Nine Kinds of Śīla, One Completed Map

4.3 Nine Kinds of Śīla, One Completed Map

There is a treatise that China translated three times in three hundred years.

Dharmakṣema of the Northern Liang translated it first, as the Pusa dichi jing; Guṇavarman of the Liu Song translated it again, as the Pusa shanjie jing—the Upāli dialogue of the last chapter comes from the opening of that very version; and in the Tang, Xuanzang translated it a third time, housed as the Bodhisattva Ground within the Yogācārabhūmi. One Bodhisattvabhūmi, three dynasties, three translations—Chinese Buddhism's regard for it lies wholly in that refusal to spare the labor. It is the master design of the bodhisattva's practice; and its Chapter on Śīla is the most complete drawing of the bodhisattva precepts.

The Chapter on Śīla opens, and one sentence raises the whole chapter:

"It is the nine-fold śīla, in its nine aspects, that is named the bodhisattva's śīla-pāramitā."

The śīla of nine aspects, taken together, is called the bodhisattva's śīla-pāramitā. Which nine? The śīla of intrinsic nature, all-encompassing śīla, difficult-to-practice śīla, the śīla of all gateways, the śīla of good persons, śīla in all modes, the śīla of granting wishes, the śīla of welfare in this world and the other, and pure śīla.

The last chapter's prajñā method was to empty the precept of its marks; this chapter's Yogācāra method is the exact opposite—to list every facet of the bodhisattva's precept-practice, cell by cell, into a map that misses nothing. One house empties the marks; one house exhausts the marks. Not a contradiction—a division of labor: prajñā tells you that at the precept's utmost the marks must be set down; this map tells you what every station on the road looks like before the setting-down.

The nine need not be weighed evenly. What matter are the first—the root; the second—where the three clusters are housed; and the ninth—the ring that closes it.

The Śīla of Intrinsic Nature: Four Qualities, Lacking One It Is Not Named Precept

What is the śīla of intrinsic nature? It is the base of "what makes the precept a precept." The treatise says:

"Stated in brief, the conduct possessing four qualities is to be known as the bodhisattva's intrinsic-nature śīla. Which four? (1) reception from another; (2) pure and wholesome intention; (3) re-purification after a breach; (4) reverent, focused mindfulness without transgression."

Four qualities. Reception from another—the precept is received, according to the Dharma, from another person, not announced by oneself to oneself. Pure and wholesome intention—at the receiving, the intent is pure, not for name or gain. Re-purification after a breach—having transgressed, there is a road back to purity. Reverent, focused mindfulness without transgression—once received, one reveres it deeply and guards it thought after thought.

The treatise then sorts the four into three plus one:

"Reception from another, pure wholesome intention, and reverent focused mindfulness without transgression—by these three the bodhisattva's received pure precept is kept from ruin; while re-purification after breach—by this one—enables recovery once a breach has occurred."

Three keep it "from ruin"; one governs "how to come out once it is ruined." Pause here a moment. "Re-purification after a breach" is not a patch added later; it is one quarter of the precept's very definition—when this drawing sketched out "what the precept is," it drew in "how to come back after transgressing." A precept that by its very design expects people to fall. For the one keeping precepts, this is the most considerate stroke in the whole Chapter on Śīla: falling is not outside the drawing; the drawing has always had the cell where you climb back up.

All-Encompassing Śīla: The Three Clusters Live Here

The second of the nine is called all-encompassing śīla. The treatise says:

"What is the bodhisattva's all-encompassing śīla? The bodhisattva's śīla is, in brief, of two kinds: (1) the lay portion of śīla, (2) the renunciant portion of śīla—this is all-encompassing śīla. And, in dependence on these two portions of pure precept, lay and renunciant, three kinds are stated in brief: (1) the śīla of restraint, (2) the śīla of gathering wholesome states, (3) the śīla of acting for the welfare of beings."

First the division into the lay and renunciant portions; then the opening into three kinds—restraint, gathering wholesome states, acting for the welfare of beings. Do you see it? The three clusters of the last chapter turn out to live inside the second of the nine. (Xuanzang renders the third cluster "the śīla of acting for the welfare of beings"; Dharmakṣema renders it "the śīla of gathering beings"—the same thing, named twice.)

And at the close of the Chapter on Śīla, the treatise turns around and gathers all nine into the three clusters:

"All nine kinds of śīla stated above, beginning with intrinsic-nature śīla, are to be known as gathered within the three pure precepts—namely the śīla of restraint, the śīla of gathering wholesome states, the śīla of acting for the welfare of beings. These three pure precepts of the bodhisattva, stated essentially, accomplish the bodhisattva's three tasks: the śīla of restraint settles the mind; the śīla of gathering wholesome states matures one's own buddha-dharma; the śīla of acting for the welfare of beings matures sentient beings."

The three clusters are inside the nine kinds; the nine kinds are gathered back into the three clusters—folded, this map is the three clusters; spread open, it is the nine kinds; one folding, one spreading, the same sheet of paper. Gathered to its simplest, it is those three phrases: settles the mind, matures the buddha-dharma, matures sentient beings. Settle the mind, perfect the buddha-dharma, liberate beings—a bodhisattva's whole life said in three phrases; and the first phrase is still "settles the mind": the precept as the foundation of concentration—the line that has walked with us from Part One, drawn into the Mahāyāna's master drawing.

Pure Śīla: The Ring Clasps Back to the Start

The kinds in between explain themselves by their names: difficult-to-practice śīla, the precept at the places where what is hard to give up is given up, what is hard to endure is endured; the śīla of good persons, the precept kept until it shapes the character of a good person; the śīla of granting wishes, complying with what beings seek; the śīla of welfare in this world and the other, benefiting self and other alike, at peace in this life and the next. Cell by cell, they fill in every facet of the bodhisattva's precept-practice in the world.

The ninth and last, pure śīla, opens out ten purities: well received from the first; neither too slack nor too taut; free of indolence; free of negligence; right aspiration; complete in deportment; complete in pure livelihood; free of the two extremes; final emergence—and the tenth, called "no loss of what was first received": of what was originally received, not one part has ever been lost.

Look at how it closes. The tenth, "no loss of what was first received," clasps back exactly onto the fourth quality of the first kind, intrinsic-nature śīla—"reverent, focused mindfulness without transgression." The nine aspects of śīla open their first stroke with "reception" and close their last with "not losing what was first received"; a map drawn to its very end, the brush-tip returning to where it began—the ring closes of itself. However far the bodhisattva precepts travel—through the difficult, the good person, the granting of wishes, the welfare of both worlds—what is guarded at the last is still that first thought of kneeling down to receive.

The map is read; one question remains, at the entrance. The first of the four qualities is "reception from another"—the precept must be received from a person. But what if, looking out a thousand li, there is no one to receive it from? Is this gate, then, simply shut against him?

For this question, Chinese Buddhism built a dedicated building. The next chapter goes inside.