The Bodhisattva Precepts ' onMouseout='HidePop("11753")' href="/topics/Japanese_language">Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

: bosatsukai) are a set of moral codes used in Mahayana

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

 Buddhism to advance a practitioner along the path to becoming a Bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

. Traditionally, monastics observed the basic moral code in Buddhism, the Pratimoksha

Pratimoksha

The Pratimoksha is a Buddhist moral discipline. A loose translation of the term is "personal liberation", and thus the discipline is concerned with the Buddhist's quest for personal liberation, and originated with the Pratimoksha Vows given by the Buddha to his followers. "Prati" means 'towards' or...

, but in the Mahayana tradition, monks would additionally observe the Bodhisattva Precepts on top of the existing code.

Origin

The Precepts are derived from Mahayana version of the Brahma Net Sutra

Brahmajala Sutra (Mahayana)

The Brahmajala Sutra , also called the Brahma's Net Sutra is a text of the Mahayana Buddhist canon. It is not related to the Brahmajala Sutta of the Theravada Buddhist Pali Canon...

, which lists out 10 Major Precepts and 48 Minor Precepts a monk is expected to follow. Typically, in many traditions, only the 10 Major Precepts are considered the Bodhisattva Precepts.

Chinese Chan

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 Buddhist monk, Yin Shun

Yin Shun

Yin Shun was a well-known Buddhist monk and scholar in the tradition of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, particularly the Three Treatise school. Yin Shun's research helped bring forth the ideal of Humanistic Buddhism, a leading mainstream Buddhist philosophy studied and upheld by many practitioners...

 wrote of the Bodhisattva Precepts:
In Japanese Buddhism, with the rise of Saicho

Saicho

was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school in Japan, based around the Chinese Tiantai tradition he was exposed to during his trip to China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have...

 and the Tendai

Tendai

is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...

 sect, the original Vinaya

Vinaya

The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

 lineage was bypassed, and a new monastic community was set up using the Bodhisattva Precepts exclusively. All Vinaya ordinations at the time were given at Todaiji temple in Nara

Nara, Nara

is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...

 Japan, and Saicho had wanted to both undermine the power of the Nara Buddhist community, and establish a "purely Mahayana lineage", and made a request to the Emperor to Later Buddhist sects, which was granted shortly after his death.

Later Buddhist sects in Japan, including Soto Zen and Jodo Shu

Jodo Shu

, also known as Jōdo Buddhism, is a branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Japanese ex-Tendai monk Hōnen. It was established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jōdo Shinshū....

, adopted a similar approach to their monastic communities, and exclusive use of the Bodhisattva Precepts. By this time in Japan, the Vinaya

Vinaya

The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

 lineage had all but died out anyways.

The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts in Soto Zen

In Soto Zen, the founder Dogen

Dogen

Dōgen Zenji was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher born in Kyōto, and the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan after travelling to China and training under the Chinese Caodong lineage there...

 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

John Daido Loori

John Daido Loori was a Zen Buddhist rōshi who served as the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and was the founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order and CEO of Dharma Communications. Daido Loori received shiho from Taizan Maezumi in 1986 and also received a dendokyoshi certificate formally from the...

, Roshi

Roshi

is a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means "old teacher" or "elder master" and sometimes denotes a person who gives spiritual guidance to a Zen sangha or congregation...

 at the Zen Mountain Monastery

Zen Mountain Monastery

Zen Mountain Monastery is a Zen Buddhist monastery and training center on a forested property in the Catskill Mountains in Mount Tremper, New York. It was founded in 1980 by John Daido Loori, originally as the Zen Arts Center. It combines the Rinzai and Sōtō Zen traditions, in both of which Loori...

:

The Three Treasures

• Taking refuge in the Buddha
• Taking refuge in the Dharma
• Taking refuge in the Sangha

The Three Treasures are universally known in Buddhism as the Three Refuges or Three Jewels

Three Jewels

The Three Jewels, also called the Three Treasures, the Siemese Triples, Three Refuges, or the Triple Gem , are the three things that Buddhists take refuge in, and look toward for guidance, in the process known as taking refuge.The Three Jewels are:* BuddhaTaking refuge in the Three Jewels is...

.

The Three Pure Precepts

• Do not create Evil
• Practice Good
• Actualize Good For Others

These are also known as the Three Root Precepts, and are mentioned in the Brahma Net Sutra

Brahmajala Sutra (Mahayana)

The Brahmajala Sutra , also called the Brahma's Net Sutra is a text of the Mahayana Buddhist canon. It is not related to the Brahmajala Sutta of the Theravada Buddhist Pali Canon...

as well.

The Ten Grave Precepts

• Affirm life – Do not kill
• Be giving – Do not steal
• Honor the body – Do not misuse sexuality
• Manifest truth – Do not lie
• Proceed clearly – Do not cloud the mind
• See the perfection – Do not speak of others errors and faults
• Realize self and other as one – Do not elevate the self and blame others
• Give generously – Do not be withholding
• Actualize harmony – Do not be angry
• Experience the intimacy of things – Do not defile the Three Treasures