Early Buddhism made use of basic moral codes called
Prātimokṣa. They included sets of precepts which were expected to be taken by laypersons, like the
five precepts, and longer sets of rules for monastics (the
Vinaya). With the emergence of Mahāyāna traditions, alternative moral codes were established, found in texts such as the
Bodhisattvabhūmi,
Candragomin's Bodhisattvasamvaraviṃśaka, and the
Brahmajāla Sūtra. It is also found in the
Commentary on the Ten Stages Sutra (Ch:
Shidi jinglun 十地經論), attributed to
Vasubandhu. • the Mahayana precepts found in the
Brahmajāla Sūtra and the
Sutra of the Diadem of the Primary Activities of the Bodhisattvas (
Pusa yingluo benye jing). This is a set of ten major and forty eight minor precepts mostly taken by monastics. • the
Upāsakāśīla sūtra precepts, commonly taken by laypersons.
Brahmajāla Sūtra precepts The
Brahmajāla Sūtra, translated by
Kumārajīva (c. 400 CE), has a list of ten major and forty-eight minor Bodhisattva precepts. 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. • Not to kill or encourage others to kill. • Not to steal or encourage others to steal. • Not to engage in licentious acts or encourage others to do so. A monk is expected to abstain from sexual conduct entirely. • Not to use false words and speech, or encourage others to do so. • Not to trade or sell alcoholic beverages or encourage others to do so. • Not to broadcast the misdeeds or faults of the Buddhist assembly, nor encourage others to do so. • Not to praise oneself and speak ill of others, or encourage others to do so. • Not to be stingy, or encourage others to do so. • Not to harbor anger or encourage others to be angry. • Not to speak ill of the Buddha, the Dharma or the Sangha (the
Triple Jewel) or encourage others to do so. Breaking any of these precepts is described as a major offense in the sutra. A fuller description is as follows: These bodhisattva precepts are 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. Thus, Japanese schools like
Tendai and Zen follow these precepts and their main ethical code. In the
Sōtō school of
Zen, the founder
Dōgen also wrote on these precepts in his
Busso shōden bosatsukai kyōju kaimon. However, he taught and transmitted only the ten major precepts of the ''Brahmā's Net Sūtra'' and not the forty eight minor ones. He combined these ten with the three refuges and the three pure precepts into what is today called the sixteen precepts.
Upāsakāśīla sūtra precepts 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). Furthermore, the fifth precept (not taking any intoxicants like alcohol etc) has been modified to "not selling intoxicants". 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. Akashagarbhasutr
a), 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. 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: • Praising oneself or belittling others due to attachment to receiving material offerings, praise and respect. • Not giving material aid or (due to miserliness) not teaching the Dharma to those who are suffering and without a protector. • Not listening to others' apologies or striking others. • Abandoning the Mahayana by saying that Mahayana texts are not the words of Buddha or teaching what appears to be the Dharma but is not. • Taking things belonging to the
Buddha,
Dharma or
Sangha. • Abandoning the holy Dharma by saying that texts which teach the three vehicles are not the Buddha's word. • With anger depriving ordained ones of their robes, beating and imprisoning them or causing them to lose their ordination even if they have impure morality, for example, by saying that being ordained is useless. • Committing any of the five extremely negative actions: (1) killing one's mother, (2) killing one's father, (3) killing an
arhat, (4) intentionally drawing blood from a Buddha or (5) causing schism in the Sangha community by supporting and spreading sectarian views. • Holding distorted views (which are contrary to the teaching of Buddha, such as denying the existence of the Three Jewels or the law of cause and effect etc.) • Destroying towns, villages, cities or large areas by means such as fire, bombs, pollution or black magic. • Teaching emptiness to those whose minds are unprepared. • Causing those who have entered the Mahayana to turn away from working for the full enlightenment of Buddhahood and encouraging them to work merely for their own liberation from suffering. • Causing others to abandon their
Prātimokṣa vows. • Belittling the
Śrāvakayāna or
Pratyekabuddhayāna (by holding and causing others to hold the view that these vehicles do not abandon attachment and other delusions). • Falsely stating that oneself has realised profound
emptiness and that if others meditate as one has, they will realize emptiness and become as great and as highly realized as oneself. • Taking gifts from others who were encouraged to give you things originally intended as offerings to the Three Jewels. Not giving things to the Three Jewels that others have given you to give to them, or accepting property stolen from the Three Jewels. • Causing those engaged in calm-abiding meditation to give it up by giving their belongings to those who are merely reciting texts or making bad disciplinary rules which cause a spiritual community not to be harmonious. • Abandoning either of the two types of
bodhicitta (aspiring and engaging). 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. ==Traditional uses==