Brahma Net Sutra

梵 網 経 (Bommo-kyo - Fan-wang-ching)

The Blue Lotus Assembly observes an interpretation of the Bon-mo Kyo precepts of a Mahayana "universalist" order, as established by Tendai founder Saicho Dengyo Daishi, so there are no vows of celibacy or poverty or home-leaving as for those taking ordination in a traditional ochre-robed "individualist" order.

Well-known as the "Bodhisattva Precepts Sutra", the Brahma Net Sutra is regarded as fundamental among scriptures elucidating Mahayana bodhisattva precepts. Translated into Chinese in the early fifth century by Kumarajiva, the Brahma Net Sutra consists of two volumes. Volume 1 expounds forty stages of bodhisattva practice that are classified into four groups: (1) ten initial stages, (2) ten steps in the nourishment of perfection, (3) ten diamond steps of firmness, and (4) ten stages of development. Volume 2 sets forth the ten major precepts and the forty-eight minor precepts of the Mahayana order.

This sutra was highly valued in China and Japan because it describes the precepts for Mahayana bodhisattvas, and many commentaries were written on it. In Japan, Saicho - later known as Dengyo Dai-shi - (767-822), the founder of the Japanese Tendai school, used this sutra to replace the Hinayana precepts observed by the six schools of Nara. Saicho used the Mahayana precepts at ordination, and interpreted them based on the Lotus Sutra, known in the Tendai doctrine as the teaching for perfect and immediate enlightenment, or perfect teaching. He thus laid the foundation for the establishment of an ordination platform for administering the precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment.

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