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The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts

Formless Atonement

All the karma ever created by me since of old
through beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance
born of my body, speech and thought
I now fully and openly atone with it all.

The Three Refuges

I take refuge in the Buddha
I take refuge in the Dharma
I take refuge in the Sangha
I take refuge in the Buddha as the omnipresent teacher
I take refuge in the Dharma as the way of wisdom and compassion
I take refuge in the Sangha as the community of awakening beings
I completely take refuge in the Buddha
I completely take refuge in the Dharma
I completely take refuge in the Sangha

Three Collective Pure Precepts

With purity of heart, I vow to embrace and sustain noninjury
With purity of heart, I vow to embrace and sustain beneficial actions.
With purity of heart, I vow to embrace and sustain all living beings.

Ten Momentous Prohibitory Precepts

1. I take up the way of not killing.
Life is not killed.
The Buddha Seed grows in accordance with not taking life.
Transmit the life of Buddha's wisdom and do not kill.
2. I take up the way of not taking that which is not given.
The self and things of the world are just as they are.
The gate of emancipation is open.
3. I take up the way of not misusing sexuality.
The three wheels are pure and clear.
When you have nothing to desire,
you follow the way of all Buddhas.
4. I take up the way of not speaking falsely.
The Dharma wheel turns from the beginning.
There is neither surplus nor lack.
Sweet dew permeates the universe,
and the truth is ready to harvest.
5. I take up the way of not giving or taking intoxicants.
Where nothing can be brought in,
that is where everything is inviolable.
This is exactly the great brightness.
6. I take up the way of not speaking ill of others.
In awakened awareness, there is one path, one Dharma, one realization, one practice. Faults are not discussed. Confusing speech is not heard.
7. I take up the way of not praising myself at the expense of others.
Buddhas and ancestors realize absolute emptiness and the great earth. When the great body is manifested, there is neither outside nor inside. When the Dharma body is manifested, there is not even a single square inch of earth upon which to stand.
8. I take up the way of not attaching to anything even the truth.
One phrase, one verse—
that is the ten thousand things and the hundred grasses;
one Dharma, one realization that is all Buddhas and ancestors.
From the beginning, there has been no stinginess.
9. I take up the way of not becoming angry.
Neither retreating nor advancing, not real, not empty.
Here is an ocean of illuminated, magnificent clouds.
10. I take up the way of not disparaging the great truth of the triple treasure.
The body is manifested. The Dharma is unfolded
and there is a bridge in the world for crossing over.
The virtue returns to the ocean of all-knowing wisdom.
This is unfathomable.
Please accept it with respect and gratitude.

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