The Precepts for the Deceased in the Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly: Unionizing Compassion and Wisdom, Together Attaining Enlightenment

July 27, 2026 marks the most pivotal ritual of the Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly: the transmission of the Precept for the Deceased. Through the preceding rituals of offering and Dharma teachings, participants have purified body and mind and accumulated the necessary virtuous conditions. As we now enter the ritual of transmitting the Precept for the Deceased, everyone should receive these precepts with the utmost reverence and sincerity. Precepts constitute both protection and guidance. By upholding them, one restrains non-virtuous conduct, prevents wrongdoing, distances oneself from the causes of suffering, and returns one's life to the path of purity. They serve as the most reliable guide on the path to buddhahood. The Precept for the Deceased refers specifically to the Bodhisattva Precepts. To receive and uphold these precepts is to vow to emulate the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by working for the liberation and maturation of all sentient beings, so that all may together realize enlightenment. Without such compassionate aspiration, liberation and the attainment of buddhahood are impossible.

The Brahmajala Sutra states, “When sentient beings receive the Buddha's precepts, they immediately enter the line of the Buddhas.” Upon receiving the Bodhisattva vow, one resonates with the compassionate aspirations of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to safeguard and liberate all beings, while revealing the same intrinsically pure nature that they embody. One thereby enters the ranks of the Buddha’s heirs, a preciously rare and auspicious karmic opportunity.

Our ancestors throughout successive generations, our parents and relatives, and those with whom we have karmic debts and grievances have encountered the precious opportunity of the Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly only with great difficulty. Should this opportunity be missed, it is unlikely to know when such favorable conditions will arise again. Therefore, before the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, we should seek the transmission of the precepts on their behalf, relying upon the immense merit of the Dharma Assembly so that they may swiftly purify their karmic obscurations and enter directly onto the path to buddhahood.
Prior to receiving the precepts, four preliminary practices are required.

First is generating faith. One should place profound faith in the blessings of the Three Jewels, the aspiration of the Buddhas, and the inconceivable merit of the Water, Land, and Air Dharma Assembly. By requesting the precepts with wholehearted sincerity, one can awaken and benefit the innumerable beings assembled.

Second is taking refuge. On behalf of one's ancestors throughout successive generations, one's parents from countless past lives, karmic creditors, and all beings dwelling in the unseen realms, one takes refuge in the Three Jewels so that they may no longer drift helplessly under the force of karma, but instead return to the genuine refuge of their lives.

Third is contrition. Throughout beginningless eons, we have formed immeasurable bonds of gratitude as well as resentment with sentient beings. Now, before the Buddhas, we sincerely make contrition and contemplate the emptiness of the intrinsic nature of transgressions, eradicating past wrongdoing while preventing future misconduct, resolving karmic enmities, and cleansing the defilements of karma. Only when body and mind have been purified through contrition can one truly receive the precepts.

Fourth is engendering bodhicitta. Together with all the deceased beings, we generate the Four Great Vows, aspiring not only for our own liberation from samsara, but also that all sentient beings may attain buddhahood.

Following these preliminary practices, one seeks to receive the “Three Collections of Pure Precepts”: The precept of observing ethical discipline: vowing to abandon all non-virtues; the precept of cultivating virtuous deeds: vowing to cultivate all virtues; the precept of benefiting sentient beings: vowing to liberate all beings. These Three Collections of Pure Precepts encapsulate the essence of Mahayana practice, guiding sentient beings across the ocean of cyclic existence, transforming suffering into happiness, elevating ordinary beings to the noble path, and serving as the direct cause for the attainment of unsurpassed bodhi.

After requesting and receiving the precepts, one should faithfully refrain from Ten Grave Precepts:  killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, intoxicants, speaking of the faults of others, praising oneself and disparaging others, being stingy or reviling others, harboring anger or refusing apologies, and denigrating the Three Jewels. By sincerely observing these precepts, one accords with the bodhisattva path, perfects both aspiration and conduct, and truly becomes an heir of the Buddha.

Upon receiving the precepts, one obtains the pure precept-substance. Although this precept-substance is formless and invisible, it becomes firmly established within the mindstream. Once obtained, it is never lost, even through the cyclic of birth and death. Like an unfailing lamp illuminating the darkness of night, it guides sentient beings throughout successive lifetimes, leading them beyond the darkness of ignorance toward awakening until the complete realization of buddhahood.

Everyone should now gather body and mind into single-pointed concentration, visualizing one's ancestors throughout successive generations, one's parents from countless previous lives, one's karmic creditors, and indeed all beings throughout the six realms assembling together within the mandala to receive these pure precepts. As it is said, "The ethical discipline is the very foundation of unsurpassed bodhi, nurturing all roots of virtue." May the merit generated through tonight's conferral of the precepts extend universally throughout the dharmadhatu to all sentient beings, enabling them all to receive the benefit of the Dharma and together realize the tathata, or suchness. May everyone present rely upon these precepts, unite compassion with wisdom, benefit innumerable beings, and together attain perfect enlightenment.