thumb|An ordination ceremony at [[Wat Yannawa in Bangkok. The Vinaya codes regulate the various official acts of the Buddhist monastic community (sangha-kamma), including the ordination of new monks.]]

The Vinaya (Pali and Sanskrit: विनय) refers to numerous monastic rules and ethical precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of Buddhist Sanghas (community of like-minded sramanas). These sets of ethical rules and guidelines developed over time during the Buddha's life. More broadly, the term also refers to the tradition of Buddhist ethical conduct. The term "Vinaya" also refers to a genre of Buddhist texts which contain these precepts and rules and discuss their application, along with various stories of how the rules arose and how they are to be applied. Various lists and sets of Vinaya precepts were codified and compiled after the Buddha's death in different Vinaya texts.

As one of the main components of the canonical Buddhist canons (Tripiṭakas), alongside the Sūtra and Abhidharma (Pāli: Abhidhamma), the Vinaya Piṭakas contains detailed prescriptions governing the behavior, conduct, and communal procedures of monks (bhikṣu) and nuns (bhikṣuṇī). These include rules of individual discipline (prātimokṣa), protocols for communal harmony, and guidelines for handling transgressions.

The word Vinaya is derived from a Sanskrit verb that can mean to lead, take away, train, tame, or guide, or alternately to educate or teach. Thus, Vinaya also denotes the living tradition of ethical training and cultivation which encompasses inner moral discipline, and the communal process of ethical deliberation and confession within the sangha. In this sense, vinaya is not only legalistic but also pedagogical and soteriological, oriented toward the purification of ethical conduct (śīla) as a foundation for meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (prajñā).

Over time, Buddhist Vinaya lineages split into various traditions, mirroring the development of the various Indian Buddhist schools. Three Vinaya traditions remain in use by modern ordained sanghas: the Theravada (Sri Lanka & Southeast Asia), Mulasarvastivada (Tibetan Buddhism and the Himalayan region) and Dharmaguptaka (East Asian Buddhism). In addition to these three Vinaya traditions, five other Vinaya schools of Indian Buddhism are preserved in Asian canonical manuscripts, including those of the Kāśyapīya, the Mahāsāṃghika, the Mahīśāsaka, the Sammatīya, and the Sarvāstivāda.

Origins

According to an origin story prefaced to the Suttavibhaṅga, a Theravadin commentary on the Vinaya Piṭaka, in the early years of the Buddha's teaching, the sangha (community) lived together in harmony with no vinaya; there was no need, because all of the Buddha's early disciples were highly realized if not fully enlightened. After thirteen years

According to tradition, the complete Vinaya Piṭaka was recited by Upāli at the First Buddhist council shortly after the parinirvana (the Buddha's death). All known Vinaya texts employ the same system of organizing rules and share the same sections, leading scholars to infer that the Vinaya's fundamental organization predates the separation of the various schools. by , when the first monks were ordained there, and was translated into Chinese by the 8th century. Earlier Sanskrit manuscripts date to the 5th to 7th centuries.

Overview

The core of the Vinaya is a set of rules known as the Pāṭimokkha in Pāli and the Prātimokṣa in Sanskrit. This is the shortest portion of every Vinaya, and universally regarded as the earliest.

Parallel and independent Prātimokṣa rules and Vibhangas exist in each tradition for bhikkhus and bhikkhunis.

  • Bhikṣuvibhaṅga
  • Bhikṣunīvibhaṅga
  • Skandhaka

Traditions

Theravada

Buddhism in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand largely followed the Theravadin Vinaya, which has 227 rules for bhikkhus and 311 for bhikkhunis.

However, since the nun's lineage died out in all areas of the Theravada school, traditionally women's roles as renunciates were limited to taking eight or ten Precepts. Such women appear as maechis in Thai Buddhism, dasasīlamātās in Sri Lanka, thilashin in Myanmar and sīladharās at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England.

More recently, Theravadin women have been undergoing upasampadā again, although this is a highly charged topic within Theravadin communities.

East Asian Buddhism

Buddhists in China, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (四分律), which has 250 rules for the bhikkhus and 348 rules for the bhikkhunis. Some schools in Japan technically follow this, but many monks there are married, which can be considered a violation of the rules. Other Japanese monks follow the Bodhisattva Precepts only, which was excerpted from the Mahāyāna version of Brahmajālasutra (梵網經). And the Bodhisattva Precepts contains two parts of precepts: for lay and clergy. According to Chinese Buddhist tradition, one who wants to observe the Bodhisattva Precepts for clergy, must observe the Ten Precepts and High Ordination [Bhikkhu or Bhikkhunī Precepts] first.

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhists in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Ladakh and other Himalayan regions follow the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, which has 253 rules for the bhiksus (monks) and 364 rules for bhiksunis (nuns). In addition to these pratimokṣa precepts, there are many supplementary ones.

The Tibetan Buddhist tradition of fully ordained bhikṣuṇī nuns officially recommenced in Bhutan on 23 June 2022, when 144 women were ordained. According to Nyingma school and Kagyu school scholars, the full ordination lineage of bhikkhuni for nuns within the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya was transmitted in Tibet by Shantarakshita, but did not survive the later persecution of Tibetan Buddhists undertaken by Udum Tsenpo. Afterwards, Tibetan nuns were getsunma (Tib. novice) nuns (Skt. śramaṇerīs) only, after taking the lay vows of eight or ten Precepts, see ordination of women in Buddhism.

Vinaya school

thumb|[[Daoxuan (7th century), the founder of the Chinese Nanshan lineage of the Chinese Vinaya school]]

The Vinaya School (C. Lü zong; J. Risshū; K. Yul chong 律宗) was a significant current in the early transmission and institutionalization of Buddhism in East Asia. Centered on the study and practice of the monastic disciplinary codes (Sanskrit: vinaya; Chinese: 戒律 jielü), this tradition emphasized the rigorous observance of precepts as the foundational path to liberation. It became one of the thirteen major schools (shisanzong 十三宗) in China, recognized for its distinct doctrinal and institutional focus on monastic discipline.

Among the several Vinaya texts transmitted to China, the Four-Part Vinaya (Sifen lü 四分律) of the Dharmaguptaka school gained predominant authority. Translated into Chinese in 405 CE by the Kashmīri monk Buddhayaśas, this text outlined a disciplinary code of 250 rules for monks and 348 for nuns. The Four-Part Vinaya formed the textual basis for later doctrinal exegesis and monastic regulation across East Asia. The most influential lineage of this tradition in China came to be known as the Southern Mountain School (Nanshan lü zong 南山律宗), named after the Zhongnanshan (South Mountain) region where its founder, the eminent Vinaya master Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667), resided. His authoritative commentary on the Four-Part Vinaya, the Sifen lü shanfan buque xingshi chao (compiled in 626), became the central text of the school and provided detailed guidance on monastic procedures and ritual regulations. This exegesis established the Nanshan School as the dominant tradition of Vinaya interpretation in China.

Louis de La Vallée-Poussin wrote that the Mahāyāna relies on traditional full ordination of monastics, and in doing so is "perfectly orthodox" according to the monastic vows and rules of the early Buddhist traditions:

See also

  • First Buddhist Council
  • Second Buddhist Council
  • Schools of Buddhism

References

Bibliography

  • Horner, I.B. (1970). The book of discipline Vol. I (Suttavibhaṅga), London Luzac, reprint.
  • Horner, I.B. (1957). The book of discipline Vol. II (Suttavibhaṅga), London Luzac.
  • Horner, I.B. (1957). The book of discipline Vol. III (Suttavibhaṅga), London Luzac.
  • Horner, I.B. (1962). The book of discipline Vol. IV (Mahāvagga), London Luzac. 1. publ., reprint, Oxford: Pali Text Society 1993.
  • Horner, I.B. (1963). The book of discipline Vol. V (Cullavagga), London Luzac.
  • Horner, I.B. (1966). The book of discipline Vol. VI (Parivāra), London Luzac.
  • Ichimura, Shōhei (2006). "The Baizhang Zen monastic regulations", Berkeley, Calif: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, .
  • Jayawickrama, N.A., trans. (1962). Inception of discipline and the Vinaya-Nidana, Sacred books of the Buddhists Vol. XXI, London Luzac. (Buddhagosas Samantapasadika, the Vinaya commentary)
  • Pruden, Leo M. (1995). "The essentials of the Vinaya tradition", by Gyōnen, Berkeley, Calif: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, .
  • Rhys Davids, T. W.; Oldenberg, Hermann, trans. (1881–85). Vinaya Texts, Sacred Books of the East, volumes XIII, XVII & XX, Clarendon/Oxford. Reprint: Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (Dover, New York) Vol. XIII, Mahavagga I–IV, Vol. XVII, Mahavagga V–X, Kullavagga I–III, Vol. XX, Kullavagga IV–XII

General

  • Sects & Sectarianism – The origins of Buddhist Schools
  • The Essence of the Vinaya Ocean by Tsongkhapa (1357–1419)

Theravada Vinaya Pitaka

  • Translations and context on Theravada Vinaya (Vinaya section on www.accesstoinsight.org)
  • The book of discipline Vol. I–VI, translated by I.B. Horner
  • Translation by Isaline Blew Horner (Scanned Text)
  • Pali Canon online: Vinaya Pitaka in English
  • Davids, T. W. Rhys, Oldenberg, Hermann (joint tr): Vinaya texts, Oxford, The Clarendon press 1881. Vol.1 Vol.2 Vol.3 Internet Archive (Scanned Text)
  • Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg (HTML format)