Upāsaka (Sanskrit, Pali upāsaka, female upāsikā) is a Buddhist laity follower, who, as a trippin, takes refuge in the three triads, praising the five Śīlas.
According to early Buddhist teachings, the laity are still far from the ultimate goal of salvation because they are not prepared to give up their secular life with their pleasures. But, above all, they can accumulate religious merits (Sanskrit puṇya) by practicing the virtue of generosity (Sanskrit, Pali dāna), which enable them a favorable rebirth for the further progress on the way to Nirvāṇa.
In the Theravāda, the laity provide for the material well-being of the monks and nuns by providing food, clothes, processions and the like as gifts.
In the Mahāyāna the laity are of greater importance, since they are no longer denied the possibility of attaining salvation. In some Sūtras, the laity are equated with the monks, and in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa even a laity teaches all the great disciples of the Buddha. The ideal figure of Mahāyāna, the Bodhisattva, can also be a layman.
In the Vajrayana, a special development of the Mahayana, the lay practitioners (so-called yogis) are even more important. Many of the tantras of the Vajrayana were originally transmitted not by monks, but by lay practitioners. In the Vajrayana, the integration of the entire vitality into the Buddhist path depends, so ultimately it is not decisive whether one is a monk or a lay person. Edit source text Edit source text Single-level Edit source text
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