wu kingdom translated it again in the 3rd century as 《菩薩本業經》, in the 〈願行品〉 section, and it was Zhi Qian who first cast the material into the verse form used ever since. Two later translators then absorbed it into the full Avataṃsaka: Buddhabhadra placed it as chapter 7 of the 60-fascicle version (418–420 CE), and Śikṣānanda placed it as chapter 11 of the 80-fascicle version (completed 699 CE) — the translation used on this page, and the most widely read of the four surviving versions.
The chapter opens with Bodhisattva Sudhīmati (智首, literally "wisdom foremost") putting ten sets of questions to Mañjuśrī — around a hundred qualities in all — asking how a bodhisattva can obtain each one. The questions climb from the most basic (flawless conduct) to the most exalted (the ten powers of a Buddha):
| Set | Chinese | Asking how to obtain… |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 十種三業 | ten qualities of body, speech, and mind — flawless, harmless, unshakable, pure, wisdom-led… |
| 2 | 十種具足 | ten kinds of completeness — birth, lineage, family, form, mindfulness, wisdom, fearlessness… |
| 3 | 十種慧 | ten kinds of wisdom — supreme, measureless, inconceivable, ineffable… |
| 4 | 十力 | ten inner powers — of aspiration, of skillful means, of calm-abiding, of insight… |
| 5 | 十種善巧 | ten kinds of skillful mastery — of the aggregates, the elements, dependent origination… |
| 6 | 七覺分、三解脫門 | the seven factors of awakening, and the three gates of liberation — emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness |
| 7 | 六度、四無量 | the six perfections and the four immeasurables — loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity |
| 8 | 十智力 | the ten powers of knowledge of a Buddha — karma across the three times, the unobstructed divine eye… |
| 9 | 十王護持 | the reverence and protection of ten kinds of kings, divine and human |
| 10 | 十種為依、十種超勝 | being a refuge, a torch, a guide for all beings — and being foremost among all beings |
It is a formidable list — the entire résumé of a Buddha, in outline. The drama of the chapter is that Mañjuśrī does not answer it point by point. He answers it with a single principle, and then shows what that principle looks like at breakfast.
Mañjuśrī opens by praising the question — 善哉！佛子，汝今為欲多所饒益，多所安隱，哀愍世間，利樂天人，問如是義, "Excellent, child of the Buddha — you ask this wishing to benefit many, bring peace to many, have compassion for the world, and bring welfare to gods and humans." Then he collapses the entire hundred-item list into one sentence:
若諸菩薩善用其心，則獲一切勝妙功德。
"If a bodhisattva skillfully applies the mind, every supreme and wondrous virtue follows."
Everything else in the chapter — all 141 verses — is Mañjuśrī making good on that claim, scene by scene. Nothing further is asked of the reader: no austerity, no special circumstance, no monastery required to start. The entire path is contained in how the mind meets each moment. This is also why the chapter closes, after the last verse, by circling back to the very same phrase, now in the past tense: a bodhisattva who has practiced this way — 若諸菩薩如是用心，則獲一切勝妙功德 — becomes unshakable by the whole world, including gods, māras, and even the more limited attainments of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha vehicles.
Each of the 141 verses follows the same four-part shape, tightened by Zhi Qian into verse form and kept ever since:
A well-known example, from Section VI below: seeing a bridge on the road, 若見橋道，當願眾生，廣度一切，猶如橋梁 — "may all beings be widely carried across, like a bridge." The genius of the form is how ordinary the trigger is and how large the wish becomes.
The 141 verses have no headings in the sūtra itself, but the great Huayan commentator Chengguan (澄觀, 738–839 CE), National Master Qingliang, divided them into nine movements in his 《華嚴經疏鈔》, tracing a single day of a monastic's life from home to sleep. That division, still used in study and chanting today, structures the text on this page:
| # | Chinese | Section | Verses | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 明菩薩在家時願 | Living at Home | 1–11 | Live now |
| II | 明創出家時願 | Going Forth | 12–27 | Live now |
| III | 明修禪定時願 | Sitting in Meditation | 28–32 | Live now |
| IV | 明住處進止威儀時願 | Deportment at the Dwelling | 33–46 | Live now |
| V | 明乞食教化時願 | Setting Out to Teach and Beg | 47–49 | Live now |
| VI | 明在路見聞諸事時願 | On the Road | 50–104 | Live now |
| VII | 明至聚落乞食時願 | Begging in the Village | 105–128 | Live now |
| VIII | 明食訖禮誦時願 | After the Meal: Chanting and Veneration | 129–138 | Live now |
| IX | 明晝夜寢覺時願 | Waking and Sleeping | 139–141 | Live now |
Notice the shape of the day this traces: home, ordination, meditation, dressing and washing, setting out, the long walk into town noticing everything along the way (by far the largest section — over a third of the whole chapter), begging house to house, the meal, chanting and bowing before returning, and finally sleep. The mundane and the monastic are not separated; the text simply keeps walking, and keeps turning what it sees into a vow.
Western readers often expect a sacred text to reserve its intensity for extraordinary moments — a vision, a crisis, a death. This chapter does the opposite. It gives exactly the same four-line treatment to seeing a beautiful sunrise and to using the toilet, to entering deep meditation and to putting on socks. That is the point, not an oversight. If liberation is only available in rare, elevated states, then most of a human life — the eating, dressing, walking, waiting — is wasted time. The Chapter of Pure Conduct refuses that. Every object the eye lands on, every task the hand performs, is treated as sufficient material for the entire bodhisattva path, provided the mind turns it toward all beings. This is also why the chapter has always resonated beyond monastic life: a layperson chanting these verses over a sink of dishes is doing exactly what the text asks.
"Isn't wishing something for other people, silently, just sentiment — does it actually do anything?" In the Mahāyāna, a formally made wish directed at the awakening of others is not decoration; it is puṇya-pariṇāmanā, the dedication or "turning-over" of merit — a technical act with real weight in the tradition, not unlike setting an intention that shapes everything that follows it. The chapter trains this dedication until it becomes reflexive: not something remembered occasionally, but the mind's default response to whatever it meets.
"Why does a text about compassion for all beings spend so much time on physical routines — teeth, robes, toilets?" Because the alternative is a compassion that only shows up for special occasions, which is to say, a compassion that is mostly absent. By anchoring the wish to the most repeated, least dramatic actions of a day, the chapter makes universal benevolence into a habit of attention rather than an occasional mood — something closer to what contemporary readers might recognize as mindfulness, but aimed outward, at the welfare of others, rather than only inward.
A bodhisattva living at home — the wish: may all beings know that "home" has no fixed nature of its own, and so be freed from its pressures.
Serving parents with filial devotion — the wish: may all beings serve the Buddhas well, and protect and nurture all beings.
Gathered with spouse and children — the wish: may all beings see friend and foe as equal, forever free of craving and attachment.
On obtaining the five desired pleasures — the wish: may all beings pull out the arrow of desire, and reach final peace.
At a gathering of music and entertainment — the wish: may all beings take their joy in the Dharma alone, understanding that such performances are not real.
Dwelling in a fine chamber — the wish: may all beings enter the ground of the noble ones, and forever remove impure desire.
Putting on jeweled ornaments — the wish: may all beings cast off every false adornment, and arrive at the place of truth.
Climbing up to a high tower — the wish: may all beings ascend the tower of the true Dharma, and see all things through and through.
Giving something in charity — the wish: may all beings be able to give up everything, their minds free of clinging attachment.
Gathered together in a crowd — the wish: may all beings let go of the ways of the crowd, and accomplish the wisdom that knows all things.
Caught in difficulty and misfortune — the wish: may all beings move as freely as they wish, unobstructed in all they do.
Leaving the household — the wish: may all beings go forth without hindrance, their minds attaining liberation.
Entering the monastery grounds — the wish: may all beings expound every kind of teaching without conflict or discord.
Approaching one's teachers, senior and junior — the wish: may all beings skillfully serve their teachers and elders, and practice what is good and wholesome.
Requesting to go forth — the wish: may all beings attain the Dharma that never regresses, their minds free of hindrance.
Taking off lay clothing — the wish: may all beings diligently cultivate wholesome roots, and cast off every yoke of wrongdoing.
Shaving off hair and beard — the wish: may all beings forever leave the afflictions behind, and reach ultimate stillness.
Putting on the monastic robe — the wish: may all beings' minds be stained by nothing, and be complete in the way of the great sage.
At the very moment of going forth — the wish: may all beings go forth just as the Buddha did, and rescue and protect all beings.
Taking refuge in the Buddha — the wish: may all beings carry on the Buddha's lineage, and give rise to the unsurpassed intention.
Taking refuge in the Dharma — the wish: may all beings enter deeply into the treasury of the scriptures, their wisdom as vast as the sea.
Taking refuge in the Saṅgha — the wish: may all beings guide and govern the great assembly, unobstructed in everything.
Undertaking to study the precepts — the wish: may all beings learn the precepts well, and do no wrong of any kind.
Receiving the ācārya's instruction — the wish: may all beings be complete in dignified conduct, and true in everything they do.
Receiving the preceptor's instruction — the wish: may all beings enter the wisdom of the unborn, and arrive at the place beyond all reliance.
Receiving the full ordination precepts — the wish: may all beings be complete in every skillful means, and attain the most excellent Dharma.
Entering the hall — the wish: may all beings ascend the unsurpassed hall, and dwell there unmoving.
Spreading out the sitting mat — the wish: may all beings unfold every wholesome quality, and see the mark of reality as it truly is.
Sitting upright with body composed — the wish: may all beings sit upon the seat of awakening, their minds clinging to nothing.
Taking the cross-legged posture — the wish: may all beings' wholesome roots grow firm, and reach the ground that cannot be moved.
Practicing meditative concentration — the wish: may all beings subdue the mind through concentration, down to the very last trace.
Practicing insight — the wish: may all beings see reality exactly as it is, forever free of contention.
Rising from the cross-legged seat — the wish: may all beings observe that all conditioned things return to scattering and cessation.
Setting the foot down to stand — the wish: may all beings' minds attain liberation, and abide unmoving.
Lifting the foot to walk — the wish: may all beings rise out of the ocean of birth and death, complete in every wholesome quality.
Putting on the lower robe — the wish: may all beings be clothed in every wholesome root, complete in conscience and humility.
Straightening the robe and tying the sash — the wish: may all beings hold their wholesome roots in check, and let none of them scatter or be lost.
Putting on the upper robe — the wish: may all beings obtain the most excellent wholesome roots, and reach the far shore of the Dharma.
Putting on the great outer robe — the wish: may all beings enter the foremost stage, and attain the Dharma that does not move.
Taking the willow twig in hand — the wish: may all beings all attain the wondrous Dharma, and reach ultimate purity.
Chewing the willow twig — the wish: may all beings' minds become tamed and pure, and may they bite through every affliction.
Relieving oneself — the wish: may all beings cast away greed, hatred, and delusion, and cleanse away every unwholesome thing.
Going to the water when finished — the wish: may all beings move swiftly ahead in the Dharma that transcends the world.
Washing away the body's impurity — the wish: may all beings be pure and gentle, and in the end utterly without stain.
Rinsing the hands with water — the wish: may all beings obtain pure hands, to receive and uphold the Buddha's teaching.
Washing the face with water — the wish: may all beings attain the pure gate of the Dharma, forever free of every stain.
Taking the monk's staff in hand — the wish: may all beings hold a great feast of giving, and reveal the path exactly as it is.
Holding the alms bowl — the wish: may all beings become true vessels of the Dharma, worthy of offerings from gods and humans.
Setting foot on the road — the wish: may all beings walk the path the Buddha walked, and enter the place beyond all reliance.
On the road — the wish: may all beings be able to walk the Buddha's path, and turn toward the Dharma that leaves nothing behind.
Setting off along the road — the wish: may all beings tread the pure Dharma-realm, their minds free of every obstruction.
Seeing a road rising uphill — the wish: may all beings forever rise out of the three realms, their minds free of timidity.
Seeing a road descending — the wish: may all beings' minds grow humble and low, nurturing the Buddha's wholesome roots.
Seeing a crooked, winding road — the wish: may all beings abandon wrong paths, and forever remove wrong views.
Seeing a straight road — the wish: may all beings' minds be honest and upright, free of flattery and deceit.
Seeing a dusty road — the wish: may all beings stay far from the dust that settles on them, and obtain the pure Dharma.
Seeing a road free of dust — the wish: may all beings constantly practice great compassion, their minds moist with kindness.
Seeing a dangerous road — the wish: may all beings abide in the true Dharma-realm, and leave behind every wrongdoing and difficulty.
Seeing an assembly gathered — the wish: may all beings speak the profound Dharma, and bring everyone into harmony.
Seeing a great pillar — the wish: may all beings leave behind the quarrelsome mind of self, and hold no resentment.
Seeing a grove of trees — the wish: may all beings become someone that gods and humans alike should revere and bow to.
Seeing a high mountain — the wish: may all beings' wholesome roots rise so high that none can reach their peak.
Seeing a thorn tree — the wish: may all beings swiftly cut away the thorns of the three poisons.
Seeing lush leaves on a tree — the wish: may all beings, through concentration and liberation, become a shade for others.
Seeing flowers in bloom — the wish: may all beings' supernormal powers and other qualities open and bloom like flowers.
Seeing blossoms on a tree — the wish: may all beings' every feature bloom like a flower, complete with the thirty-two marks.
Seeing fruit on a tree — the wish: may all beings obtain the most excellent Dharma, and realize the path of awakening.
Seeing a great river — the wish: may all beings enter the stream of the Dharma, and flow into the ocean of the Buddha's wisdom.
Seeing a marsh or reservoir — the wish: may all beings swiftly awaken to the one taste shared by the teaching of every Buddha.
Seeing a pond — the wish: may all beings' speech be complete and full, skillful in setting forth the teaching.
Seeing a well being drawn from — the wish: may all beings be complete in eloquence, able to expound every teaching.
Seeing a spring welling up — the wish: may all beings' skillful means increase, their wholesome roots without end.
Seeing a bridge on the road — the wish: may all beings ferry everyone widely across, just as a bridge does.
Seeing flowing water — the wish: may all beings gain wholesome intention and aspiration, and wash away the stain of confusion.
Seeing a garden being tended — the wish: may all beings, in the garden of the five desires, weed out the grass of craving.
Seeing a sorrow-free grove — the wish: may all beings forever leave behind craving, and give rise to no fear or grief.
Seeing a garden park — the wish: may all beings diligently cultivate every practice, and advance toward the Buddha's awakening.
Seeing someone richly adorned — the wish: may all beings be adorned instead with the thirty-two marks.
Seeing someone without adornment — the wish: may all beings give up every fine adornment, and be complete in ascetic practice.
Seeing someone absorbed in pleasure — the wish: may all beings take their own joy in the Dharma, delighting in it without ever letting go.
Seeing someone without attachment to pleasure — the wish: may all beings' minds take no delight in anything conditioned.
Seeing someone joyful — the wish: may all beings constantly find peace and joy, and delight in making offerings to the Buddha.
Seeing someone in pain and distress — the wish: may all beings obtain fundamental wisdom, and extinguish every suffering.
Seeing someone free of illness — the wish: may all beings enter true wisdom, forever free of the affliction of sickness.
Seeing someone sick — the wish: may all beings know the body to be empty and still, and leave behind quarrelsome ways.
Seeing someone handsome and fine — the wish: may all beings constantly give rise to pure faith in the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Seeing someone unattractive — the wish: may all beings take no delight or attachment in unwholesome things.
Seeing someone repaying a kindness — the wish: may all beings know and recognize the kindness of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Seeing someone who has turned against a kindness — the wish: may all beings never repay evil with evil, even toward those who do wrong.
Seeing a monk — the wish: may all beings be gentle and still, foremost in the end.
Seeing a brahmin — the wish: may all beings forever uphold pure conduct, and leave behind every evil.
Seeing an ascetic — the wish: may all beings, relying on ascetic practice, arrive at the ultimate place.
Seeing someone of disciplined conduct — the wish: may all beings hold firmly to their resolve and conduct, and never abandon the Buddha's path.
Seeing someone wearing armor — the wish: may all beings always wear the armor of goodness, and advance toward the teacherless Dharma.
Seeing someone without armor or weapons — the wish: may all beings forever leave behind every unwholesome deed.
Seeing people in debate — the wish: may all beings be able to overcome every wrong doctrine.
Seeing someone who lives by right livelihood — the wish: may all beings obtain a pure livelihood, without pretense in their conduct.
Seeing a king — the wish: may all beings become kings of the Dharma, forever turning the wheel of the true teaching.
Seeing a prince — the wish: may all beings be born of the Dharma, and become children of the Buddha.
Seeing an elder — the wish: may all beings judge wisely and clearly, and do nothing unwholesome.
Seeing a minister of state — the wish: may all beings constantly guard right mindfulness, and practice every good thing.
Seeing a city wall — the wish: may all beings obtain an unbreakable body, their minds bending to nothing.
Seeing a royal capital — the wish: may all beings gather every virtue together, their minds forever joyful.
Seeing someone dwelling in the forest wilds — the wish: may all beings become someone gods and humans praise and look up to.
Entering the village to beg for food — the wish: may all beings enter the deep Dharma-realm, their minds free of every obstruction.
Arriving at someone's door — the wish: may all beings enter every gate of the Buddha's teaching.
Having entered the house — the wish: may all beings enter the Buddha-vehicle, in which past, present, and future are equal.
Seeing someone who will not give — the wish: may all beings never let go of the Dharma of supreme virtue.
Seeing someone able to give — the wish: may all beings forever be free of the suffering of the three lower realms.
Seeing an empty bowl — the wish: may all beings' minds be pure, empty of every affliction.
Seeing a full bowl — the wish: may all beings be complete and full in every wholesome quality.
On being treated with respect — the wish: may all beings respectfully practice every teaching of the Buddha.
On not being treated with respect — the wish: may all beings do nothing that is unwholesome.
Seeing someone with a sense of shame — the wish: may all beings be complete in conscience and restraint, guarding well the sense faculties.
Seeing someone shameless — the wish: may all beings abandon shamelessness, and dwell in the way of great loving-kindness.
On receiving delicious food — the wish: may all beings' wishes be fulfilled, their minds free of envy and craving.
On receiving unappetizing food — the wish: may all beings all obtain the flavor of every meditative absorption.
On receiving soft food — the wish: may all beings be permeated by great compassion, their minds and hearts made soft.
On receiving coarse, rough food — the wish: may all beings' minds cling to nothing, cutting off every worldly craving.
While eating a meal — the wish: may all beings take the joy of meditation as their food, and be filled with the joy of the Dharma.
While tasting the food — the wish: may all beings obtain the Buddha's supreme flavor, and be filled with the nectar of the deathless.
When the meal is finished — the wish: may all beings accomplish everything they set out to do, complete in every teaching of the Buddha.
When teaching the Dharma — the wish: may all beings gain inexhaustible eloquence, and widely proclaim the essentials of the teaching.
Leaving the house — the wish: may all beings enter deeply into the Buddha's wisdom, and forever rise out of the three realms.
Entering the water — the wish: may all beings enter the wisdom that knows all things, and understand past, present, and future as equal.
Bathing the body — the wish: may all beings be free of every stain in body and mind, radiant and clean within and without.
In the fierce heat of summer — the wish: may all beings let go of every affliction, until every one of them is exhausted.
As the heat retreats and coolness first arrives — the wish: may all beings realize the unsurpassed Dharma, and reach ultimate coolness.
Chanting the sūtras — the wish: may all beings follow what the Buddha taught, holding it all in mind and never forgetting.
On seeing the Buddha — the wish: may all beings obtain an unobstructed eye, and see every Buddha.
Gazing carefully at the Buddha — the wish: may all beings all be like Samantabhadra, upright and finely adorned.
Seeing a Buddha stūpa — the wish: may all beings be revered like a stūpa, and receive offerings from gods and humans.
Regarding a stūpa with a reverent mind — the wish: may all beings be looked up to by gods and humans together.
Bowing the head at a stūpa — the wish: may all beings' crowns be beyond the sight of any god or human at all.
Circling a stūpa clockwise — the wish: may all beings meet no obstruction in what they do, and accomplish the wisdom that knows all things.
Circling a stūpa three times — the wish: may all beings diligently seek the Buddha's path, their minds never slackening or resting.
Praising the Buddha's virtues — the wish: may all beings be complete in every virtue, praised without end.
Praising the Buddha's marks and features — the wish: may all beings accomplish the Buddha's body, and realize the Dharma beyond all marks.
Washing the feet — the wish: may all beings be complete in the power of supernormal feet, unobstructed in everything they do.
Lying down to rest at the proper time — the wish: may all beings' bodies find peace, their minds free of agitation.
Waking from sleep — the wish: may all beings, with the awakening of all-knowing wisdom, look out across the ten directions.
Twelve questions, covering the background and all nine sections. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded.
