In Zen Buddhist practice, there are three ways to understand the precepts: from the literal point of view, from the so-called compassionate point of view, and from the so-called Buddha-nature point of view. For the first precept, for example, the literal point of view is: Don’t ever kill anything. The compassionate point of view is: Avoid killing whenever you can, keeping in mind the interconnection of all beings—your own interbeing. The Buddha-nature point of view is: There is no one killing, no killing and no one to be killed; the peace of infinite emptiness pervades the universe. You can’t have one of these points of view without the other two. But precepts are not commandments. The intention is to show a way of practice rather than to impose perfectionist ideals.

- Robert Aitken