In the Sutta-Nipata, one of the earliest Buddhist writings, Śākyamuni Buddha says: «He who possesses the strength of wisdom, born of the precepts morals and containment, who is serene in mind and delights in meditation, alert and free from attachments, freed from the sleeping mind and stimulants, "He is called wise by the wise.". (Translation of Saddhatissa, Curzon Press, 1985)
Buddha is talking about the three essential elements of practice: wisdom (prajñā), precepts (sila) and meditation (samādhi). All Buddhist traditions include these three principles of practice. Sōtō Zen Buddhists follow the teaching of Dtengen about these three points.
Precepts (Shila)
Guide to our basic attitude towards life
Since Buddhism is not a popular religion, one is not born a buddhist. To be Buddhist we take vows, receiving the precepts of Buddha as a guide for our life. En el Shōbōgenzō Jukai (Receiving the precepts) Dogen says: «In India and China, where [el buddha-dharma] has been passed down from Buddhas and ancestors, we must receive the precepts to enter the dharma. Without receiving the precepts, we cannot be a disciple of the Buddhas nor a descendant of the ancestors. Avoiding bad actions and behaviors is in itself studying Zen and investigating the dharma. The true treasure of the eye of the dharma "is identical to the primary importance of the precepts.".
From the times of early Buddhism in India, all Buddhists received the precepts. To be a Buddhist monk you received the precepts o Reglas Vinaya – 250 precepts for monks and 348 for the nuns. Lay Buddhists received five, eight or ten precepts. Mahāyāna Buddhist monks in India also received the precepts Vinaya. The monastic tradition of precepts Vinaya continues in Southeast Asia, Tibet, China and Korea.
In China, the sutras of the precepts such as Bonmokyō (The Brahma Net Sutra) prescribed precepts of bodhisattva for Mahāyāna schools. According to Zennen Shingi (Chanyuan Quinggui) Chinese Zen monks received both, los precepts Vinaya and those of bodhisattva.
In Japan, although a small Vinaya sect still exists, most Buddhist schools stopped transmitting the precepts Vinaya more than a thousand years ago. In the 9th century, Saicho, the founder of the Tendai school, insisted that the precepts Hīnayāna were inappropriate for a Mahāyāna country like Japan. so that, when Dōgen Zenji received ordination in the Tendai tradition, only received the precepts of bodhisattva. Dōgen had some difficulties in Chinese monasteries, since he had not received Vinaya ordination, but when he returned to Japan, as described in the Shōbōgenzō Jukai (Receiving the precepts), He gave his disciples only the precepts of bodhisattva. In the Sōtō Zen tradition, both monks and laymen, receive the 16 precepts of bodhisattva which consist of the Three Refuges, the three Precepts Pure and the Ten Precepts Seniors. The meaning of these is found in Dōgen Zenji's comments in the Kyōjukaimon (Comments about teaching and transfer of precepts); Bonmokō-ryakusho, comment from Kyōgō, y Zenkaishō, written by Banjin Dōtan in the 17th century.
Repentance
At the ceremony of precepts, first we recite the verse of repentance.
All my past and adverse karma
Born of greed, of unlimited hatred and illusion
through body, word and mind,
Now I totally accept them..
In the Kyōjukaimon, Dōgen Zenji dice: «According to the testimony of the Buddhas and ancestors, the karma of your body, speech and mind has become clean and is pure. That is the power of repentance.".
Three shelters
We take refuge in the Three Treasures, reciting the verse of the Three Refuges:
I take refuge in the Buddha;
I take refuge in Dharma;
I take refuge in the Sangha;
I take refuge in the Buddha, honored as the highest;
I take refuge in Dharma, honored as pure;
I take refuge in the Sangha, honored as harmonious.
I have taken complete refuge in the Buddha;
I have taken complete refuge in Dharma;
I have taken complete refuge in the Sangha.
In the Kyōjukaimon, Dōgen Zenji dice: «When you take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma y Sangha, one is fit to receive the great precepts of all the Buddhas.
Three Pure Precepts
The Three Precepts Cigars and Dōgen Zenji's comments on the matter are:
1. The precept of accepting all moral codes: submitting to the laws and codes of all Buddhas is the basis of laws and codes of all Buddhas.
2. The precept of accepting all good acts: he dharma of ultimate awakening is the way one should practice for oneself and when guiding others.
3. The precept of accepting and benefiting all living beings: one should transcend the distinctions between ordinary and wise beings, and save everyone, self and others.
The origin of the Three Precepts Cigars are at the Bosatsu Yōrakukyo (The Necklace Sutra Bodhisattva). It is said that the Three Precepts Cigars were created to contain all precepts Vinaya. En el Shōbōgenzō Shoaku-makusa (Avoiding all acts of evil) Dōgen writes some comments about the precepts of the Seven Buddhas, verse appearing in the Dhammapada:
By studying the supreme awakening by listening to the teachings, practicing and verifying the fruit, we found it deep, distant and prodigious. We hear about the ultimate awakening through the teachings or through the scriptures. At the beginning we heard it said that we should avoid all acts of evil. If we do not hear that we should avoid all acts of evil, we are not hearing the real one dharma of all the buddhas, but the teaching of demons.
The Ten Major Precepts
Then we receive the Ten Precepts Seniors. Los precepts They are here accompanied by Dōgen Zenji's comments in the Kyōjukaimon.
1. do not kill:
By not killing life, Buddha seeds are nourished and one can attain Buddha wisdom. Don't kill life.
2. Don't steal:
When the mind and objects are as they are, the door of liberation remains open.
3. Do not indulge in sexual greed:
When the three body wheels, speech and mind are pure, there is nothing to wish for. All the Buddhas are walking on the same path.
4. Do not tell falsehoods:
Since the wheel of dharma tour from the beginning, there is neither too much nor little. When a drop of sweet dew moistens all beings, reality and truth are revealed.
5. Do not sell intoxicating liquors:
Do not bring intoxicants. Don't let them in. It is truly the great light of wisdom.
6. Do not talk about the mistakes of others:
In the buddha-dharma we go together, we share the dharma together, we perform the same lighting and practice together. Don't talk about other people's mistakes.. Do not corrupt the path.
7. Do not exalt yourself or defame others:
Buddhas and ancestors achieved realization with all heaven and the great Earth. When they manifest the great body, there is neither inside nor outside in heaven. When they manifest the body of dharma There is not even an inch of soil above the earth..
8. Do not covet the dharma nor material objects:
A single phrase or verse of dharma It is nothing more than the manifestation of a myriad of beings and hundreds of herbs. And dharma and one realization is all the buddhas and ancestors. One should give them generously when requested. I never coveted them.
9. Don't be angry:
Walk away without attachment, move forward without attachment, be real without attachment, be empty without attachment: right there one can see an ocean of luminous clouds and an ocean of magnificent clouds.
10. Do not defame the Three Treasures:
The Buddha manifests his body in the world and preaches the dharma. The Three Treasures are the crossroads of the world. The Three Treasures return to the ocean of total wisdom and are immeasurable. We should accept the Three Treasures respectfully and devoutly surrender to them..
We receive the 16 precepts of bodhisattva during lay ordination or Zen Sōtō Buddhist monk ordination. Our practice of zazen It is based on the ethical teaching of precepts. Sometimes people think that since Zen transcends good and evil, there is no need for ethics.. Our sense of ethics or morality is based on the discrimination between good and evil. These precepts They also refer to what is good and what we should do, and what is bad and we should avoid. But the fundamental understanding of precepts of the bodhisattva is that they arise naturally when one has awakened to the reality of interdependent origin.
In the Zenkaishō of Banjin Dōtan it is written:
The precept is containment and treatment [to heal the disease caused by the three poisons: avidity, hate and illusion]. Śākyamuni Buddha, after completing the supreme awakening, when I was sitting under the bodhi tree, established the precepts; what is called containment. The Buddha expressed contention by saying: "I and the great earth and all sentient beings have simultaneously attained the Way.". Therefore, these are called the precepts of the buddha. These precepts They are the original source of all Buddhas and the root of the practice of the path of the bodhisattva. The basis is that all members of the sangha are children of Buddha.
Los precepts Vinaya are a collection of advice from Buddha Śākyamuni to monks. When a monk made a mistake, Buddha told him not to do it anymore. Every rule became a Vinaya precept. But the idea of precepts of the bodhisattva is that they arise naturally when Buddhas awaken to the reality of all beings. So these 16 precepts They are not simple ethical teachings, but the expression of the reality of the interdependent origin of which the Buddha became aware. According to the Thank you de Dogen Zenji, we sit with the same zazen with which Buddha sat under the bodhi tree. "Fortunately, [do zazen] It is already sitting calmly in the jijuyū-zanmai of the Buddhas." (Translation of Shohaku Okurakua and Tagag D Leighton, The Wholehearted Way [The path of total surrender], p. 25). We let go of all the discriminatory thoughts that arise from our karmic consciousness.
In our daily lives we have to decide what we should do or avoid. The measure for such decisions are the precepts of the bodhisattva, based on the reality prior to any act of discrimination.
Fuente: Zen Sōtō Buddhism International Center · Sōtōshū Shumuchō · https://www.sotozen.com/spa/index.html