Vinaya

The Vinaya has long mystified me. There is no best selling book or translation laying around so much. But with Buddhism being about what you do, not so much what theories you subscribe to, what you do is really important.

Now I have the 10 precepts to guide me with their principles. And I can confess to myself or another at the new moon and full moon. I wonder if there's some ground between the two.

I can find the list of 227 rules for men and the extra ones for women. There is a sort of complicated set of stuff where you might be thrown out of the sangha. This is called the Patimokkha.

I guess you have a dig a little bit more for them. They're not as sexy as the other stuff. But I was thinking that Dogen updated the rules of conduct for Japanese monks, and in a way, a lot of what we must do to adapt to American or western society is to update the rules.

I have been inspired by Thai monks who follow the Dhutanga rules. My hero Ajahn Mun was one of those who practiced them.

I found an inexpensive electronic version that I'm reading. It says this is the oldest of Buddhist literature. I guess they got the rules down first before they got to Anananda's suttas. One thing that interests me is the discussion to why things are made rules.

The Pāli Vinaya consists of:

Suttavibhaṅga: Pāṭimokkha and commentary
Mahāvibhaṅga: rules for monks
Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga: rules for nuns

Khandhaka: 22 chapters on various topics
Parivāra: analyses of rules from various points of view

The book above has the Pāṭimokkha and Mahāvibhaṅga I'll have to find the Khandhaka and Parivara somewhere else.

I think it's a mistake to avoid the vinaya. Even if just getting the name of a monk Upali. In a way ethical chopping up is like the Abhidharma, chopping chopping, but you can see the principles above.

So far the rules seem to be about basic harming others, sewing disharmony in the sangha and sort of planning to have sex, scheming towards sexual activity.