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Last year at this time, I wanted to write about the 64 bodhisattva precepts of Mahayana Buddhism. So I wrote several introductory posts, setting up an investigation of each of the precepts. And then . . . nothing. The intention simply disappeared.

And it hasn't returned.

No one expressed alarm at this, probably because all the readers of this blog vanished years ago, when I ceased to post regularly.

Fortunately, I have only one thing to say about the precepts:  Your life matters.

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That means that you're in charge of your life and the decisions you make have consequence. So pay attention.

That's the good news of Buddhism. (Although, if you're intent on skirting around the edges of responsibility, it might seem like the bad news of Buddhism.) 

Now it's springtime in the southern Arizona desert. The ocotillo have started to leaf out, just in the last few days. This is the natural consequence of weather, sun, and the passing of seasons. The precepts are just like this.

The Brahma Net Sutra introduces 64 precepts (including the traditional 5) to describe how enlightened beings function to help others.

As we'll see in coming days, the first 5 precepts focus on individual behavior and, as the Buddha emphasized in the Pali Canon, provide the necessary foundation for individual awakening. (The Buddha also said that, by following the 5 precepts, we give others freedom from fear).

Precepts 6 through 64 shift our intention from personal awakening to awakening for all beings. Through the voice of Vairocana, the Brahma Net Sutra describes upholding the bodhisattva precepts as awakening itself:

The precepts are like the radiant sun and moon,
Like a shining necklace of gems,
Bodhisattvas as numerous as motes of dust
Uphold them and attain Buddhahood.

Vairocana Buddha divides the 64 precepts into two groups: the first 10 precepts are known as the Pratimoksa Bodhisattva Precepts, the major precepts that establish the "seed of Buddhahood." The remaining precepts are considered "minor" but still essential the the bodhisattva ideal.

The next post will begin our examination of all 64 bodhisattva precepts. Thanks for reading! 

In Mahayana Buddhism, Vairocana Buddha is often described as the primordial or celestial Buddha. I have no idea what these terms might mean.

Some traditions assert that all Buddhas are emanations of Vairocana; in this view, Vairocana is understood as the first of the Buddha incarnations.

As it turns out, the first textual mention of Vairocana appears in the Brahma Net Sutra. The sutra teaching is given by Vairocana and, in the poem at the beginning (quoted in the last post), Vairocana describes herself this way:

All Buddhas have Vairocana as their original body. This body -- the one reading this post -- is the body of Vairocana. You have it, I have it, all innumerable beings have it.

Vairocana wholly manifests Buddhanature, which all beings have at all times.

In this way, the Brahma Net Sutra can be viewed as arising from and manifesting Buddhanature, enlightenment nature. And the 64 precepts described in the sutra simply describe the enlightened mind, the mind of a Buddha.

If you're familiar with Mahayana Buddhism, you've probably encountered the teaching of Indra's Net, an infinitely vast, three-dimensional net with jewels at the nodes. Each jewel contains infinite worlds and, at the same time, perfectly reflects every other jewel in the infinite net. While some folks interpret Indra's Net as an illustration of emptiness, dependent origination, and interdependence, my preference is to sit quietly and allow the imagery to illuminate the universe beyond thought.

The Brahma Net Sutra begins with a similar image, that of Brahma's Net, a "wonderful Jewel Net hung in Lord Brahma's palace," in which "the innumerable worlds in the cosmos are like the eyes of the net. Each and every world is different, its variety infinite." 

Interestingly, Vairocana Buddha (not Shakyamuni Buddha) gives the teaching of the sutra. After some preliminaries, Vairocana Buddha offers another example of a net, this one containing countless Shakyamuni Buddhas:

Like all Western Zen traditions, the Kwan Um School of Zen offers precepts to those who might find benefit and meaning in a formal connection to Buddhism.

Practitioners begin with the five precepts and then, over time, can take an additional five (10 total). As they continue, some might take an additional six precepts (16 total) and become leaders in their sanghas. (The Kwan Um School also offers full monastic ordination, following the Dharmaguptaka vinaya lineage.)

A few practitioners, after years of practice, may take an additional 48 precepts (64 total) and dedicate their lives to the great work of saving all beings from suffering -- the bodhisattva ideal of Mahayana Buddhism.

These 64 bodhisattva precepts originate in the Brahma Net Sutra (Sanskrit: Brahmajala Sutra); many believe that the sutra was originally written in Sanskrit and translated into Chinese in 406 C.E. The sutra is closely connected, in teaching and imagery, to the Avatamsaka Sutra and other great texts of the Mahayana stream.

In East Asia, both ordained monastics and committed lay practitioners take the 64 bodhisattva precepts to clarify and support their dedication. To the best of my knowledge, only the Kwan Um School, of the Western Zen traditions, offers these precepts to lay practitioners.

Over the coming weeks, I plan/hope to write about the 64 bodhisattva precepts. This may take a while, given my, uh, leisurely writing pace. But perhaps you'll find meaning and guidance in the precepts themselves, if not in my limited understanding. Thank you for your patience.

During the economic decline of the 1930s, the American government employed young men to build and restore parks and wilderness areas throughout the country. This program was known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and it was a huge success.

In southeastern Arizona, CCC crews worked in mountain canyons to control flash floods (sudden rushes of water carrying rocks and shrubs and cars down canyon). These crews built many stone retaining walls -- small dams, essentially -- to trap the water and prevent flooding.

The other day a friend and I walked up Zacatecas Canyon and passed a number of these retaining walls. They were beautifully constructed and well-placed to control the flow of water.

And they were complete failures. Because flash floods carry so much debris, it took only a few years for gullies behind the walls to quickly fill with dirt. 

I'm sure these walls seemed like a good idea at the time. But the forces of nature have an inevitability about them. We can tinker with these forces and perhaps re-direct them for a short time. But cause and effect always wins out.

Yesterday I went hiking with friends to a site used by early peoples in the Dragoon Mountains. The Mogollon people inhabited this area about 1,000 years ago and left pictographs (above and below), along with other artifacts. Although no one knows for certain, the Mogollon may have displaced the Desert Archaic peoples a few thousand years before.

The Mogollon were displaced, in turn, by various Chiricahuan Apache tribes. The Apache, particularly the bands headed by Cochise and Geronimo, were displaced by invaders of European ancestry (also known as Americans) in the late 1800s. 

Genocide was common, just as it is today.

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Recently it rained heavily here in southern Arizona and a portion of an old stone wall on my property gave way. Like many old walls in this area, it's held together primarily by mud. 

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And we started talking. It turned out that he had just returned from a six-month Vajrayana retreat in New Mexico. 

As the mason worked, I marveled at how fully the Dharma has penetrated Western culture. And, of course, it's still early days. I find it so encouraging and the source of great hope. And the renovated wall looks pretty darn great, besides.

For the past several months, our Zen center discussion group has worked through the Heart Sutra. This text became central to the Zen tradition sometime in the century or two after Huineng (I'm not a scholar and can't say for certain).

As you probably know, the sutra describes reality from the awakened viewpoint of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. In the text, she unfolds her understanding to Sariputra, one of the Buddha's leading disciples.

Last night, the discussion group focused on the line, "and the mind is no hindrance" (电脑上vp translation). In my view, this is one of the most important lines in any Buddhist text.

I'll note the controversy around the translation of this line. Some traditions render it as "there are no hindrances in mind." Thich Nhat Hanh would say, "see no more obstacles in their mind." Another recent translation reads, "live with an unhindered mind."

Each of these translations misses an important point, in my view. Since at least the time of Great Master Mazu, Zen has taught that "mind is Buddha." This means that your mind, however it is in any moment, is the awakened mind of Buddha. The sutra doesn't say that the contents of your mind are liberated and without hindrance. It says that mind itself, regardless of content, is free of hindrance. 

This means that your mind, just as it is, is okay.

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I'm totally opposed to injecting children with heroin. Everyone knows that. And it almost wouldn't even have to be said. So, now you hear it, but you all know.

I'm totally opposed to dumping petrochemicals into the water supply. Everyone knows that. And it almost wouldn't even have to be said. So, now you hear it, but you all know.

I'm totally opposed to domestic violence of any kind. Everyone knows that. And it almost wouldn't even have to be said. So, now you hear it, but you all know.