The Bodhisattva Precepts (Skt. bodhisattva-śīla,, ja|bosatsukai) are a set of ethical trainings (śīla) used in Mahāyāna Buddhism to advance a practitioner along the path to becoming a bodhisattva. Traditionally, monastics observed the basic moral code in Buddhism, the prātimokṣa (such as that of the Dharmaguptaka), but in the Mahāyāna tradition, monks may observe the Bodhisattva Precepts as well. The Bodhisattva Precepts are associated with the bodhisattva vow to save all beings and with bodhicitta.
East Asian Buddhism makes use of different sets of bodhisattva precepts found in various Mahayana sutras. Two of the most common sets of precepts are the Brahmajāla Sūtra precepts and the Upāsakāśīla sūtra precepts. In Chinese Buddhism, the Brahmajāla Sūtra bodhisattva precepts are mostly taken by monastics, while the Upāsakāśīla sūtra precepts are taken by laypersons.[1]
The Brahmajāla Sūtra, translated by Kumārajīva (c. 400 CE), has a list of ten major and forty-eight minor Bodhisattva vows.[2] The Bodhisattva Precepts may be often called the "Brahma Net Precepts", particularly in Buddhist scholarship, although other sets of bodhisattva precepts may be found in other texts as well. These precepts are often taken by monastics in East Asian Buddhism. It is particularly important in Japanese Buddhism, as many Japanese monastics do not follow the full Vinaya, but do follow a monastic code based on the bodhisattva precepts.
Typically, in East Asian Mahāyāna traditions, only the ten major precepts are considered the bodhisattva precepts. According to the sutra, the ten major bodhisattva precepts are in summary:[3]
Breaking any of these precepts is described as a major offense in the sutra. A fuller description is as follows:[3]
The Sutra of the Ethics of a Lay Follower (Upāsakāśīla sūtra, Chinese: Youposai wu jie weiyi jing 優婆塞五戒 威儀經, Taisho no. 1488) contains six major and twenty eight minor bodhisattva precepts specifically for Buddhist lay disciples (upāsakas). In Chinese Buddhism, this is often done in a ceremony at a Buddhist temple and sometimes a retreat lasting multiple days is required for orientation.
The six major lay bodhisattva precepts in this sutra are the five precepts plus an extra precept which focuses on not "speaking of the faults of bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, or upasikas."[4] Furthermore, the fifth precept (not taking any intoxicants like alcohol etc) has been modified to "not selling intoxicants". Minor precepts include things like making offerings to parents and teachers, looking after the sick, and greeting monastics and elder lay disciples.
In the Sōtō school of Zen, the founder Dōgen established a somewhat expanded version of the Bodhisattva Precepts for use by both priests and lay followers, based on both Brahma Net Sutra and other sources. Many various translations exist, the following is used by John Daido Loori, Roshi, founder of Zen Mountain Monastery:[5]
The Three Treasures
The Three Treasures are universally known in Buddhism as the Three Refuges or Three Jewels.
The Three Pure Precepts
These are also known as the Three Root Precepts, and are mentioned in the Brahmajāla Sūtra as well.
The Ten Grave Precepts
In Tibetan Buddhism there are two lineages of bodhisattva precepts, one from Asanga's tradition and another from Shantideva. Asanga (circa 300 CE) delineated 18 major vows and forty-six minor vows in the "Bodhisattvabhumi" section of the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra.[6] According to Alexander Berzin, the bodhisattva vows transmitted by the 10th-century Indian master Atisha "derives from the Sutra of Akashagarbha (Nam-mkha'i snying-po mdo, Skt. Akashagarbhasutra), as cited in Śikṣāsamuccaya (“Training Anthology”, Tib. bSlabs-btus), compiled in India by Śāntideva in the 8th century" including 18 primary and 48 secondary downfalls.[7]
These Bodhisattva vows are still used in all four major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The eighteen major vows (as actions to be abandoned) which are shared by both traditions are as follows:
According to Atiśa, the Prātimokṣa vows are the basis for the Bodhisattva vows. Without keeping one of the different sets of Prātimokṣa vows (in one of the existing Vinaya schools), there can be no Bodhisattva vow.[8]
The Chinese Chan monk, Yin Shun, wrote of the Bodhisattva Precepts, "To cultivate bodhi mind means to accept the bodhisattva precepts and practice the ten good deeds."[9]
In practice, the acceptance of and ordination of the Bodhisattva Precepts varies greatly depending on the school of Mahayana Buddhism. In East Asian Buddhism, a fully ordained monk or nun ordains under the traditional prātimokṣa precepts first according to the vinaya of the Dharmaguptaka. In the Chinese tradition, this is called the Four Part Vinaya . Then as a supplement, the same disciple would undertake the Bodhisattva Precepts as well.
Monks and nuns are not considered "ordained" by the Bodhisattva Precepts, but rather by the "Four Part Vinaya", while the Bodhisattva Precepts served to strengthen the Mahayana ideals.[10] Similarly, the Bodhisattva Precepts are given to lay disciples to strengthen their devotion to Buddhism as well. Such disciples often take the basic Five Precepts and then the Bodhisattva precepts as a supplement.
In Buddhism in Japan, the "Four-Part Vinaya" was deemphasized with the rise of Saichō and the Tendai sect and a new monastic community was set up exclusively using the Brahmajala Sutras Bodhisattva Precepts. All Vinaya ordinations at the time were given at Tōdai-ji in Nara and Saichō had wanted to both undermine the power of the Nara Buddhist community and to establish a "purely Mahayana lineage",[11] and made a request to the Emperor to Later Buddhist sects, which was granted 7 days after his death in 822.
Later Buddhist sects in Japan, including the Sōtō school of Zen, Jōdo-shū and Shingon Buddhism, adopted a similar approach to their monastic communities and exclusive use of the Bodhisattva Precepts. By this time in Japan, the Vinaya lineage had all but died out and Japan's remote location made it difficult to reestablish though limited efforts by Jōkei and the Shingon Risshu revived it for a time. This was further enforced during the Meiji period, when the of 1872 decriminalized clerical marriage and meat-eating.[12] [13]