Upasaka-upasika

Upasaka (maskulin; Pali dan Sanskerta: upāsaka) dan upasika (feminin; Pali dan Sanskerta: upāsikā), juga disebut sebagai umat perumah tangga (Pali: gharāvāsa) atau umat awam, adalah sebutan untuk pengikut Buddhisme (atau, dalam sejarahnya, Buddha Gotama) yang bukan merupakan biksu, biksuni, samanera, atau samaneri di sebuah wihara; berlindung pada Triratna; dan bertekad untuk mengamalkan Pancasila.^[1] Dalam konteks pemaknaan modern, kedua kata ini memiliki konotasi seseorang yang bersungguh-sungguh, dan dapat diartikan sebagai "umat awam yang taat" atau "pengikut awam yang taat".^[2]

^ Nattier (2003), p. 25, notes: "...[T]he term upāsaka (fem. upāsikā) ... is now increasingly recognized to be not a generic term for supporters of the Buddhist community who happen not to be monks or nuns, but a very precise category designating those lay adherents who have taken on specific vows. ...[T]hese dedicated lay Buddhists did not constitute a free-standing community, but were rather adjunct members of particular monastic organizations."
^ Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 150, entry for "Upāsaka," available at [1]; and, Encyclopædia Britannica (2007), entry for "upasaka," available at http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9074383/upasaka. Also, see Nattier (2003), p. 25, quoted at length above, for recent scholarship on the Pali term's historical usage.

[1] Nattier (2003), p. 25, notes: "...[T]he term upāsaka (fem. upāsikā) ... is now increasingly recognized to be not a generic term for supporters of the Buddhist community who happen not to be monks or nuns, but a very precise category designating those lay adherents who have taken on specific vows. ...[T]hese dedicated lay Buddhists did not constitute a free-standing community, but were rather adjunct members of particular monastic organizations."

[2] Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 150, entry for "Upāsaka," available at [1]; and, Encyclopædia Britannica (2007), entry for "upasaka," available at http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9074383/upasaka. Also, see Nattier (2003), p. 25, quoted at length above, for recent scholarship on the Pali term's historical usage.

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