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The Tripitaka - Northern Transmission - Mahayana Sutras 02
Inviting the bell begins with bowing, silently reciting the gatha “Body, speech, and mind held in perfect oneness, I send my heart along with the sound of the bell,” waking up the bell, and then inviting it to sound. The waking sound must be strong enough, or crisp like a rice cracker if it is the seven sounds announcing to the community. Regarding the Eight Gurudharmas, this was an open door for women to enter the Sangha in that historical context, reflecting the sibling relationship in an Eastern family: the male plays the role of the elder brother, the female plays the role of the younger sibling. The spirit of the Eight Gurudharmas needs to be transformed to suit the times and avoid forms of discrimination.
The Shikshamana precepts lie between the Sramanerika and Bhikshuni precepts, practicing the first four precepts which correspond to the four Parajikas: killing, stealing, sexual activity, and lying. In the ordination ceremony, the female Karma Master stands up to pose questions such as: Have you received the female mendicant precepts? Are you a woman? Are you a government official, a servant, or in debt? The Uposatha day is a day for nourishing purity (increasing purity) and living closely together (dwelling near). The day of reciting the precepts is only postponed when there are obstacles such as the police not permitting it, robbers, floods, house fires, wild beasts, someone being seriously ill, or a division in the Sangha.
Chapter 21 of the Lotus Sutra, “The Supernatural Powers of the Tathagata,” speaks of the capacity to act based on lifespan, with the image of the tongue covering the three-thousand-great-thousand worlds symbolizing speaking the truth, and the light from the pores being mindfulness. Chapter 22, “Entrustment,” is the entrusting of the responsibility to transmit the truth, where the Buddha thanks the transformation bodies. Chapter 23 speaks of Bodhisattva Medicine King, whose past life was Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, who realized the action dimension through faith and gratitude. The Bodhisattva manifested all physical forms and burned his body as an offering to demonstrate non-attachment to the physical form, bringing the light of enlightenment to shine throughout eighty billion Ganges-sands of worlds.