The first, the precept of body, refers to the vow of physical conduct. Here the Buddha teaches that by observing the precepts of body, the results will be the achievement of the perfect form of a buddha, adorned with the marks of excellence. Among all the details of body precepts, the principal ones are to abandon the three negative actions, killing, taking what is not given, and engaging in sexual misconduct. However, the question arises," Should any action that appears to be negative be avoided in all cases?" The answer is no. There are some circumstances in which a negative action of body, when carried out intelligently, for the sake of others and without any selfishness whatsoever directly benefits other beings.
A story from a past life of the Buddha illustrates this. It is the story about a shipload of five hundred merchants on a ship traveling from India to the islands off the coast laden with riches. Among the travelers was a murderer named "Spear-wielding Criminal" who intended to kill everyone aboard the ship to keep the riches. The bodhisattva "Prince Fortitude," who was the ship captain, knew about this intention and thought, "If I kill him first, I can save him from the negative karma, from killing five hundred people." So the bodhisattva killed the criminal. Instead of creating negative karma from this act, he accumulated a vast amount of merit. So this story illustrates that, by using discriminating knowledge and pure motivation, a negative action can become virtuous. If our motivation is utterly free from disturbing emotions, the action can be carried out if it relieves the suffering of others or benefits a vast number of beings. Having described the precepts of body, speech and mind, the Buddha then gives three hundred listed topics of instructions. According to some of the pith instructions, we should regard the aggregates as being like a mirage, the sense-base as being like magical illusions.
When the Transcendent Perfect Conqueror expounded these Dharma teachings defining samadhi that fully reveals the equal nature of all things, a countless number of sentient beings formed the resolve to attain unexcelled true and complete enlightenment, and countless numbers attained non-regression from the state of true and complete enlightenment. The Buddha said: "The sentient beings who will hear these Dharma teachings on entering great compassion will achieve excellence. After hearing this samadhi that fully reveals the equal nature of all things, whoever writes it down, memorizes, retains, and reads it, comprehends, and practices it through non-emotional training, does so repeatedly, and as well, teaches it widely to others, will become the object of giving of all sentient beings."
When the Transcendent Perfect Conqueror finished speaking, all in attendance, as well as the gods from this world and from the pure realms, rejoiced and praised the words.