The newly ordained monks and nuns gather for a photo with the precept masters and certifiers. We must receive the precepts in our true mind and in our own nature. We should clean up every speck of defilement in our minds and resist the temptation of external states.

Freezing, we do not scheme.

Starving, we do not beg.

Dying of poverty, we ask for nothing.

According with conditions, we do not change.

Not changing, we accord with conditions.

We adhere firmly to our three great principles.


 

We renounce our lives to do the Buddha's work.

We take the responsibility to mold our own destinies.

We rectify our lives to fulfill the Sangha's role.

Encountering specific matters, we understand the principles.

Understanding the principles, we apply them in specific matters.

We carry on the single pulse of the Patriarchs' mind-transmission.

Now that you have a chance to leave the home-life and become disciples of the Buddha, you should realize that the causes and conditions for this are hard to meet with in hundreds of millions of eons. Therefore, you should uphold the precepts as you would your very life. For if you don't, then although you may still be in the world, you are like walking corpses and you will be of no benefit to the world. After leaving home, we should have backbone, determination, and integrity. We ought to be useful vessels within Buddhism, establishing merit and virtue, and establishing the teachings.
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