Early versions of the bodhisattva precepts were based on the ten virtuous actions, a list of ten practices conducive to wholesome behavior which first appeared in Hinayāna literature. Early Mahāyāna practitioners then interpreted the ten virtuous acts as precepts or injunctions, and thus produced one of the earliest sets of bodhisattva precepts. The ten virtuous precepts are:

1. 1. abstention from taking life
   2. abstention from taking what is not given
   3. abstention from wrong conduct as regards sensuous pleasures
   4. abstention from lying speech
   5. abstention from malicious speech
   6. abstention from harsh speech
   7. abstention from indistinct prattling
   8. abstention from covetousness
   9. abstention from ill will
   10. abstention from wrong views

This list of restrictions included many elements that were also found in the Fan wang precepts, the set of fifty-eight precepts that Saichō proposed to follow. Although the Fan wang precepts were compiled much later than the ten virtuous precepts, the two sets shared certain characteristics. Both sets were primarily concerned with moral issues. Little attention was paid to issues of dress, decorum and manners, subjects which had been treated at great length in the Hinayāna precepts. Although subjects such as appropriate clothing for monks were discussed in the Fan wang Ching, the work was more concerned with moral issues such as lying. In fact, Saichō had to point out to the monastic leaders of Nara that the Fan wang precepts would require Tendai monks to shave their heads and wear robes.