Vinayapitaka

The Vinayapitaka , also Vinaya Pitaka , ( Pali and Sanskrit , literally basket of discipline ) is a collection of Buddhist religious rules . It forms the first section ("basket of the rules of the order") of the Pali canon (Pitaka, "three basket"). It is the basis for Buddhist monasticism . It contains rules for the daily routine of the monks ( bhikkhu ) and nuns ( bhikkhuni ), as well as rules for manners that should ensure a harmonious coexistence both in the monastery itself and between the monastery and lay community .

Indian tradition

There are different traditions of Vinaya, one in the Pali and six in the Sanskrit language.

The basket of rules of the order is divided into five "books":

I. Suttavibhanga , the actual monastic set of rules. This contains the background that led to the emergence of the 227 Buddhist monastic and 311 nuns' rules. They regulate all areas of the life of the ordained. The Patimokkha is an extract, a kind of “confession form” from the two respective Vibhangas and yet it is not an official component of the Vinaya Pitaka. The order of the books generally accepted today does not distinguish between bhikkhu and bhikkhuni vibhanga (monk or nun regulations), but in the bhikkhu vibhanga according to the Nissaggiya-Pacittiya regulations, i.e. H. Book I = Parajika (“Exclusion Offense”), Book II = Pacittiya (“Atonement”), Book III = Mahavagga (“The Big Group”), Book IV = Cullavagga (“The Small Group”) and Book V = Parivara (literally "Accompaniment", "entourage"). The only complete German translation so far, however, follows the logical order, puts Mahavagga, then Cullavagga at the beginning, separates Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni vibhanga and then adds Parivara.
II. Khandakas or "groups". Here the historian will find most of the information about the origins of the monk and nun orders and the social conditions at that time. The groups are in turn divided into:
- Mahavagga , the "Great Group", which is divided into 10 sections, starting with a report from the so-called "Enlightenment" to the Buddha, the first followers, the establishment of the monastic order, to the enactment of most of the regulations.
- Cullavagga , the "small (re) group", is divided into 12 sections, of which only the first ten are to be regarded as "original texts". The first four sections contain categories of offenses, Section V deals more with organizational and everyday matters, Section VI deals with questions about accommodation, Section VII describes the first division of the Order, Section VIII names the duties of the ordained, Section IX deals with a specialty The recitation of the Patimokkha is dealt with, and Section 10 contains the foundation of the order of nuns. Sections 11 and 12 describe the first two councils, whereby here only the first council is to be regarded as such, since only on this the entire canon compiled up to then was recited.
III. Parivara , "The Framework " is a kind of summary that is of much more recent origin. It contains four sections in which terms from the set of rules are listed according to various schemes similar to the Abhidhamma, some of which are set in (eight-syllable) verses. Section I deals with the rules of the monks and Section II those of the nuns. Section III deals with the background to offenses and in Section IV you will find repetitions of various arrangements and ways of counting offenses and their causes.

Only the version of the Pali canon is complete , but there is a rich commentary on the versions translated into Chinese. All five Vinaya books have now been fully translated into German by Santuttho Bhikkhu: Vinaya - Complete Edition in six volumes, self-published in 2017, ISBN 978-3-00-056266-2 ). A translation of the Patimokkha into German was made by Nyanadassana Thera in Sri Lanka and was published in 2008 by the Beyerlein / Steinschulte publishing house in collaboration with the Dhamma-Dana project of the Buddhist Society in Munich. In Volume VI of the Vinaya Complete Edition, both Patimokkha, i.e. H. that of the monks and that of the nuns contained in full translation.

Theravada

Buddhist ordinates of the Theravada tradition, i.e. in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, have a set of rules with 227 regulations for monks and 311 for nuns (see above).

Sino-Japanese tradition

The actual monastic set of rules ( Patimokkha ) deviates only slightly from the Indian tradition. There are 250 rules for monks and 348 for nuns.

The first section pārājika ( Chinese 波羅夷 ) contains the violations that lead to exclusion from the monastic community. In the Mahāyāna there are ten.

Prāyaścitta (墮) are the 90 offenses that require repentance. In the chapter pratideśanīya ( Chinese 波羅提舍尼 , also 波羅提提舍尼) the corresponding confessional regulations are summarized.

Saptaādhikaraṇa-śamatha (七滅諍法) are the names of the seven precepts that regulate disagreements among monks.

Only the version of the Pali canon is complete, but there is a rich commentary on the versions translated into Chinese.

Chinese translations

From the year 404 by Puṇyatara (弗若多羅; jp .: Futsu'nyantara); Monk from Kubha ( Chinese 罽賓國 ; Kabul ), together with Kumārajīva . Known as the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya (十誦律; jp .: Jūju Ritsu), the version of the (Hinayana) Saravāstivāda school [T. XXIII, S 1-449].

416-418: through Buddhabhadra (佛陀跋陀羅; 359-429; jp .: Butsudabatsudara) with Fa-Hsiën (jp .: Hokken), who set out for India in 399 to bring the original Vinaya to China. Known as the Mahāsānghika Vinaya (摩訶僧衹律; Makasōgi Ritsu) in 40 fascicles.

Through Buddhajīva (佛陀什; 覺壽; † approx. 423; jp .: Butsudajū) created the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (五分律; jp .: Gobun Ritsu, in 30 fascicles).

The Sarvāstivōdavinaya-saṇgrāha, written by Jinamitra’s of Nalanda around 630 , translated around 700.

In Japan a separate Vinaya school, the Risshū, was formed .

The Taishō canon, the references of which are given above, contains i.a. a. nor Vinaya-kyō [T. XXIV, 893] and Ris-shu-kō-yo [T. No. 2348]. ( Taishō = T. denotes the Sino-Japanese canon catalog of the same name , NJ the older directory of Nanjio.)

Tibeto-Mongolian tradition

This tradition follows the Mūlasarvāstivāda -Vinaya with 253 rules for monks and 364 for nuns.

literature

Chin-il Ch ° ong: The Upasaṃpadāvastu : Regulations for Buddhist monk ordination in the Vinaya of the Sarvāstivāda tradition. Sanskrit version and Chinese version. Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-26164-0

IB Horner: The book of discipline , Vol. I (Suttavibhaṅga). London Luzac 1970.

IB Horner: The book of discipline , Vol. II (Suttavibhaṅga). London Luzac 1957.

IB Horner: The book of discipline , Vol. III (Suttavibhaṅga). London Luzac 1957.

IB Horner: The book of discipline , Vol. IV (Mahāvagga). London Luzac 1962; reprint, Oxford: Pali Text Society 1993.

IB Horner: The book of discipline , Vol. V (Cullavagga). London Luzac 1963.

IB Horner: The book of discipline , Vol. VI (Parivāra). London Luzac 1966.

Ute Hüsken: The regulations for the Buddhist nunnery in the Vinaya-Pitaka of the Theravadin . Reiner, Berlin 1997, ISBN 978-3-496-02632-7 [Diss. Göttingen 1995]

Carola Rolloff: A brief Survey of the Vinaya: Its origin, transmission and arrangement from the Tibetan point of view with comparisons to the Theravada and Dharmagupta traditions . dharma edition in the Tibetan Center, 1992, ISBN 978-3-927862-15-9

K. Seidenstücker: Vinaya-Pitaka translated into selections Schloß-Verlag, Neubiberg (approx.) 1920

Santuttho Bhikkhu: Vinaya - Complete edition in six volumes. Self-published, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-00-056266-2 .

Santuttho (translator): Navakovada - Instructions for newly ordained bhikkhus and samaneras, Somdet Pramaha Vajiranyanavarorasa, Berlin 2015

Fritz Schäfer: The Buddha and his order. Verlag Beyerlein & Steinschulte, 2000, ISBN 3-931095-22-3 .

Bhikkhu Kevali: Vinaya - The unknown side of the teachings of the Buddha - Topics, structures and genesis of the rules of the order of Buddhist monks. dhamma-dana.de (PDF; 1.3 MB)

Bhikkhu Kevali: Violations in the Vinaya - summary table. (PDF; 112 kB)

Ñāņadassana Thera: Bhikkhu-Pātimokkha - The main law of the Buddhist monks Single publication : Verlag Beyerlein & Steinschulte and Dhamma-Dāna-Projekt, 2008

TW Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg (joint tr): Vinaya texts . The Clarendon press, Oxford 1881. Vol.1 (PDF; 18.2 MB) Vol.2 (PDF; 18.9 MB) Vol.3 (PDF; 19.8 MB) Internet Archive

Web links