Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Uphold Precepts, Respect the Three Treasures (守律儀 敬三寶)
In our lives, every day we need to hold fast to certain ideas. Do not commit small evils thinking them trivial. Always be self-vigilant. Do not avoid small good deeds thinking them slight. Always develop your loving heart. Do not break minor or serious precepts. We absolutely need to uphold all the rules. We must not break any precepts.
Respect the Three Treasures and uphold the rules. The rules include precepts, which prevent wrongdoings, and regulations, which are the code of conduct to follow in our everyday life. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, we need to always be mindful of them. The Buddha, in His compassion, came to our world to expound the Dharma. Everything He did was to teach us that we must follow the correct path. We must not derail ourselves.
Every day when I share with you it is to raise your awareness, to awaken you. Do not think that minor wrongs do not count. They certainly do. So, we need to uphold the precepts. We cannot think that small errors are not wrong. Even minor errors count as breaking the precepts. So, we need to raise our awareness.
Next the text says, “For these and other transgressions, we repent completely.”
These transgressions are what we have discussed, like taking what is not given. We cannot just take things that belong to others without their permission. Even a blade of grass, or a single hair; even things we think are of no value still belong to someone. We cannot take them without permission. We need to pay attention to small details, even very subtle things, let alone something like robbery or theft. Now we know about all these transgressions, so “we repent completely.”
We need to repent all of it. Whether serious or minor, every rule we have broken, intentionally or unintentionally, must be repented. Repentance brings purity. But how much have we accumulated, life after life, since Beginningless Time? Only repenting once is not enough. We need to always repent. Repenting is not just reciting it a few times.
Next it says that “From Beginningless Time until now we may have improperly taken objects belonging to the Buddha, Dharma or Sangha.”
Before, we were talking about average people. Now we will discuss objects of the Three Treasures, objects of the Buddha, Dharma or Sangha. In a temple, or monastery, there are things relating to the Three Treasures, which we may take improperly, without permission.
They may be Sutras or statues, or items for the management of the temple, or offerings for the Sangha.
“They may be Sutras or statues.” You may read a Sutra that makes you really happy. After you heard it you were very moved. You really love this Sutra. But if you do not get permission from the monks or nuns, or from the temple’s managers, and secretly take it, this is also considered stealing. It could be a Sutra, or a statue of Buddha, or some other thing, such as “items for the management of the temple.” This means the things that are used to tidy up the temple or monastery. We want this place to be clean and tidy, so we need certain things to keep it clean.
Everyone should know what they are. A broom or a dustpan, a water bucket or a washrag, etc. Even such insignificant things are used to manage the temple. Even if it is a hoe or a sickle, some kind of crude or simple object, if we do not obtain someone’s permission, and just secretly take it, this is not acceptable.
“Or offerings for the Sangha.” Whether precious or trivial, if something has been offered by an almsgiver, whether it is to eat or to use, whether it is trivial or significant, we cannot just take it. Any kind of taking without permission is stealing. Also, the objects of the Three Treasure, which are the unsurpassed fields of blessings, are the most honorable in the world. Even if it is as we just said, an object for the management of the temple, a simple thing that we may feel is unimportant; as long as it belongs to the Sangha, it is an object of the Three Treasures, of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Thus, it is the unsurpassed field of blessings; it is a most honorable object. So, if we go and steal it, this transgression is even more severe than normal. So, we should really understand this better. As Buddhist practitioners in a temple, we should all be very clear about these rules.
Next it says, “We may take or misuse the Caturdesa or the Sangha’s objects, and refuse to return them. We may borrow them ourselves, or lean them to others. We may forget after lending them or mix items of the Three Treasures with our own.”
We need to be even more careful of this. Caturdesa means the four directions. The four directions are east, west, south, north. The ten direction include southeast, northwest, all of the eight directions, in addition to up and down. This is called the ten directions. To simplify this, we say the four directions. This is Caturdesa, which means a monastery, where people from the for or ten directions gather to practice together. This is the Sangha. So Caturdesa means the monastery, a place where people from all over the world gather to practice. This is the family we all share. We may steal or take things that belong to the Sangha if no one gives us permission to use them.
Or we may use them by mistake. We did not mean to steal or take someone’s things but we were not careful and used them by mistake. This is also not acceptable. Everyone needs to raise their awareness. In spiritual practice we must be vigilant. Is this object ours or is it someone else’s? We cannot use it by mistake; wasting someone else’s things is also not right.This is all part of our practice. We need to pay attention to the smallest details. There is also “refusing to return.” We may borrow something from someone, but once we have borrowed it, we become unwilling to return it.
Before it was using something by mistake, now is thinking, “I have already used it, so what?” This kind of refusing to return is not correct behavior. If we use someone else’s thing, we should say “Sorry, I will return it to you.” This is correct.
“We may borrow them ourselves.” We borrow something ourselves, “or lend them to others.” If we lend out someone else’s things, this is also not right “We may forget after lending them.” Perhaps you had been borrowing and lending a lot. Then afterwards you forgot. It slipped your mind, so you didn’t return something. It was not intentional; after a long time, you forgot. You borrowed it yourself or for others and you forgot, or you returned less than you borrowed.
You felt, “I already paid it back I remember paying it all back.” But you borrowed so much from them, that although you returned something, it was not the full amount. Still, you keep thinking you paid it in full. This is letting things slip away. It is lost. Although it was not on purpose, you let it slip away.
“We mix items of the Three Treasures with our own.” If you lend and borrow these objects a lot, you lose track of what belongs to who, this is “mixing with our own.” This is also a type of intentional theft or using something by mistake intentional theft or using something by mistake is also considered a transgression.
The next passage says, “We may have taken communal objects like grains, firewood, salted beans, soy sauce and vinegar, vegetables, fruits, money, bamboo and wood, colorful silks, flags, fragrant flowers, oil lamps and candles and used them as we pleased. We may have used them ourselves or given them to others.”
These simple things are used in daily life. In some places where people practice, even within a monastery, things may be [divided up] like this. In the same monastery, each person practices on his own; each person cooks his own food. Sometimes people may lack grains, or firewood. They may see what someone else has, and take it as they please without permission, even “salted beans, soy sauce and vinegar, these kinds of simple things.”
In the past, everyone in the monastery would pickle vegetables, or black beans and such. These are very salty things. They are truly very simple. But if we take them without someone’s permission, this is also a transgression. It may be “vegetables, fruits”, etc. These things are all found everywhere in the monastery. It may be “money, bamboo and wood” or “colorful silks, and flags.” If you go see the old, traditional temples, they all have colorful ribbons and pennants. Everyone should be familiar with these, or “fragrant flowers, oil lamps and candles.” We casually take these to “use ourselves” or give them to someone else. These are very trivial things, but Master Wu-Da was very compassionate. Even these things inside the monastery, these trivial items, were included as a reminder for everyone. In our daily lives we need to really pay attention to these various trivial objects. We cannot break these rules.
Next it says, “We may have taken Buddha’s flowers or fruits or the wreaths of the Sangha. Having used the wealth of the Three Treasures to benefit ourselves, for these and other countless transgressions, today we remorsefully repent them all.”
These belong to the Three Treasures or Caturdesa, the place where the Sangha lives. Even if these things are firewood or grains, or the flowers or fruit growing in the garden, if we casually take them, we still need to tell everyone. “Today I want to pick some things.” We have gardeners and staff, people who manage all these different things. If we want to pick vegetables from the garden, we need to know who is managing the garden. We need to mention it to the manager, or whoever is looking after it. We need to tell them, “I want to pick fruits.” These are the rules. These are the precepts.
Since they are objects of the Sangha, the temple has people who manage everything. We need to be respectful. We need to mention things to other people, “Today I am going there to take that.” We always need to do this, even for things that grow on the earth, let alone something from storage. Sometimes we need to take something that is stored there for everyone. There is a manager who arranges the warehouse. If we want to take something from there, like bowls or plates, or some dry ingredients, we need to mention it to the manager “I want to open the storage, I need to take something.”
We need to notify them. We cannot just take as we please. Whether they are natural things, or things already stored away in the warehouse,
we need to first inform someone. We need to first request their permission, first let them know. We cannot take these things for our personal gain. If we take things as we please to benefit ourselves, even if it is something very small, it is part of the “countless transgressions.”
Everyone, aren’t the objects mentioned in this passage all very trivial? They are such simple, trivial things, but even a slight action creates transgression. Doesn’t this make everyone fearful? It should. It should make you afraid, they you will be wary of breaking the rules. All the time we need to raise our awareness.
In our daily living we need to remember to not commit small evils thinking them trivial, to not avoid small good deeds thinking them slight. Uphold the rules, do not break any precepts. Respect the Three Treasures, uphold the precepts. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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