瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 戒品之二

This unit contains the passage on the permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses (precept-sensitive); it only records and does not judge.

In one line: The rule that judges an offense measures that heart, not the outward look of the act — the clause-by-clause discernment of transgression judges by the threefold structure of defiled transgression (affliction in active operation) / non-defiled transgression (forgetfulness, indeterminate mind) / no transgression; the permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses take as their measuring-line "provisionally acting for the sake of beings, one does not transgress · falling short in benefiting beings through keeping the discipline is itself a transgression" 〔Dunlun 0539a21–25〕; the three kinds of perfection (preparatory practice / intention / former causes) gather in the whole study of keeping and transgressing; the bodhisattva discipline has "no transgression-without-remainder," no transgression that cannot be confessed.

Three points of the eye:

1. The defiled / non-defiled threefold structure (the eye): every clause of transgression is judged in three layers — "there is a transgression, an overstepping, a defiled transgression / a non-defiled transgression / no transgression" — the criterion lying in whether affliction is in active operation and whether it proceeds from a legitimate reason, not in the surface of the act itself 〔the treatise, clause by clause · from 0516a02〕.
2. The permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses (the eye): the seven limbs are the three bodily and four verbal courses. Since taking what is not given has two groups of examples — deposing a cruel official and reclaiming usurped property — the source has eight narrative units: taking life; taking what is not given (two examples); sexual misconduct; false, divisive, harsh, and frivolous speech. Each retains its own limiting circumstances, with "looking only to the benefit and welfare of sentient beings, oneself without a defiled mind" as the eye. Dunlun characterizes them as “not shared · provisionally enacted for beings without transgression · yet failing in the great work of benefiting beings through keeping discipline is itself transgression” 〔0539a21–25〕, and records that the whole passage is absent from Dharmakṣema's T1581, the old Bodhisattvabhūmi-sūtra (directly checkable at 0914b21–29; a fact of translation history, not a doctrinal judgment).
3. The three kinds of perfection · no transgression-without-remainder (the eye): perfection of preparatory practice (pure discipline without lack or transgression) · perfection of intention (going forth for the Dharma, seeking awakening) · perfection of former causes (former cultivation of merit · present implements of livelihood not scarce) gather in the first and second parts of the Section on Discipline; "no transgression-without-remainder" — Kuiji glosses "without remainder" as pārājika 〔0147c04〕 — the bodhisattva discipline has no transgression that cannot be confessed, of one strain with the soft–middle–superior-grade entanglement's "only a superior-grade entanglement causes forfeiture · once forfeited it may yet be received again."

Appended guidance:

• The precept-sensitive passage (the permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses): here this edition only records and does not judge — as the source text delimits, so it is recorded; no softening rewrite is made, nor any editorial gloss added. For details see 〈Apparatus〉item three (1)(2) and 〈Exposition〉's section "The seven offenses are not a loophole but a strictly delimited exception."
• The Section on Ascertainment's tenth item, ascertaining the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening, separately establishes four conditions for forfeiting the discipline 〔0711c08–15〕, of one spirit with this unit — see 〈Apparatus〉item two.
• Alternate translations checked: T1581 0913b28–0917b19 preserves the rule-by-rule adjudications, restoration, and the three completions, but omits the entire sevenfold dispensation; T1582 0982b05–0985a24 reorganizes the chapter and supplies no responsible one-for-one grid for the threefold adjudication, sevenfold list, or three completions — see 〈Apparatus〉Heading II.

Overall Opening: Defiled and Undefiled, Transgression and No Transgression

This is the second part of the tenth chapter, the Chapter on Discipline, within the First Section of the fifteenth stage in the Basic Section, the Bodhisattva Stage.

Once the bodhisattva abides in the pure discipline of restraint, he should understand, with respect to what has transgression and what has no transgression, whether it is a defiled transgression or an undefiled transgression, and whether it is of the soft, the middling, or the strong grade. What follows discriminates the cases one by one, and each clause is, for the most part, laid out in this order: "what counts as having transgressed," and "what are the cases in which there is no transgression."

One: Slackness in making offering to the Three Jewels. Day by day, toward the Tathāgata (or a stūpa built for the Tathāgata), toward the true Dharma (or scripture-scrolls made for the true Dharma, namely the bodhisattva Sūtra Collection and mātṛkā), and toward the Saṅgha (namely the assembly of bodhisattvas throughout the ten directions who have entered the great grounds) — if, whether little or much, one does not make even the least offering — down to bowing once with the body, praising the true merits of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha in a single four-line verse with speech, or recollecting their true merits with a single thought of pure faith — and lets a whole day and night pass empty, this counts as having transgressed, as having gone against and overstepped. If it is out of disrespect, sloth, and laziness, it is a defiled transgression; if merely a lapse of mindfulness, it is an undefiled transgression. For one whose mind is deranged there is no transgression. A bodhisattva who has entered the ground of pure aspiration is like a bhikṣu who has gained verified purity: constantly and by the nature of things he serves and offers to Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha with excellent offerings, and so is constantly without transgression.

Two: Craving gain and honor without contentment. Having great desire and no contentment, and giving rise toward gain and honor to attachment that will not let go, counts as having transgressed, as having gone against and overstepped; it is a defiled transgression. But if one has aroused the wish to cut it off, diligently applied vigor, and taken up its counteragent, and it still repeatedly becomes manifest only because fierce dispositional afflictions obscure the mind, there is no transgression.

Three: Not rising to greet an elder, not answering one who comes to speak. When one sees a senior, virtuous, respected fellow practitioner come, if, checked by arrogance and harboring resentment and anger, one does not rise to greet him or yield the higher seat; or when someone comes to converse, exchange greetings, or inquire, one likewise does not answer according to right principle — this counts as having transgressed, as having gone against and overstepped; it is a defiled transgression. If one is not controlled by arrogance and has no resentment or anger, but acts only from sloth, laziness, forgotten mindfulness, or an indeterminate mind, it counts as having transgressed and is an undefiled transgression. There is no transgression when one is gravely ill; deranged in mind; asleep while the other mistakenly thinks one awake; expounding Dharma or deciding doctrine for another; already conversing with another; listening intently to another's Dharma exposition or doctrinal decision; remaining silent to protect the mind of one who is expounding in violation of a rule; using skillful means to tame the other and establish him in a wholesome place; protecting the regulations of the Saṅgha; or safeguarding the minds of many beings.

Four: Not going when another comes to invite. When someone invites one to a household or another monastery to offer food, drink, clothing, and other requisites, if, controlled by arrogance and harboring resentment and anger, one neither goes nor accepts the invitation, this counts as having transgressed and is a defiled transgression. If one does so from sloth, laziness, forgotten mindfulness, or an indeterminate mind, it counts as having transgressed and is an undefiled transgression. There is no transgression when one is ill, without strength, deranged in mind, far away, or the road is dangerous; when one uses skillful means to tame the other and establish him in the wholesome; has accepted an earlier invitation; keeps wholesome cultivation uninterrupted; draws in a meaning not encountered before; prevents heard Dharma-meaning from declining (the same applies to doctrinal decision); knows the invitation is fraudulent and intended to harm; safeguards another's resentful mind; or protects the regulations of the Saṅgha.

Five: Refusing another's gift of goods. When someone earnestly offers gold and silver, maṇi, pearls, lapis lazuli, or many excellent valuables and offering articles, refusing from resentment or anger counts as having transgressed and is a defiled transgression, because it abandons that being. Refusing from sloth, laziness, forgotten mindfulness, or an indeterminate mind counts as having transgressed and is an undefiled transgression. There is no transgression when one's mind is deranged; acceptance would produce attachment; the donor would later regret it; the donor is confused about giving; giving or receiving would certainly impoverish him; the thing is Saṅgha property, stūpa property, or stolen from another; or it would produce the many faults of killing, binding, punishment, expulsion, resentment, or reproach.

Six: Refusing to expound the Dharma for someone. When someone seeks Dharma, withholding it from resentment, anger, jealousy, and a changed mind counts as having transgressed and is a defiled transgression. Withholding it from sloth, laziness, forgotten mindfulness, or an indeterminate mind counts as having transgressed and is an undefiled transgression. There is no transgression when the seeker is an outsider watching for faults; one is gravely ill or deranged; one uses skillful means to tame him and establish him in the wholesome; one has not yet mastered the Dharma; he comes without reverence or shame and with bad deportment; one knows his dull faculties would make the vast and ultimate teaching frighten him, produce wrong view, strengthen wrong attachment, and harm him; or one knows the Dharma would pass from his hands to non-humans.

Seven: Abandoning fierce and evil beings and paying them no regard. Abandoning a fierce, evil, precept-breaking being from resentment and anger, using his conduct as the pretext for giving him no benefit, counts as having transgressed and is a defiled transgression. Abandoning him from sloth and laziness, or failing to benefit him through forgotten mindfulness, counts as having transgressed and is an undefiled transgression. If pity is due toward beings whose body, speech, and mind are calm and disciplined, it is due all the more toward those presently turning in causes of suffering. There is no transgression when one's mind is deranged; one uses skillful means to tame the other and establish him in the wholesome; or one safeguards the minds of many beings or the regulations of the Saṅgha.

Eight: The line between what is trained in common with the śrāvakas and what is not, in the case of the restraining offenses. On this clause the treatise speaks at some length. Those restraining offenses that the Blessed One established in the Prātimokṣa-Vinaya for the sake of safeguarding others — so that those who have not yet given rise to pure faith may give rise to it, and those who have already given rise to pure faith may increase it all the more — this class of restraining offense the bodhisattva should train in on a par with the śrāvakas. Why? Because the śrāvaka, for whom benefiting oneself is foremost, still does not cast off the practice of safeguarding others; how much more the bodhisattva, for whom benefiting others is foremost — he should do so all the more.

But another class of restraining offense was established so that śrāvakas might abide with few affairs, undertakings, and longings; the bodhisattva should not train in it on a par with them. The śrāvaka puts self-benefit first and does not attend to benefiting others, so few affairs in that work may be excellent. The bodhisattva puts benefiting others first and does not attend to self-benefit, so few affairs there are not excellent. Thus, for others' benefit, the bodhisattva may seek a hundred thousand kinds of clothing from non-kindred elders, householders, brahmins, and freely giving households, assessing their means and accepting appropriately; the same applies to bowls. He may obtain thread and have non-kindred people weave robes; store up to a hundred each of silk garments and sitting and lying gear; and accumulate gold, silver, and valuables to a hundred thousand koṭi or beyond. The bodhisattva does not share the śrāvaka's training in these prohibitions. Limiting one's work for others from resentment and anger counts as having transgressed and is defiled; doing so from sloth, laziness, forgotten mindfulness, or an indeterminate mind counts as having transgressed and is undefiled.

Nine: The permitting circumstances for natural offenses. In the passage that follows, the treatise speaks of the bodhisattva who, by a skillful and adaptive means, for the sake of benefiting others, carries out a small measure of various natural offenses — and by this cause and condition, not only does he not transgress against the bodhisattva discipline, but on the contrary gives rise to many merits.

For example, the bodhisattva sees robbers and bandits who, out of greed for wealth, wish to kill many living beings, or wish to harm greatly virtuous śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, or bodhisattvas, or wish to commit various acts of immediate retribution. The bodhisattva thinks in his mind: "If I cut off this evil being's life, I myself will fall into hell; if I do not cut it off, once his act of immediate retribution is accomplished he will undergo great suffering. I would rather kill him and myself fall into hell than ever let him undergo the suffering of an act of immediate retribution." With this aspiration and reflection, toward that being, whether with a wholesome mind or an indeterminate mind, having understood this matter, he gives rise to deep shame, and with a mind of pity cuts off his life — and by this cause and condition, he does not transgress against the bodhisattva discipline, but on the contrary gives rise to many merits.

Again, the bodhisattva sees a magistrate holding power whose conduct is fierce and evil, who has no kindness or pity toward beings and who single-mindedly oppresses and vexes them; the bodhisattva, having seen this, gives rise to pity and rouses the aspiration to work benefit and ease, and, to the extent of his own power, has him deposed — likewise he does not transgress against the bodhisattva discipline, but on the contrary gives rise to many merits.

Again, when robbers seize Saṅgha property, stūpa property, or a being's property and enjoy it as their own, the bodhisattva arouses pity and the aspiration for benefit and ease, forcibly recovers it as he can, and returns Saṅgha property to the Saṅgha, stūpa property to the stūpa, and beings' property to the beings, lest the robbers suffer long through wrong enjoyment. When a leader of an assembly or the keeper of a garden takes Saṅgha or stūpa property as his own, the bodhisattva discerns the evil, arouses pity, and as he can removes him from authority, lest he suffer through that wrong enjoyment. Though this is taking what is not given, there is no transgression and much merit arises.

Again, the bodhisattva, while dwelling at home, sees a woman who has no one to whom she belongs and who is given to the practice of sexual desire, her mind fixed on the bodhisattva, seeking to carry out impure conduct. The bodhisattva reflects: if he does not comply with her desire, he fears it will make her mind give rise to hatred and give birth to much that is unwholesome; if he complies with her desire, then he can, as a skillful means, set her within wholesome roots, and can also make her afterward cast off unwholesome karma. So, abiding in a mind of pity, he carries out impure conduct — and though he practices this defiled and impure thing, there is nothing transgressed, but on the contrary he gives rise to many merits. But here there is a qualification that cannot be omitted: the renunciant bodhisattva, in order to protect the matters enjoined by the śrāvaka holy teaching and keep them from being ruined, should at all times not carry out impure conduct.

Again, to free many beings from death, imprisonment and bondage, amputation, mutilation of nose or ears, gouging of eyes, and similar perils: the bodhisattva would not knowingly speak falsely merely to save his own life, yet, after knowing and carefully discerning the case, does so to rescue those beings. In brief, he looks only to beings' aim and benefit, never to what is aimless or harmful; without a defiled mind and solely for beings' benefit, he knowingly conceals the fact and speaks words at variance with it. There is no transgression and much merit arises.

Again, the bodhisattva sees a being who is drawn in by evil friends and clings to them in affection, unable to let go; the bodhisattva gives rise to pity, and to the extent of his ability and power speaks a word that sows division, making the being keep far from the evil friends, lest by drawing near evil friends the being undergo what is meaningless and profitless through the long night — speaking a dividing word with a mind of benefit, making him break away from an old affection, there is no transgression, but on the contrary he gives rise to many merits.

Again, the bodhisattva sees a being whose conduct is off the road, who acts contrary to principle, and so he lets out coarse and harsh words, with a fierce rebuke drives him out, and by this skillful means makes him leave the unwholesome place — letting out coarse and evil words with a mind of benefit, likewise there is no transgression, but on the contrary he gives rise to many merits.

Again, the bodhisattva sees a being who delights in shows and music, in chanting and songs, or delights in talk of kings and thieves, of food and drink, and of the pleasure quarters and the like — meaningless matters — and the bodhisattva is thoroughly skilled in all these; so he gives rise to pity, and here and now, with words that answer to idle chatter, draws the other in, and then by skillful means guides and leads him to leave the unwholesome place — thus carrying out idle chatter, there is no transgression, but on the contrary he gives rise to many merits.

Ten: Seeking gain by cunning deceit. Cunning deceit, empty talk, putting on appearances, contrived probing, and using an apparent gain to seek further gain, while savoring these forms of wrong livelihood without shame and holding them fast, count as having transgressed and are defiled. If one has aroused the wish to remove them and diligently applied vigor, but they recur because blazing afflictions suppress the mind, there is no transgression.

Eleven: Restless frolicking. Driven by restlessness, with a mind neither calm nor delighting in calm, loudly frolicking, clamoring, leaping about, and seeking others' laughter counts as having transgressed and is defiled; arising through forgotten mindfulness, it counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when one is diligently trying to remove the habit but blazing afflictions recur; when one dispels another's resentment or grief; when one respectfully and carefully goes along with another who likes such things in order to draw him in; or when a suspicious being harbors resentment and ill will, and one shows a cheerful face to reveal inner purity.

Twelve: Setting up the wrong view that a bodhisattva should not delight in nirvāṇa. Claiming that a bodhisattva should not delight in nirvāṇa but should reject it, should neither fear nor seek to end the afflictions and secondary afflictions, and should not be wholly weary of them because he courses through saṃsāra for three incalculable eons in search of awakening, counts as having transgressed and is defiled. The śrāvaka delights in nirvāṇa and deeply wearies of the afflictions; the bodhisattva's delight in great nirvāṇa and weariness of the afflictions should surpass his by hundreds of thousands of koṭis, because the former practices for one person's benefit while the latter practices for all beings. The bodhisattva therefore cultivates an undefiled mind, courses appropriately in outflowing matters, and accomplishes undefiled qualities surpassing those of the arhats.

Thirteen: Not protecting against and not clearing up slander one has heard. If bad report, designation, or repute capable of producing distrust is true and one does not guard against it, this counts as having transgressed and is defiled; if false and one does not clear it up, this counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when the report comes from outsiders or the envious; when a renunciant incurs it through alms-round or wholesome conduct; or when its speaker is screened by anger or inverted in mind.

Fourteen: Withholding a harsh means to spare another's grief and vexation. When a being needs painful and fierce means to gain benefit, withholding them merely to spare his present distress counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. If the means would bring little present benefit and much distress, withholding them is no transgression.

Fifteen: Returning evil for evil. Cursing back when cursed, raging back when raged at, striking back when struck, and mocking back when mocked count as having transgressed and are defiled.

Sixteen: Not apologizing according to principle. Having offended another, or being suspected although no offense occurred, if from resentment, envy, and arrogance one does not apologize according to principle and lightly casts the matter aside, this counts as having transgressed and is defiled; doing so from sloth, laziness, or heedlessness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when this is a skillful means to establish the other in the wholesome; the other is an outsider; he will accept only if the bodhisattva performs an unlawful and blameworthy act; he is quarrelsome and apology would increase his anger; he is naturally forbearing and without resentment; or apology would make him deeply ashamed.

Seventeen: Not accepting a lawful apology. If another has offended the bodhisattva and then apologizes lawfully and evenly, but the bodhisattva refuses from resentment and a wish to harm him, this counts as having transgressed and is defiled. Even without resentment or harmful intent, refusal merely because one's temperament cannot bear it also counts as having transgressed and remains defiled. There is no transgression when refusal is a skillful means to establish the other in the wholesome, or when the apology is not lawful and even.

Eighteen: Harboring rancor and not letting it go. Harboring rancor, sustaining it, and refusing to release it after it arises counts as having transgressed and is defiled. If one wishes to cut it off and diligently applies vigor, but blazing affliction makes it recur, there is no transgression.

Nineteen: Craving a following. Governing a following with affectionate defilement through craving service counts as having transgressed and is defiled. Governing without craving service or affectionate defilement is no transgression.

Twenty: Indulging in sleep. Slothfully indulging in sleep, lying down, and reclining at improper times and without measure counts as having transgressed and is defiled. There is no transgression through sickness, lack of strength, exhaustion from travel, or when one diligently seeks to cut it off but blazing affliction makes it recur.

Twenty-one: Passing the days in idle talk. Squandering time in worldly talk with affectionate defilement counts as having transgressed and is defiled; doing so through forgotten mindfulness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when, in right mindfulness, one briefly listens to safeguard another's feelings, the matter is rare, or one briefly asks or answers a question.

Twenty-two: Not seeking instruction. When wishing to settle the mind, refusing from resentment and arrogance to request instruction from a teacher counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth and laziness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression through sickness or lack of strength, when the teacher's instruction is inverted, when one's own learning and intelligence can settle the mind, or when the needed instruction was already obtained.

Twenty-three: Bearing with the five hindrances and not casting them off. Bearing with sensual desire and not casting it off counts as having transgressed and is defiled. If one diligently seeks to cut it off but fierce affliction obscures the mind and makes it recur, there is no transgression. The same applies separately to anger, dullness-and-drowsiness, restlessness-and-remorse, and doubt: tolerating them is defiled; earnestly counteracting them while fierce affliction makes them recur is not a transgression.

Twenty-four: Craving the savor of meditative absorption. Craving the savor of absorption and regarding that craving as merit counts as having transgressed and is defiled. If one diligently seeks to cut it off but blazing affliction makes it recur, there is no transgression.

Twenty-five: Setting up a wrong view that one should not train in the Dharma of the śrāvaka vehicle. Claiming that a bodhisattva should neither hear, retain, nor train in teachings corresponding to the śrāvaka vehicle counts as having transgressed and is defiled — one studies even outsiders' books, how much more the Buddha's word. Speaking so only to free someone exclusively attached to lesser Dharma from that attachment is no transgression.

Twenty-six: Single-mindedly training in the śrāvaka canon without carefully studying the bodhisattva canon. Casting the bodhisattva canon entirely aside before studying it carefully, while training exclusively in the śrāvaka canon, counts as having transgressed and is undefiled.

Twenty-seven: Casting aside the Buddha's teaching and diligently studying outside treatises. Diligently studying non-Buddhist treatises before carefully studying the available Buddha's teaching counts as having transgressed and is defiled. There is no transgression for one of superior intelligence who receives quickly, remembers long, reflects on and penetrates meaning, has an unshakable understanding accompanying principled observation of Buddhist teaching, and spends two-thirds of each day on the Buddha's word and one-third on outside learning.

Twenty-eight: Overstepping one's lot and indulging in outside treatises. Overstepping bodhisattva Dharma, becoming skilled in outside treatises and then treasuring, enjoying, and savoring them instead of approaching them like bitter medicine, counts as having transgressed and is defiled.

Twenty-nine: Slandering on hearing the profound Dharma. Hearing the bodhisattva canon's supremely profound true meaning and the inconceivable powers of buddhas and bodhisattvas, then rejecting it as unable to convey meaning or Dharma, not spoken by the Tathāgata, and unable to benefit beings, counts as having transgressed and is defiled, whether caused by one's own improper attention or by following another. If one cannot understand, one should accept in faith without crookedness, reflect that one's own wisdom-eye is blind before the Tathāgata's hidden-intent speech, place oneself among the ignorant, and defer to the Tathāgata as directly knowing all Buddha Dharma. Lacking understanding but not slandering is no transgression.

Thirty: Praising oneself and slandering others (with a mind of defiled craving or anger). Doing so from craving or anger counts as having transgressed and is defiled. There is no transgression when crushing evil outsiders, upholding the Tathāgata's teaching, establishing another in the wholesome by skillful means, or causing pure faith to arise and increase.

Thirty-one: Not going to listen to the Dharma. Refusing from arrogance, resentment, and anger to attend Dharma exposition and doctrinal decision counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth and laziness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when unaware, ill, or without strength; when the teaching is inverted; when safeguarding the teacher's mind; when the meaning has already been repeatedly heard, retained, and understood; when one's learning is already accumulated; when uninterruptedly settling the mind on one object or diligently arousing superior bodhisattva concentration; or when one's extreme dullness makes the Dharma hard to receive and the mind hard to concentrate.

Thirty-two: Belittling the Dharma-expounder. Deliberately belittling the teacher, lacking deep reverence, sneering and making sport, and relying on words rather than meaning count as having transgressed and are defiled.

Thirty-three: Not being a helping companion. Refusing from resentment and anger to help with feasible affairs, travel, undertakings, guarding wealth, reconciling disputes, celebrations, or meritorious work counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth and laziness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression through illness or weakness; when the other can manage or has support; when the act leads to wrong or non-Dharma; when skillfully establishing the other in the wholesome; when previously promised elsewhere or another capable helper is engaged; when uninterruptedly cultivating the wholesome; when too dull to receive and retain needed Dharma; or when safeguarding many beings or Saṅgha regulations.

Thirty-four: Not going to look after the sick. Refusing from resentment and anger to tend the gravely ill counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth and laziness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when oneself ill or weak; when another capable person is engaged; when the patient has support, can tend himself, or can endure a chronic illness; when cultivating supreme wholesome qualities or preserving them without interruption; when extreme dullness makes needed Dharma hard to retain and concentration hard to establish; or when previously promised to tend another. The same applies to helping those in suffering remove their suffering.

Thirty-five: Not expounding right principle for another. Refusing from resentment and anger to explain true principle to one acting irrationally for present or future aims counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth and laziness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when oneself ignorant or weak; when another capable person is engaged; when the other has wisdom or good friends; when skillfully establishing him in the wholesome; or when explanation would provoke resentment, abuse, inverted reception, lack of respect, or obstinate cruelty.

Thirty-six: Forgetting a kindness and not repaying it. Failing to recognize or understand prior kindness, and refusing from resentment to repay it appropriately, counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth and laziness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when diligent effort still leaves one unable; when skillfully establishing the other in the wholesome; or when the benefactor refuses repayment.

Thirty-seven: Seeing suffering and not going to console. Refusing from resentment to console one grieving the loss of wealth, kin, rank, or livelihood counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth and laziness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. The exceptions are those under "not being a helping companion."

Thirty-eight: Not giving food and drink. When one has requisites, refusing an asker from resentment and anger counts as having transgressed and is defiled; failing through sloth, laziness, and heedlessness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when nothing is available; the request is unlawful or unsuitable; one is skillfully establishing the other in the wholesome; the request is improper in the king's domain and his mind must be safeguarded; or Saṅgha regulations must be protected.

Thirty-nine: Not gathering in and teaching a following. After gathering a following, refusing from resentment to teach and admonish them correctly, or failing to seek from faithful donors the clothing, food, bedding, and medicine they lack, counts as having transgressed and is defiled; failing through sloth, laziness, and heedlessness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when skillfully taming them; protecting Saṅgha regulations; ill or without strength; engaging another capable person; knowing they have merit and means to obtain requisites; having already taught everything required; or recognizing former outsiders who entered only to steal Dharma and cannot be trained.

Forty: Not turning along with another's mind. Refusing from resentment to comply counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth, laziness, or heedlessness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when what is desired is unsuitable; one is ill or weak; Saṅgha regulations require it; what suits the individual does not suit the community; or one subdues outsiders or skillfully establishes the other in the wholesome.

Forty-one: Not displaying another's true merits. Refusing from resentment to display true virtue, praise true repute, or say "well spoken" to genuinely fine speech counts as having transgressed and is defiled; refusing from sloth, laziness, or heedlessness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when safeguarding one who delights in few desires; ill or weak; skillfully taming another; protecting Saṅgha regulations; preventing defiled conceit; knowing apparent virtue, repute, or fine speech is not genuine; subduing outsiders; or waiting for a discourse to conclude.

Forty-two: Failing to rebuke, discipline, and expel when one ought to. With a defiled mind, failing to rebuke one who should be rebuked, rebuking but not disciplining and admonishing lawfully, or disciplining but not expelling when required counts as having transgressed and is defiled; failing through sloth, laziness, or heedlessness counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when the person is incurable, unteachable, coarse-spoken, and resentful; the time must be awaited; action would cause conflict, commotion, or schism in the Saṅgha; or the person is uncrooked, fiercely ashamed, and will swiftly restore purity.

Forty-three: Not displaying spiritual power to overawe and draw in. Having power to frighten those who should be frightened and draw in those who should be drawn in, but refusing to display it merely to avoid receiving faithful offerings, counts as having transgressed and is undefiled. There is no transgression when the beings are biased, slander the noble, and hold wrong views.

A general exception applies throughout: if the bodhisattva's own mind is gravely deranged, he is pressed by heavy suffering, or he has not yet received the pure discipline of restraint, there is no transgression.

Summing Up: The Gathering of the Training-Points and the Method of Confession

The various bodhisattva training-points thus listed the Buddha set forth here and there, scattered through the various sūtras, according to the capacities of beings; taken together, they come to nothing more than the three collections: the discipline of restraint, the discipline of gathering wholesome dharmas, and the discipline of benefiting beings. Now, in this bodhisattva-canon mātṛkā, they are gathered together and spoken; toward them the bodhisattva should give rise to reverence, abide in the utmost respect, and train in them with focused diligence.

Once the bodhisattvas have rightly received the discipline of restraint from another, then, by an aspiration to train that is well and purely cleansed, by the aspiration for awakening, and by the aspiration to benefit all beings, they give rise to the utmost reverence and respect, and from the very start should train with focused diligence not to transgress. If there should be any transgression, they should confess it swiftly and in accord with the Dharma, so that the discipline is restored to purity again. And every transgression of this bodhisattva should be understood to be subsumed under "wrongdoing" (duṣkṛta), and should be confessed and cleared away before one who has the ability to understand and to receive, by expressing the meaning in words, the discipline of the lesser or the greater vehicle.

Confession is of three grades: for a transgression with the strong-grade entanglement, of a defeat as spoken of above, whereby one has lost the discipline of restraint, one should receive it anew. For a transgression with the middling-grade entanglement, one should, before three persons (pudgala) or more than three, according to the method of disclosing and confessing away wrongdoing, first state by name the matter transgressed, saying thus: "Venerable ones, attend!" — or saying: "Ones of great virtue! I, So-and-so by name, have gone against and overstepped the bodhisattva Vinaya Dharma; as stated, I have committed the sin of wrongdoing." The rest is as in the bhikṣu's method of disclosing and confessing away the sin of wrongdoing. For a transgression with the soft-grade entanglement, and for the remaining transgressions, disclosing and confessing before a single person (pudgala) is enough. If there is no suitable person before whom to make disclosure, then, with a pure aspiration, one gives rise to a mind of self-vow: "From now on I shall resolutely guard against it and never transgress again." Thus one comes out from the transgression committed and is restored to purity.

Again, the bodhisattvas who would receive the bodhisattva pure discipline of restraint — if they cannot meet with a person complete in merit, then they should, before an image of the Tathāgata, receive the bodhisattva pure discipline of restraint by themselves. They should receive it thus: baring the right shoulder, placing the right knee on the ground, whether crouching, kneeling, or seated, saying thus: "I, So-and-so by name, look up and announce to all the Tathāgatas of the ten directions and to the bodhisattvas who have entered the great grounds: I now wish, in the presence of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten-direction worlds, to vow to receive all the bodhisattva training-points, and to vow to receive all the bodhisattva pure discipline — that is, the discipline of restraint, the discipline of gathering wholesome dharmas, and the discipline of benefiting beings. Such training-points, such pure discipline, all the bodhisattvas of the past have already been complete in, all the bodhisattvas of the future will be complete in, and all the bodhisattvas of the present throughout the ten directions are now complete in; toward these training-points, toward this pure discipline, all the bodhisattvas of the past have already trained, all the bodhisattvas of the future will train, and all the bodhisattvas of the present throughout the ten directions are now training." A second and a third time one speaks thus, and when finished one rises. The rest is all as should be known from before.

Again, in the way of the bodhisattva's transgressing the discipline, there is no "irremediable transgression" (a transgression that cannot be confessed and cleared). As the World-Honored One has said: "The bodhisattvas mostly incur transgression through anger, and not through craving." Know that there is a hidden intent in this: it is saying that, because of the enhancing power of the bodhisattva's love for beings and pity for beings, whatever he does is all what a bodhisattva ought to do, and is not what he ought not to do; by not doing what ought to be done, one may incur transgression. But if a bodhisattva hates beings and envies beings, unable to practice the conduct that benefits self and others, then he does what a bodhisattva ought not to do; by doing what ought not to be done, one may incur transgression. And the bodhisattva's transgressions of the soft, middling, and strong grades should be understood as set out in the Section on the Gathering of Events (Vastu-saṃgrahaṇī).

Thus the bodhisattva, relying on all of his own Vinaya, diligently training in what is to be trained, comes to accomplish three kinds of fulfillment and abides at ease: first, accomplishing the fulfillment of practice; second, accomplishing the fulfillment of aspiration; third, accomplishing the fulfillment of past cause.

What is the fulfillment of practice? It is that the bodhisattvas, in the pure discipline, keep their conduct without lapse or transgression, act purely in body, speech, and mind, do not transgress again and again, and disclose their own faults — this is called the fulfillment of practice.

What is the fulfillment of aspiration? It is that the bodhisattvas go forth for the sake of the Dharma and not for the sake of livelihood, seek the great awakening and do not fail to seek it, seek the fruit of the renunciant and seek nirvāṇa and do not fail to seek them; such a seeker does not abide in sloth and lowly effort, is not defiled by the many evil and unwholesome dharmas, is not defiled by future existence, is not defiled by the maturation of the many blazing sufferings, and is not defiled by the birth, aging, sickness, and death to come — this is called the fulfillment of aspiration.

What is the fulfillment of past cause? It is that the bodhisattvas, in their past lives, cultivated merit and cultivated the wholesome, and so in this present life the various kinds of clothing, food and drink, bedding, medicine for the condition of sickness, and requisites for sustaining the body are naturally not in want, and moreover they are able to practice giving widely toward others — this is called the fulfillment of past cause.

The bodhisattva, thus relying on the Vinaya and diligently training in what is to be trained, accomplishes such three kinds of fulfillment and abides at ease; contrary to this, know that one accomplishes three kinds of decline and abides in peril and suffering.

Thus has been set forth, in brief and at length, the whole of the bodhisattva's discipline, whether of the householder's portion or of the renunciant's portion. From this point on, out of this whole of the discipline, the marks distinguishing the remaining difficult-to-practice disciplines and the rest are set apart, and should be understood.

Why the Section on Discipline Spends So Long Speaking of "Transgression"

The first part of the Section on Discipline established the four pārājika-class dharmas — the four root grave offenses that admit of no yielding. The second part of the Section on Discipline then does a finer work: it takes the forty-odd concrete situations that may arise in daily life and examines, one by one, "does this count as a transgression?" At first glance it looks like a tediously long checklist, but every single clause follows one and the same threefold structure: there is a transgression, there is an overstepping, and it is a defiled transgression (a transgression through the active operation of affliction); it is a non-defiled transgression (a transgression through forgetfulness or an indeterminate state of mind, not through the blazing of affliction); there is no transgression (under various specific conditions, it does not count as a transgression).

This structure is itself a teaching: the treatise, in judging an offense, never looks merely at the surface of the act — "did one do it or not" — but turns back to look at "what heart drove it." Take the very same case of not going to visit a sick person: if it be out of disgust and revulsion, it is a defiled transgression; if it be merely a passing lapse of memory, it is a non-defiled transgression; if one is oneself sick, or has already transferred the care to another, then there is no transgression. The outward look of one and the same act may be identical, yet the heart within can be wholly different; and what the treatise wants is precisely that the student learn to discern that heart of his own.

The Forty-Two Clauses, Sorted into Rivers — Not a Jumbled List but a List with a Grain

Reading down clause by clause, one easily loses one's way in the details; but if one steps back, these forty-odd clauses in fact flow along several main currents, and it is worth setting up the grain first before returning to the details:

The first river is "the basic courtesies toward the Three Jewels and toward persons" — letting the days pass empty without making offering to the Three Jewels; not rising to greet the elder and venerable when one sees them; not going when another comes to invite one; refusing and not accepting when another offers goods; refusing and not giving when another comes to seek the Dharma; casting aside and not caring for cruel and evil sentient beings. These six clauses look trivial, but they in fact ask one and the same question: does the bodhisattva, facing "social obligation" and "human feeling," still keep a measure of reverence and softness, or has it already been quietly occupied by arrogance, resentment, and sloth?

The second river is "the measure of what is and is not to be trained in common with the śrāvakas" — here the treatise especially pauses and expounds a not-so-brief stretch of doctrine: of the prohibitory offenses that the Buddha laid down for the śrāvakas, some the bodhisattva must train in common (for the sake of protecting others, for causing the not-yet-believing to believe), while some the bodhisattva on the contrary should not train in common (dwelling with few affairs, few undertakings, and few wants — for the śrāvaka, whose self-benefit is paramount, this may be called excellent; for the bodhisattva, whose benefiting of others is paramount, if he too keeps to few affairs, few undertakings, and few wants, it is on the contrary not excellent). The treatise even plainly states that the bodhisattva, for the sake of benefiting others, may seek a hundred or a thousand garments from those who are not his kin and store up all manner of goods — which, in the eye of the śrāvaka discipline, verges on extravagance; yet the treatise's logic is very clear: the standard for measuring whether a given rule ought to be kept is not the letter of the rule itself, but the very purpose that the rule was originally meant to protect — for the śrāvaka, the purpose is few wants and knowing contentment; for the bodhisattva, the purpose is benefiting sentient beings; the very same "few affairs, few undertakings," fitted onto two purposes, yields exactly opposite conclusions.

The third river is "the permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses" — treated at length on its own below.

The fourth river is "the self-discipline of word and deed" — deceitful contriving for gain; agitated frivolity and play; craving the taste of meditative absorption; passing the days in idle talk; clinging to and indulging in sleep; enduring and not casting off the five hindrances; not seeking instruction. This river speaks of whether the bodhisattva, facing his own inner distraction and sloth, can face it honestly and take it in hand of his own accord.

The fifth river is "the attitude toward the Dharma" — setting up the wrong view that a bodhisattva ought not to weary of and turn from nirvāṇa; setting up the wrong view that one ought not to study the dharma of the Śrāvaka Vehicle; not yet having thoroughly studied the Bodhisattva Basket yet single-mindedly studying the Śrāvaka Basket; forsaking the Buddha's teaching and thoroughly studying outsider treatises; overstepping one's measure and indulging in outsider treatises; hearing a most profound dharma and slandering it. The heart of this river is: can the bodhisattva, toward a doctrinal meaning he has not yet realized and not yet penetrated, hold to the humility of "strong faith and reception, and no crookedness of flattery," rather than hastening to use his own limited understanding to deny a teaching that exceeds the range of his understanding.

The sixth river is "the responsibility toward the Saṅgha and toward one's disciples" — not acting as a helper and companion; not going to look in on the sick; not expounding right principle for others; being ungrateful and not repaying; seeing suffering and not going to open and console; not giving food and drink; not taking in and instructing the disciples one has gathered; not going along with another's mind; not making manifest another's real virtues; not rebuking, expelling, or driving out where one ought to; not manifesting supernormal terror to draw and gather in. This is the longest river, speaking of the concrete and sustained responsibility that the bodhisattva bears as one member of the Saṅgha, as the object of another's reliance — and almost every clause carries with it a long train of "no transgression" conditions (one is oneself sick; one has no strength; one has already transferred it to another; the other party has his own refuge and support …), reminding the reader: responsibility is real, but responsibility does not mean there is no limit, does not mean one cannot measure one's strength before acting.

Having read through the forty-two clauses, one finds that they in fact depict a complete "daily life of the bodhisattva" — from the dawn offering to the Three Jewels, to the measure of conduct among fellow practitioners, to the awareness of one's own distracted mind, to humility before the profound Dharma, to the sustained responsibility toward the Saṅgha and one's disciples. A transgression is not the violating of some few isolated prohibitions; it is, at some one spot within this complete picture of a life, letting resentment, arrogance, and sloth quietly gain the upper hand.

Within the "No Transgression" Lists Lies the Suppleness of the Bodhisattva Discipline

In reading these forty-odd clauses, what most deserves notice is not "what was transgressed," but the conditions that recur again and again in that "no transgression" passage: being sick in body; being deranged in mind; for the sake of subduing the other party; for the sake of guarding the Saṅgha's regulations; for the sake of guarding another's mind … These conditions appear over and over, showing that the treatise does not require the bodhisattva mechanically to execute one and the same set of rules under any and every circumstance. The bodhisattva discipline acknowledges that a person has limits of strength and of situation, and it also acknowledges that "for the sake of a greater good" one may for a time hold off some one concrete good deed — but this suppleness is never a back door opened for "laziness and sloth": the treatise, in every clause, distinguishes clean and clear between "through laziness and sloth" and "through legitimate reason"; the former is still judged a non-defiled transgression, and is by no means no transgression.

The Permitting Circumstances of the Seven Natural Offenses: The Passage of the Whole Section that Most Tests the Reader

After the clause-by-clause account of transgression is finished, the treatise turns into the passage that carries the heaviest weight of the whole Section on Discipline, and that most tests the reader — the permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses. This passage says: the bodhisattva, by skillful means, for the sake of benefiting others, may bring about a small measure of what are originally seven kinds of "natural offense" (acts that in themselves draw down evil karma, unlike the "prohibitory offenses" that the Buddha laid down according to time and place) — and not only is there no transgression, but on the contrary many merits are produced.

Dunlun's characterization of this passage is the single most important key to understanding it: "The seven natural offenses are throughout not held in common; the bodhisattva, provisionally acting for the sake of beings, does not transgress. But if, through keeping the discipline, one falls short in the great work of benefiting beings, this too is called a transgression." — This sentence turns the whole passage's logic on its head: it is not that "the bodhisattva may break the discipline," but rather that if one clings dead to the surface of the disciplinary form and thereby misses the great work of benefiting sentient beings, that itself is a kind of "transgression." The purpose of the discipline is to benefit sentient beings; when clinging dead to the rule on the contrary obstructs this purpose, the clinging itself has betrayed the spirit of the discipline.

The “seven limbs” are the three bodily and four verbal courses. Since taking what is not given has two groups of examples, the source has eight narrative units:

The first, taking of life. The treatise says: if a bodhisattva sees a robber-brigand who intends to kill many people, or who would harm a sage, then — because he cannot bear to see the robber commit the deed of the āvīci offenses and in a future life fall into the Avīci hell and there undergo utmost suffering — he, with a heart of compassion, cuts off the robber's life, so that the robber does not come to commit a still deeper and graver karma. Of this situation the treatise plainly says: "there is no transgression whatever against the bodhisattva discipline, and much merit is produced." Dunlun sets a strict threshold upon this first offense: it is limited to the bodhisattva who has already ascended the grounds; the bodhisattva of the eighth ground and above may do this by wholesome mind alone, while below the seventh ground there is still room for the case of an indeterminate mind. In other words, this is not an option that any and every one who has aroused the mind may invoke; it presupposes a correspondingly realized attainment.

The second limb, taking what is not given (two groups of examples). The treatise next gives the deposing of a cruel official who oppresses beings, and the reclaiming of Saṅgha-, stūpa-, or sentient-being property usurped by thieves or custodians. Both belong to the same limb; they do not create a third limb. The source's stated circumstances are preventing further harm to beings and preventing the usurper from undergoing long suffering through wrongful use.

The third limb, sexual misconduct. The treatise says: when the bodhisattva is a householder, if he sees a woman without refuge or resort who intends to seek his love, and fears that she, being refused, will give rise to hatred in her mind and commit much evil karma, he skillfully settles and places her, and causes her to turn instead toward planting wholesome roots. Here the treatise appends a qualification that cannot be omitted: "the renunciant bodhisattva, in order to guard the holy instruction of the śrāvaka precepts and keep it from being ruined and destroyed, must in every case not engage in what is not celibate conduct" — this is a boundary that the treatise itself draws, not a proviso added by later people; it states that this limb is permitted only to the householder bodhisattva and never to the renunciant bodhisattva.

The fourth limb, speaking words at variance to save others from mortal peril. The treatise gives the bodhisattva who, to save many people from death, imprisonment, or mutilation, deliberately and knowingly speaks contrary to the fact. It states the criterion plainly: "the bodhisattva looks only to the benefit and welfare of sentient beings, not to what is without benefit and welfare; himself without a defiled mind, solely for the sake of benefiting sentient beings." Dunlun adds that this limb takes "freeing many sentient beings from mortal peril" as its premise; it cannot be invoked for false speech on any occasion whatever.

The fifth through seventh limbs, divisive, harsh, and frivolous speech. The treatise gives divisive speech used to separate someone from an evil friend and harsh speech used to rebuke someone out of an unwholesome situation. The final limb adapts performance, recitation, song, and talk of kings, thieves, food, or sexual streets to what beings enjoy, first gathering them through delight and then guiding them out of the unwholesome and establishing them in the wholesome. Frivolous speech is the seventh limb; it must not be dropped merely because the second limb has two groups of examples.

Of this passage, Dunlun leaves one textual note worth setting down: "this one passage of text is entirely absent from the old treatise; it was dropped in translation" — meaning that the whole passage is absent from Dharmakṣema's Bodhisattvabhūmi-sūtra / Pusa dichi jing. The omission can also be checked directly in that witness, where the text moves from the rules not shared with śrāvakas straight to the rule on wrong livelihood. This is a historical fact concerning textual transmission; it does not judge the doctrinal superiority of either translation.

The Seven Offenses Are Not a "Loophole" but a Strictly Delimited Exception

What must be seen clearly is that these seven offenses are never a "list of exemptions" that may be invoked at will. Every offense has its own delimiting conditions (station, status, motive, sole purpose), and the treatise, in narrating each offense, uses such phrasings as "the bodhisattva, having thus carefully deliberated" and "the bodhisattva looks only to the benefit and welfare of sentient beings," marking that this is a permission that holds only after careful deliberation, after confirming that one's own mind is undefiled — not a shortcut that may be invoked at any time, in any state of mind. To read this passage as "the bodhisattva may violate the discipline at will," and to read this passage as "clinging dead to the disciplinary form and watching another die without aid is the true transgression," are both misreadings — what the treatise truly means to say is that narrow path between the two extremes, whose measuring-line is "an undefiled mind, solely for the enriching benefit of sentient beings."

The Gathering of the Trainings and the Method of Confession: Once Transgressed, How to Turn Back

The forty-two clauses and the seven offenses being expounded, the treatise turns into a stretch equally important yet often overlooked — once one has transgressed, what then.

The treatise first draws all the trainings back into a single utterance: all these trainings subsumed under the discipline of restraint, the discipline of gathering wholesome dharmas, and the discipline of benefiting sentient beings — the Buddha originally set them forth scattered through various sūtras, in accord with the faculties of sentient beings; and now, in the Mātṛkā of the Bodhisattva Basket, they are synthesized and gathered together. Toward these the bodhisattva should give rise to reverence and respect and to diligent, refined training, and from the very outset should not transgress; and should there be any transgression, he should according to Dharma swiftly confess it, so that the discipline again attains purity.

The procedure of confession, according to the gravity of the transgression, falls into three levels: transgressing a pārājika-class dharma with a superior-grade entanglement — the body of the discipline being already lost — one should receive it anew; transgressing with a middle-grade entanglement, one should, before three persons or more than three, according to the method of disclosing and confessing away the ill-deed, recount and state the matter transgressed and confess it; transgressing with a lower-grade entanglement, and the remaining transgressions, one may disclose and confess before a single person. If truly there be no suitable person before whom to make disclosure, then with a pure intention one gives rise to a mind of self-vowing: "I from this day resolutely guard against it, and will in the end not transgress again" — and thus, with respect to the transgression committed, one comes out again and is again pure. This graded design lets slip a message: confession is not a black-or-white switch; it is, according to the gravity of the transgression, a corresponding procedure to follow; and even where one cannot find a person before whom to confess, one is not thereby left without a road out.

At the end the treatise adds a sentence full of import: "moreover, in the way of transgressing the discipline for a bodhisattva, there is no transgression-without-remainder." Kuiji glosses "without remainder" as the śrāvaka discipline's "pārājika," and states the sentence more fully: "As for the treatise's saying 'there is no transgression-without-remainder' — 'without remainder' means pārājika, for there is nothing remaining, since the offense is at the utmost extreme; this is the śrāvaka discipline. As for the bodhisattva discipline, there is no such transgression-without-remainder." — The śrāvaka discipline's "pārājika" means "without remainder," because it is the utmost offense that can be transgressed under the śrāvaka discipline, and once transgressed the body of the discipline is exhausted and cannot be confessed and recovered; but the bodhisattva discipline has no such "transgression-without-remainder," has no kind of disciplinary transgression that cannot be confessed. This is of one strain with the first part of the Section on Discipline's design — "only a superior-grade entanglement causes forfeiture, and once forfeited it may yet be received again" — the bodhisattva discipline sets up not a red line that shatters at a touch, but a road that allows one to stumble and yet forever calls one to turn back.

The treatise adds besides a sentence easily overlooked yet full of import: the World-Honored One says "bodhisattvas for the most part should be given transgressions that arise from hatred, not those that arise from greed." The treatise explains the hidden intent therein — the bodhisattva, by the surpassing power of loving all sentient beings and having pity on all sentient beings, in whatever he does, all is what a bodhisattva ought to do, and he does not become a transgressor through "doing what ought not be done"; only when the bodhisattva hates sentient beings, envies sentient beings, and cannot practice the works of benefiting self and others — only then is what he does "what ought not be done," and only then does he become a transgressor thereby. In other words, the transgression of the bodhisattva discipline has its root, for the most part, not in greed and desire (the bodhisattva is already learning to relinquish), but in whether hatred and revulsion have quietly taken the place of the heart of compassion.

The Three Kinds of Perfection: Drawing the Whole Study of Keeping and Transgressing Back into One Utterance

The clause-by-clause transgressions and the permitting circumstances of the seven offenses being expounded, the treatise draws to a close with the three kinds of perfection:

Perfection of preparatory practice — within the pure discipline, upholding it without lack or transgression; in body, speech, and mind, purely and actively operating; not repeatedly ruining and transgressing, and disclosing one's own faults and evils.

Perfection of intention — going forth for the sake of the Dharma, not for the sake of livelihood; seeking the great awakening, seeking the fruit of the śramaṇa, seeking nirvāṇa, and not failing to seek; not abiding in the inferior and low vigor of sloth; not defiled by future existence, not stained by the maturation of blazing sufferings.

Perfection of former causes — in former lives having cultivated merit and cultivated the wholesome, so that in the present life the various implements of livelihood are of themselves not scarce, and one is moreover able to practice giving broadly toward others.

These three draw the whole second part of the Section on Discipline together into a single utterance: whether one keeps the discipline well or ill, what is looked to in the end is not whether one has transgressed a rule or two, but whether these three layers — "preparatory practice, intention, former causes" — are purely of one thread throughout. Contrary to these, the treatise says, one comes to "accomplish three kinds of decline and loss, and abide in peril and suffering" — perfection and decline-and-loss are the two faces of one and the same standard.

The One Meaning This Unit Casts into Light

The second part of the Section on Discipline looks as though it were listing a tediously long checklist of transgressions, but in truth it sets up only a single deep meaning: the rule that judges an offense measures, always, that heart — not the outward look of the act. Defiled transgression and non-defiled transgression are divided by whether affliction is in active operation or it is a passing lapse of memory; the six rivers of the forty-two clauses depict a complete picture of the bodhisattva's daily life, not an isolated list of prohibitions; the permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses are divided by whether one clings dead to the disciplinary form or truly thinks for the sake of sentient beings; the graded design of confession shows that transgressing the discipline is never entering a dead-end alley; the three kinds of perfection are divided by whether preparatory practice, intention, and former causes are of one thread throughout. The whole second part of the Section on Discipline is, in fact, training one single thing: within each concrete situation, honestly to turn back and look at that heart of one's own.

Carrying Forward

This unit carries forward the soft–middle–superior-grade-entanglement mechanism of the four pārājika-class dharmas of the first part of the Section on Discipline; the clause-by-clause discernment of transgression is just that mechanism unfolded within the situations of daily life. The permitting circumstances of the seven natural offenses do not contradict the four pārājika-class dharmas — the latter are the bottom line that admits of no yielding, the former the expedient permitted within the bottom line in response to special conditions; seen together, the two are the complete face of the bodhisattva discipline as "there is that which one does not do, and there is also that which one cannot but do." The Section on Ascertainment's tenth item, ascertaining the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening, separately establishes four conditions for forfeiting the discipline (see 〈Apparatus〉item two), of one spirit with this unit. Next follows the third part of the Section on Discipline (the latter seven precepts and the discipline pure in ten aspects) — keeping and transgressing now being clear, one enters upon the aspects of broad practice and ultimate purity.