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“It is taught that all buddhas in the past, present, and future leave the household and attain the way. The twenty-eight ancestors in India and the six early ancestors in China who transmitted the Buddha's mind seal were all monks. They are distinguished in the three realms by strictly observing the precepts. Thus precepts are primary for practicing Zen in pursuit of the way. How can one become a buddha ancestor without becoming free from faults and preventing wrongdoing?” — Dōgen
It is taught that all buddhas in the past, present, and future leave the household and attain the way. The twenty-eight ancestors in India and the six early ancestors in China who transmitted the Buddha's mind seal were all monks. They are distinguished in the three realms by strictly observing the precepts. Thus precepts are primary for practicing Zen in pursuit of the way. How can one become a buddha ancestor without becoming free from faults and preventing wrongdoing?