Vinaya Topics

• richard gombrich
• theravada buddhism
• teachings of the buddha
• chinese tradition
• monastics
• buddhadharma
• china japan
• japan korea
• cbeta
• benares
• minor differences
• t24
• means to an end
• buddhists
• springboard
• social history
• dharma
• buddha
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Vinaya, Vinaya

The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline. Another term for Buddhism is dharmavinaya.

The Vinayas are the same in substance and have only minor differences. Buddhists in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand follow the Theravadin Vinaya, which has 227 rules http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/vin/sv/bhikkhu-pati.html for the bhikkhus (male monastics) and 311 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/vin/sv/bhikkhuni-pati.html for the bhikkhunis (female monastics, though the female order died out centuries ago and recent attempts to restore it from the Chinese tradition are controversial). Buddhists in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (), http://www.cbeta.org/result/T22/T22n1428.htm http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T24/1460_001.htm which has 250 rules http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T22/1429_001.htm for the bhikkhus and 348 rules http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T22/1427_001.htm for the bhikkhunis.

On the other hand, the rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying life, and provide a perfect springboard for the higher attainments. Monastics are instructed by the Buddha to live as "islands unto themselves". In this sense, living life as the vinaya prescribes it is, as one scholar puts it: "more than merely a means to an end: it is very nearly the end in itself." Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo.

By the time of the Buddha's death there would have been a body of rules which bhikkhus were expected to follow. In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta the Buddha, as part of his last teaching, tells the bhikkhus that they can abandon some minor rules, but that they should stick to the major ones, but there appears to have been some confusion over which was which. It was therefore decided that they would keep all of the rules. Immediately after the Buddha's death there was a council at which all of the teachings were recited, collected and sorted. Legend has it that the huge volume of teachings was recited from memory, with Ananda reciting the dhamma and Upali reciting the Vinaya.

Source: Wikipedia > Vinaya