Question: Although the Brahma Net Sūtra’s Bodhisattva Precepts (《梵网经》菩萨戒) can be received by both monastics and laypeople, when reciting and/or hearing those Precepts for monastic practices, how should lay preceptees relate to them?
Answer: Even though they are not directly relevant to laypeople, they should not be glossed over or skipped. There should still be paying of equal attention to them for the following reasons.
[1] Prevention: The regular reciting and/or hearing of those Precepts ensures laypeople do not unknowingly or unmindfully allow, facilitate or endorse monastics’ breaking of those Precepts, and to respectfully remind monastics when necessary, if they are on the verge of breaking them, are breaking them, or have broken them. These are aspects of Bodhisattva practice (菩萨行) to benefit all.
[2] Aspiration: The regular reciting and/or hearing of those Precepts enables laypeople to be more ready for practising the Bodhisattva aspect of monastic practices in time to come. Even as laypeople on the path to Buddhahood, who have no intention to be monastics in this life, there should still be openness to the aspiration to live as monastics later — such as in Pure Land (净土). (In the life where Buddhahood is to be manifested, one has to be a monastic first.)
