Brahmā Net Sutra ［梵網経］ (Chin Fan-wang-ching;  Bommō-kyō): Also known as the Bodhisattva Precepts Sutra. A sutra regarded as fundamental among scriptures elucidating Mahayana bodhisattva precepts. Translated into Chinese in the early fifth century by Kumārajīva, the Brahmā Net Sutra consists of two volumes. The first volume 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. The second volume sets forth the ten major precepts and the forty-eight minor precepts. 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, Dengyo (767–822), the founder of the Japanese Tendai school, used this sutra to replace the Hinayana precepts observed by the six schools of Nara with Mahayana precepts at ordination.