Bodhisattva Precepts

"A person observes [shila] for his own sake, and the other for the sake of other beings. If observed for other beings, that person will see the Buddha Nature and the Tathagata.

There are two kinds (of people) amongst those who uphold shila. One is the person who, by nature, thoroughly upholds shila, and the other is a person who acts under the injunctions given by others. When someone receives shila, through countless ages, this one does not lose them. A person may be born in an evil country, or may encounter an evil friend, an evil age, or evil teaching, or one may sit together with those who persist in evil views of life. At that time, there may be no dharma of receiving shila. However, the person practices the Way exactly as before and does not transgress (the shila). This is the case of how one upholds [the shila] thoroughly by nature. In another case, the shila may be given to someone by a teacher-priest or by jnata-caturthī [the ritual of receiving shila]. Even when one has received this (kind of) shila, that someone always decides to consult the words of the teacher, good comrades and friends, or one is perfect in the way of listening and delivering sermons. This is the case called action under injunctions of others.

Oh, good man! Someone who, by nature, thoroughly upholds shila see, with his own eyes, the Buddha Nature and the Tathagata. Also, this is seeing through hearing. However, there are two kinds (of shila). One is the shila of Sravaka, and the other is that of the Bodhisattva. Such latter, attains from the first aspiration and up to unsurpassed Enlightenment. This is the shila of the Bodhisattva. If one meditates on white bones, one attains the Arhatship. This is the case of the shila of Sravaka. It should be known that anyone who upholds the shila of Sravaka does not see the Buddha Nature and the Tathagata. Any person who upholds the shila of the Bodhisattvas, we may know, attains unsurpassed Enlightenment and sees the Buddha Nature, the Tathagata, and Nirvana. "

Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 34, on the Bodhisattva Lion's Roar 2.

bodhisattva precepts.mp3