male and female lay Buddhist practitioners.
(Skt.): Litterally 'attendant'. Buddhist lay-person (taken REFUGE in the BUDDHA, DHARMA, SANGHA) and holder of the 5 LAY PRECEPTS. Upasaka is the male form, Upasika is the female form.
a disciple or chela, a devoted servant and follower of the Higher Laws of Life, or of a spiritual teacher
Followers of Buddhism that believed in Buddha's teachings, but did not follow the strict rule of the Sangha.
(Pali) A Buddhist lay disciple. Feminine form: Upasika.
(Skt.): Buddhist lay-person holding 8 PRECEPTS.
Lay disciple (male), who formally receives the five precepts or rules of conduct for the laity.
(Skt); dge bsnyen (Tib). One who has taken one or all of the Five Precepts for a period longer than 24 hours, up to the duration of this life.
UpÄsaka उपासक (masculine) or UpÄsikÄ à¤‰à¤ªà¤¾à¤¸à¤¿à¤•à¤¾ (feminine) (Chinese 優婆塞 yÅupósÄi) are from the Sanskrit and PÄli words for "attendant". This is the title of followers of Buddhism (Gautama Buddha) who are not monks, nuns or novices in a Buddhist order. The terms are usually translated as "lay follower" or "lay devotee".http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:3992.pali Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 150.