The contents (precepts) of the Eight Precepts are as follows:
1. Not to kill animals
When studying Buddhism at home, the first priority is to take the precept of killing. Killing animals at home turns the family into a killing ground, and it is difficult to ensure peace as the ghosts of the dead linger. Nor can they be "killed" (designated to be killed by vendors). If you are currently unable to become vegetarian, you can eat vegetarian food. To cultivate compassion, you can buy ready-made meat to eat. The evil retribution of killing is the most terrible. The present retribution is often illness or short life; the retribution after death is often falling into the evil path.
2. Don’t steal
Taking without giving is called stealing. Any money that has not been given to you, no matter what method is used to make it your own, is a violation of the precept of stealing. According to the law of cause and effect, if you sow the cause of giving, you will reap the fruit of wealth; if you sow the cause of theft, you will reap the fruit of poverty.
3. Not a non-Brahma life
"Brahma life" refers to pure conduct, while "non-Brahma conduct" refers to impure behavior, which refers to lust. The Five Precepts only prohibit "sexual immorality". Living as a layman's husband and wife does not constitute a violation of the precepts. What is required here is the precept of a monk, which is "not to be sexually immoral." But it is not difficult to do it only on the six fasting days of each month. This is a kind of transcendent good cause that closes the door of life and death. "Surangama Sutra" says: "If the lustful mind is not eliminated, the dust cannot come out." It means that if the lustful mind is not eliminated, it is impossible to transcend the six paths of reincarnation. When Master Xuanhua preached about the Twelve Causes and Conditions, he said that ignorance refers to the lustful mind, and ignorance is the condition (condition) to produce actions. Actions are the sexual behavior of men and women. The rebirth of the bardo body is caused by this lustful thought. "Not to be immoral" in the Bajie contains very high requirements. "Buddha Speaks of Fasting Sutra" says: "One day and one night, keep your mind like a real person (Tathagata), without sexual intercourse, not thinking about the room, practice the holy life, not for sexual immorality, not greedy for sex, like the pure precepts, practice with one mind." This is to be in line with the Buddha. If you have lustful thoughts, you will become impure while fasting. Because the requirements are high, even though it is only one day and one night, it has great merit. When observing the Eight Precepts at home, couples should live in separate rooms and beds to keep the three karmas pure.
4. Don’t lie
Including four items: (1) Lies: Big lies such as lying about one’s own enlightenment in the hope of fame, fame and fortune will lead to hell after death, so repent. It is useless; secondly, lying and deceiving others for personal gain is also a self-sowing evil cause, and you will eventually receive evil retribution. In addition, convenient lying is conditional, and it must be beneficial to others and things rather than self-interest. For example, you see a hare running past on the mountain, and a hunter chases you and asks you where the hare is. It is clear that the hare is running to the west, but you tell it to run to the east. If the purpose of this is to protect lives, it is a convenient lie. (2) Harsh words: Cursing others with vicious words. This is a self-sowing evil that will reap the consequences. (3) Two-tongued language: Talking about the faults of the four groups (households and monks), using language that creates dissension and dissension. This is one of the most important precepts in the Bodhisattva Precepts. should be paid more attention to. (4) Qi (Yinqi) language: refers to sweet words, including obscene language.
5. Don’t drink alcohol
Drinking alcohol itself is not a sin, but alcohol can cause sexual disorder, make people lose their mind, and lead to breaking the precepts and committing crimes. In ancient India, there was a male layman who got drunk one day by mistake and violated the drinking prohibition. If you see your neighbor's chickens coming over, you kill them and eat them, you violate the precepts of stealing and killing. A neighbor woman came looking for a chicken and replied that she had not seen it, which was a violation of the precept of lying. Seeing a beautiful neighbor's wife and raping her violates the precept of sexual immorality. Because drinking alcohol leads to violating the five precepts, one will be punished by the laws of the country in life and fall into the evil path after death. Drinking medicated wine must be diagnosed by a doctor, and you can only drink it if you have a disease that cannot be cured by medicated wine. Selling alcohol to cause other people to have sexual indiscretions is one of the most important Buddhist precepts. Drug abuse harms oneself, the family, and society, and Buddhist practitioners should not take it.
6. Don’t eat out of season
“Out of season” refers to noon to early morning of the next day, that is, no food after noon. Not eating after noon is called "holding a fast". Although "holding a fast" is not a precept, it is the body of the precept and is the most important of the eight precepts. Being vegetarian does not mean practicing fasting. "Zhai" means to have a pure heart and get rid of clutter. According to the physiognomy, anyone who eats after noon is considered messy and unclean. Therefore, all the Buddhas of the three generations did not eat after noon. Fundamentally speaking, the three karma of body, speech and mind must be pure before it can be called "fasting". Regardless of whether you are a monk or a monk at home, if you want to purify the three karma, you should fast.
As for the calculation method of "noon" (noon), it is best to use Beijing's longitude (i.e. 117 degrees east longitude) as the base number. Every time the longitude (east longitude) decreases by 15 degrees, the time of noon will be Delayed by 1 hour.
Based on this, the midday time in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province can be postponed to 12:45 in spring and autumn, the midday time in summer is 12:30, and the midday time in winter is 1:00. Various places can calculate accordingly. Generally speaking, you can have lunch at 11:30 Beijing time.
After noon and before the next morning, you can only drink various sugar water, honey, fruit juice (filtered without residue), ginger soup, salt water, and glucose water. However, milk, soy milk, sesame paste, cakes, pasta, etc. are not allowed to be drunk according to the law, and eating them is a violation.
7. Do not decorate your body with fragrant flowers, nor do you sing, dance, and perform tricks.
"Fragrant flowers" are corollas and garlands made of fragrant flowers, such as bracelets and necklaces used by modern people. , earrings, etc., do not use them during the Eight Passes Fast. The purpose of this precept is to allow lay people to cultivate the cause of rebirth, so the clothing should be simple. How can your heart be pure if you are still obsessed with these decorations? "Smearing your body with sesame oil" is a habit of tropical people. During the Eight Passes Fast, you should not use any perfume, powder, or balsam, because such cosmetics can easily induce lustful thoughts and make the three karmas impure.
"Singing, dancing, and acting" refers to singing and dancing. During the Eight Pass fasting period, one should not deliberately go to watch it. Including not watching movies, TV, etc. Because since you yearn to be reborn, why should you be greedy for worldly entertainment? You should enrich your spiritual life with "Zen Joy" and "Dharma Joy".
8. Do not sit or lie on a big bed
In the past, the "bed" in the Western Regions included chairs. What is a "high and wide bed"? Master Ou Yi's "Commentaries on the Record of the Ten Commandments" says: "The foot of the bed is one foot six inches high. If your feet are not hanging in the air when you sit, anything that exceeds this measurement is called high. But if you can turn your body around, it is called wide." It is both high and wide, so it is called big." According to this explanation, luxury items such as silk tents, embroidered pillows, and brocade quilts used by modern people should not be used during the Baguan fast. Otherwise, it will easily affect the purity of the three karmas of body, speech, and mind. Only by looking down on material enjoyment can we improve our spiritual realm; only by getting used to living a simple and plain life can we improve our spiritual practice. The above two items are media for pursuing material enjoyment and leading to lustful desires. They affect the purity of the three karma of body, speech, and mind, and even cause the human mind to retreat, so they are listed as taboos.
About not sitting on a big bed
Novice novices are not allowed to sit on a big bed. For this rule, I found that many young people are really pitiful. A young classmate was not allowed to sit on a big bed. He slept on the floor for two years because he thought a high bed and a wide bed were not suitable for sleeping. I can tell you responsibly that if you make a mistake, I will go to hell, to the twenty-first floor, and never get over. If I am right, then many people are wrong and people are killed. This commandment is formulated to teach Buddhists not to be greedy for pleasure
The text must be clarified. Beds have existed in ancient China. The bed of my old grandmother in my hometown was larger than a room. Beds came from the Western Regions, and chairs were originally called beds. There were no chairs in China originally. During the Qin and Han dynasties, people sat on the floor. It was not until the Wei and Jin Dynasties that chairs were introduced from the Western Regions. At that time, they were called Hu beds. The high and wide bed is where people with high status and leaders sit. The bed is high and wide. The bed is also called a foot bed, and the legs of the bed can be folded up. The place for meditating is called a rope bed, which is made of straw rope and can be folded up and taken out. Zen Master Fotucheng often sat on the rope bed to meditate. Therefore, this commandment is to teach novices to be humble, but it does not mean that they cannot sleep on the bed. For this reason, many young people dare not sleep on the bed for fear of violating the precepts, so they sleep on a narrow wooden board on the ground, unable to even turn over.