Yōupósè jièjīng 優婆塞戒經
The Upāsaka-Precept Sūtra by 曇無讖 (Dharmakṣema, 譯)
About the work
A seven-fascicle scripture on the bodhisattva-precepts as taken by lay-followers (upāsaka), translated by Dharmakṣema 曇無讖 (曇無讖) at Gūzāng 姑臧 of the Northern Liáng 北涼 in 426 CE.
Prefaces
Translator’s colophon: 北涼中天竺三藏曇無讖譯.
Abstract
The Yōupósè jièjīng is the foundational scripture for the bodhisattva-precepts conferred on lay-followers in East Asian Buddhism. Where the Fànwǎng jīng gives the bodhisattva-precepts as a universal Mahāyāna Vinaya for monastic and lay practitioners alike, the present text develops a specifically lay form of the bodhisattva-vow. The text presents the six重 (six heavy) and twenty-eight 輕 (light) precepts of the lay bodhisattva — a distinctive rule-set differing from the Fànwǎng schema. The text was extremely influential in shaping the lay-Buddhist ethical commitment in East Asia and was used as a parallel to the Fànwǎng jīng in lay-precept ordination ceremonies.
Translations and research
- Shih, Heng-ching. The Sutra on Upāsaka Precepts (BDK English Tripiṭaka). Berkeley: Numata Center, 1994. — Standard English translation.
- Funayama Tōru 船山徹. Bommōkyō. Kyoto, 1996.
- Demiéville, Paul. “Le bouddhisme chinois.” In Encyclopédie de la Pléiade I, Paris, 1970.