PREFACE

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Sakyamuni Buddha

I. The Precepts

During his time on earth, Buddha formed many precepts to
teach people with various capacities. When Buddha entered
Nirvana, his disciple Upali stood up to read the Buddha's precepts
to the first council gathered there to collect the Buddha's
scriptures.

Later on, the original Buddhism gradually divided into
many sects. Each had their own book of laws that were primarily
based on the four major precepts and the three groups of precepts
to cultivate purity (Precepts on rites, good deeds and being
beneficial to others).

According to Buddhism, karmas determine our lives.
There are three kinds of karmas: action, word, and mind.
Keeping the precepts helps purify karma.There are many precepts
for different levels of cultivation,
from beginner to advanced such as:
The Forbidden Five, the Eight
Rules for Vegetarian, the Ten Good
Actions, 250 Rules for the Bhiksu
(monk), 350 for the Bhiksuni
(nuns), and the Great Precepts or
the Bodhisattva Precepts. Passive
and self-serving precepts used to
avoid sins belong to the Small
Vehicle School. They are: The
Forbidden Five, the Eight Rules for
vegetarian, the precepts for the Sadi
and Sadini (beginners) Bhiksu, and
Bhiksuni.

Active and altruistic precepts belong to the Great Vehicle
School. They are the precepts for Bodhisattva mentioned in the