The main purpose of this thematic paper was to study analytically the moral observance development of the lay people in Theravāda Buddhism. This was a qualitative research to collect all data from Tipitaka, Buddhist books, academic paper, and related researches with the descriptive analysis.

            A result of this study was found that the moral observance of the lay people in Theravāda Buddhism meant to develop a body and speech was made by the lay people who believed in Buddhism by means of five precepts and eight precepts issued by the Buddha for the lay people. These five precepts and eight precepts were a base to develop a body and mind. They also could grow unlimitedly the development of mind with many advantages such as human property, heaven property, and enlightenment property.

            The moral observance development of the lay people in Theravāda Buddhism was found that there was the moral observance of the lay people such as Visākha, Anāthapindika, and the King Bimbisāra, strictly done from the Buddha’s age. At that time, there was the moral observance without any ceremony. People received morality one time and observed it throughout their lives because they stressed on practice but not ceremony. The moral observance made by the lay people in the present time stressed on the ceremony and many steps rather than the moral practice. The advantages of moral observance in the Buddha’s age or in the present were to achieve the enlightenment.

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