I've written a new feature article on the Three Pure Precepts. These are Mahayana precepts featured in Zen, Pure Land, and probably some other schools. A standard translation:
To do no evil;
To do good;
To save all beings.
However, as I explained in the article, there are lots of interesting variations. One that I didn't discuss in the article is from Reb Tenshin Anderson Roshi, from his book Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts:
Embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies
Embrace and sustain all good
Embrace and sustain all beings
There seems to be a leap between "do no evil" and "embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies." Tenshin Roshi explains, "The Buddha-way is all-pervading and free of limits. Yet without some container in which to practice, it cannot be fully realized."
Zen has a lot of exacting forms. There are precise forms for sitting zazen, for bowing, for handling oryoki bowls, for drinking tea. The forms are to be practiced with meticulous attention, which is a large part of what they're for -- they force you to stay in the moment. If your mind wanders, you start making mistakes.
And, of course, we all do make mistakes. When you do, acknowledge the mistake, correct it, and then let it go. It's a way of bringing the focus of zazen into activity. When all participants are fully present, a ceremony can evoke great clarity, a non-dualistic consciousness and a deep intimacy. If you are somewhere else mentally or emotionally, however, it's just going through motions.
A lot of people really don't like rituals and ceremonies. They'll meditate, they'll read books about dharma, but don't ask them to go through a ritual. Obviously, something about rituals really pushes their buttons. And sometimes you find the other side of the coin -- people who are obsessively attached to forms and rituals, to the detriment of other parts of practice.
It could be argued, I think, that both extremes are ways to avoid being fully intimate. "In intimate practice, you find a balance that is neither submissive to nor defiant of the tradition," Tenshin Roshi says.
Getting back to the Three Pure Precepts and "doing no evil" -- evil is something we create when our thoughts, words or actions are conditioned by the Three Root Poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance. Forms and ceremonies are a means to loosen the grip of the poisons, so there is a connection.