Buddhism had its roots in the achievement of life transformation by Sakyamuni under the Bodhi tree through self-enlightenment and convincing insight. The Tripitaka and 12 divisions of the Buddhist canon represent a collection of the methods towards life transformation as taught for the final time by the Honored Sakyamuni after he achieved Buddhahood. The Bodhisattva Fasting Sutra this paper examines is one of these canons. It is a peculiar sutra mainly focusing on the regular and intensive fasting and practice by bodhisattvas. It was translated in early 4th Century by the Buddhist Nie Daozhen. But it does not have the format of a Buddhist sutra, and is unique that the ten precepts and contents of the ten objects of mindfulness are different from other scriptures. Though there have been a couple of articles examining the aspects of "fasting" and "life transformation", there is not yet any research literature targeting this sutra. This paper is a worthy effort trying to bridge the gap in the academic study. This paper is a qualitative research of searching scriptures. It compares the Bodhisattva Fasting Sutra with the three related sutras, the Fasting Sutra told by the Buddha, Yu Po Yi Duo Ser Jiao Jin and the Eight Precepts of Fasting Sutra told by the Buddha, so as to clarify the evolution and development of fasting in the sutra. The fasting contents of the Bodhisattva Fasting Sutra are to be targeted also from a philosophical viewpoint to identify and analyze the education of life transformation therein. The paper comprises five parts. Part 1 is the introduction. Part 2 tries to resolve issues relating to apocrypha: to ascertain the sutra's authenticity by examining the translator's life and the sutra's title and catalogues. Part 3 examines the historical background of the Bodhisattva Fasting Sutra: comparing the four sutras to find out the basis and development of the ten prohibitions in the sutra, and to further reflect on the education of life transformation. Part 4 focuses on the fasting contents and its life transformation: to trace the life-transformation's educational meaning of ten precepts and ten mindfulness, also to compare five mindfulness and six mindfulness of the early Buddhism, as well as to understand the time significance of the fasting day to life-transformation. The final part is a conclusion of all the 4 parts.
