Eight precepts

The tradition of keeping the Eight Precepts on weekly observance days is still widely practiced in all Theravadin Buddhist countries and communities worldwide.

[9][10] In the context of uposatha practice, observing the eight precepts is described by the Buddha in the early texts as "cleansing of the sullied mind through expedient means" (Pali: upakkamena).

The Jain way is criticized as being more focused on outward appearance than substance, and the Buddhist practice is dubbed as genuine moral discipline.

[22][15] When laypeople stay in a Buddhist monastery[2] or go on a meditation retreat,[23] they also observe the eight precepts often; they are also upheld during yearly festivals such as Vesak.

[5] The eight precepts are also undertaken by people preparing for ordination as a monk, sometimes called anagarika in Pāli or pha khao in Thai.

[28] Furthermore, many nuns in Buddhist countries, such as the mae chi in Thailand or the dasa sil mata in Sri Lanka, observe the eight or ten precepts all the time as part of their way of life.

[32][20] Physician Ming-Jun Hung and his co-authors have analyzed early and medieval Chinese Buddhist Texts and argue that the main purposes of the half-day fast is to lessen desire, improve fitness and strength, and decrease sleepiness.

[37] According to ethicist Damien Keown, the eight precepts were derived from the regulations described in the Brahmajala Sutta, an Early Buddhist Text.

[38] Religion scholar J. H. Bateson and Pāli scholar Shundō Tachibana have argued that the eight precepts may be partly based on pre-Buddhist brahmanical practices (vrata) during the fast on the full and new moon,[8][39] but more recent scholarship has suggested that early Buddhist and Jain uposatha practices did not originate in Brahmanism.

Instead, Asian religion scholar Benjamin Schonthal and religion scholar Christian Haskett suggest that the Buddhist and Jain practice originate from a common, informal sāmaṇa culture, sāmaṇa (Pāli; Sanskrit: śrāmaṇa) referring to the non-Vedic religious movement current at the time of early Buddhism and Jainism.

Specifically, in the Pāli texts of monastic discipline, King Bimbisāra requests the Buddha to establish an uposatha practice, to keep up with competing sects.

[43] In 6th-century Korea, the eight precepts came to be associated with worship of Maitreya, due to the work of Hyeryang, a Korean monk that wrote a tract about these matters.

This was mostly because of the influence of Anagarika Dharmapāla (1864–1933), who observed the ten precepts (similar to the eight) continuously, maintaining a status between lay person and monk.

[47] In Sri Lanka, in the 2000s, the eight precepts were still observed with great strictness, as was noticed by Religion scholar Jonathan Walters in his field research.