Introduction

  • Pāṭimokkha: 227 rules, 4 entails automatic expulsion (defeat)
  • They contain moral principles, sense restraint, situational protocols, etiquette
  • No physical punishment but procedures, forfeit, confession
  • The Buddha established the rules one at a time
  • Dhamma-Vinaya, Teaching and Discipline
  • Self-motivated: the Vinaya can't stop evil, it aims to guide virtue
  • Each rule includes its origin story, amendments and exceptions
  • 5 factors: object, effort, intention, perception, result
  • Blanket exemptions: insane, possessed by spirits, delirious with pain, the first offender
  • Common non-offenses: unknowingly, unthinkingly, unintentionally
  • 4 Great Standards to judge modern cases
  • Min. 4 bhikkhus for Sangha actions, decisons and Pāṭimokkha
  • Min. 5 bhikkhus for ordination and Kaṭhina
  • Ordination requires min. 5 bhikkhus
  • Disrobe at free will but follow the correct procedure
  • 'Kor wat' house-rules per monastery
  • International agreements (Mahathera Samakorn, ECM)

Purpose and functional operation of the Vinaya

The ten reasons for the establishing of the Pāṭimokkha, dasa atthavase:

  1. "For the well-being of the Sangha;
  2. for the ease of the Sangha;
  3. for the control of ill-controlled bhikkhus;
  4. for the ease of well-behaved bhikkhus;
  5. for the restraint of the āsavā in this present state;
  6. for protection against the āsavā in a future state;
  7. to give confidence to those of little faith;
  8. to increase the confidence of the faithful;
  9. to establish the True Dhamma;
  10. to support the Vinaya."

(Vin.III.20, Pr 1; AN 10.31)

Four things not to be done, akaraṇīya:

  1. sexual intercourse: as a man with his head cut off cannot live
  2. theft: as a withered leaf separated from its stalk cannot become green again
  3. depriving a human being of life: as a flat stone, broken in half, cannot be put together again
  4. claiming false attainments: as a palm tree, cut off at the crown, is incapable of further growth

(Vin.I.96-97)

A person committing parajika is said to be 'incurable', all other offenses are 'curable'. The person has asked to train, has not given it up, and still commits the extreme offenses against the training.

Introduction

Five years of nissaya (dependence on a teacher) after ordination is integral to the training.

In the monasteries of the Thai tradition, the upajjhāya should fill out and give a baisuddhi document to the bhikkhus he has ordained.

The Four Great Standards

Not already prohibited:
if it conforms with what is prohibited,
or it goes against what is allowable,
that is prohibited.

Not already prohibited:
if it conforms with what is allowable,
or it goes against what is prohibited,
that is allowable.

Not already allowed:
if it conforms with what is prohibited,
or it goes against what is allowable,
that is prohibited.

Not already allowed:
if it conforms with what is allowable,
or it goes against what is prohibited,
that is allowable.

(Mv.VI.40.1, DN 16, cattāro mahāpadese)

Useful quotes

"Now, Ananda, if it occurs to any of you -- 'The teaching has lost its authority; we are without a Teacher' -- do not view it in that way. Whatever Dhamma and Vinaya I have pointed out and formulated for you, that will be your Teacher when I am gone."

(DN 16)

"The non-doing of all evil, the performance of what is skillful, and the purification of one's mind: This is the Buddhas' message."

(Dhp 183)

"On one occasion the Blessed One was living in Vesali, in the Great Wood. Then a certain Vajjian bhikkhu went to him... and said: 'Venerable sir, this recitation of more than 150 training rules comes every fortnight. I cannot train in reference to them.'

'Bhikkhu, can you train in reference to the three trainings: the training in heightened virtue, the training in heightened mind, the training in heightened discernment?'

"'Yes, venerable sir, I can....'

'Then train in reference to those three trainings.... Your passion, aversion, and delusion -- when trained in heightened virtue, heightened mind, and heightened discernment will be abandoned. You -- with the abandoning of passion... aversion... delusion -- will not do anything unskilful or engage in any evil.'"

(AN 3.84)

"'Bhikkhus, this recitation of more than 150 training rules comes every fortnight, in reference to which sons of good families desiring the goal train themselves. There are these three trainings under which all that is gathered. Which three? The training in heightened virtue, the training in heightened mind, the training in heightened discernment...."

(AN 3.88)

"There are these two bright qualities that safeguard the world. Which two? Conscience & concern for the results of unskillful actions (hiri-ottappa)."

(Iti 2.15)

“What then is the reason why the spiritual life established by Buddha Kakusandha, Buddha Konāgamana, and Buddha Kassapa lasted long?”

"[...] they laid down training rules and recited a monastic code. [...] It’s just like flowers tied with a string to a wooden plank: they are not scattered about, whirled about, or destroyed by the wind. Why is that? Because they are held together by a string."

(PTS Vin. 3.1–3.40)

If there is some obstacle to [the practice of the training rules], due to time and place, the rules should be upheld indirectly and not given up entirely, for otherwise there will be no principles (for discipline). A community without principles for discipline cannot last long...

(Entrance to the Vinaya, Vol I., p.230)

"Āvuso, kiṃ paṭhamaṃ saṅgāyāma, dhammaṃ vā vinayaṃ vā"ti? Bhikkhū āhaṃsu -- "Bhante mahākassapa, vinayo nāma buddhasāsanassa āyu, vinaye ṭhite sāsanaṃ ṭhitaṃ hoti, tasmā paṭhamaṃ vinayaṃ saṅgāyāmā"ti.

Friends, what should we chant first, the Dhamma or Vinaya? The monks said: Ven. Mahākassapa, the Vinaya is truly the life of the Buddha's message, while the Vinaya remains the messages remains, therefore let's chant the Vinaya first.

(Vin-a 1, bāhiranidānakathā, paṭhamamahāsaṅgītikathā, para. 28, Discussion of the First Council)

Overview of the rules

  • 4 Pārājika: defeat
  • 13 Saṅghādisesa: involving community actions
  • 2 Aniyata: indefinite result
  • 30 Nissaggiya Pācittiya: entailing forfeiture
  • 92 Pācittiya: to be confessed
  • 4 Pāṭidesaniya: to be acknowledged
  • 75 Sekhiya: etiquette to be trained in
  • 8 Adhikaraṇa-samatha: means of settling issues

Hierarchy of Views

Conflicting Dhamma and Vinaya commentaries and local practices can be sorted out by following the hierarchy of views.

  1. The word of the Buddha ('I heard this from the Blessed One')
  2. The views of the arahant disciples at the 1st and 2nd Council (the Sutta Vibhanga)
  3. Commentaries and Sub-commentaries
  4. Instructions of one's teacher and local training standards (kor-wat)
  5. One's personal opinions

One canonical example is when bhikkhus commend the standardized formulation of the suttas by the 1st Council, but say that they will nonetheless continue teaching it the way they heard it from the Blessed One.

Discussion: Where does the Four Great Standards and the decisions of the European Elders Council, or the Mahathera Samakorn in Thailand fit in?

Reference books

Vinaya Mukha, Somdet Phra Mahā Samaṇa Chao (1st Ed. in 1916)

A guide to the Vinaya written in Thai, first English edition published in 1969. It is still used as the official textbook on Vinaya for the examinations run by the Thai Council of Elders, and taken as authoritative through much of Thailand.

The Book of Discipline, I.B. Horner (1st Ed. in 1938)

  • Vol. 1-3: Suttavibhaṅga -- Pāṭimokkha rules and origin stories
  • Vol. 4: Mahāvagga -- rules of conduct and etiquette
  • Vol. 5: Cullavagga -- elaboration of etiquette and duties
  • Vol. 6: Parivāra -- summaries and analysis of rules

The Buddhist Monastic Code, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (1st Ed. in 1994)

The Concise Buddhist Monastic Code, Bhikkhu Anon (1st Ed. in 2015)