TheVinaya (Pali andSanskrit: विनय) refers to numerous monastic rules and ethical precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of BuddhistSanghas (community of like-mindedsramanas). These sets of ethical rules and guidelines developed over time during the Buddha's life. More broadly, the term also refers to the tradition ofBuddhist ethical conduct. The term "Vinaya" also refers to a genre ofBuddhist texts which contain theseprecepts 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.[1]
As one of the main components of the canonical Buddhist canons (Tripiṭakas), alongside the Sūtra andAbhidharma (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 wordVinaya is derived from a Sanskrit verb that can mean to lead, take away, train, tame, or guide, or alternately to educate or teach.[2] It is often translated as "discipline", with the termDhamma-Vinaya (doctrine and discipline) being used by the Buddha to refer to his complete teachings, suggesting its integral role in Buddhist practice.[3] 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 andsoteriological, 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 IndianBuddhist schools. Three Vinaya traditions remain in use by modern ordainedsanghas: theTheravada (Sri Lanka & Southeast Asia),Mulasarvastivada (Tibetan Buddhism and theHimalayan region) andDharmaguptaka (East Asian Buddhism). In addition to these three Vinaya traditions, five other Vinaya schools ofIndian Buddhism are preserved in Asian canonical manuscripts, including those of theKāśyapīya, theMahāsāṃghika, theMahīśāsaka, theSammatīya, and theSarvāstivāda.[1][4]
| Part ofa serieson |
| EarlyBuddhism |
|---|
 |
| Buddhism |
*This list is a simplification. It is likely that the development of Buddhist schools was not linear. |
According to an origin story prefaced to the Theravada BhikkhuSuttavibhanga, in the early years of the Buddha's teaching thesangha lived together in harmony with no vinaya, as there was no need, because all of theBuddha's earlydisciples were highly realized if not fully enlightened. After thirteen years[1] and as thesangha expanded, situations arose which theBuddha and the lay community felt were inappropriate formendicants.[5]
According to Buddhist tradition, the complete Vinaya Piṭaka was recited byUpāli at theFirst Council shortly afterthe Buddha's death. All of the known Vinaya texts use the same system of organizing rules and contain the same sections, leading scholars to believe that the fundamental organization of the Vinaya must date from before the separation of schools.[6][2]
While traditional accounts fix the origins of the Vinaya during the lifetime of the Buddha, all of the existing manuscript traditions are from significantly later- most around the 5th century CE.[2] While the early Buddhist community seems to have lived primarily as wandering monks who begged for alms, many Vinaya rules in every tradition assume settled monasticism to be the norm, along with regular collective meals organized by lay donors or funded by monastic wealth.[2] The earliest dates that can be established for most Vinaya texts is their translation into Chinese around the 5th century CE.[2] The earliest established dates of the Theravada Vinaya stem from the composition ofBuddhaghosa's commentaries in the 5th century, and became known to Western scholarship through 17th- and 18th-century manuscripts.[2] The Mulasarvastivada Vinaya was brought to Tibet byKhenpoShantarakshita[7] byc. 763, when the firstTibetan Buddhist monks were ordained, and was translated into Chinese by the 8th century. Earlier Sanskrit manuscripts exist from the 5th to the 7th century.[2] Scholarly consensus places the composition of theMūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya in the early centuries of the first millennium, though all the manuscripts and translations are relatively late.[8]
| Part ofa series on |
| Buddhism |
|---|
 |
The core of the Vinaya is a set of rules known asPatimokkha in Pāli andPrātimokṣa in Sanskrit.[2] This is the shortest portion of every Vinaya, and universally regarded as the earliest.[2] This collection of rules is recited by the gathered Sangha at the new and full moon.[2] Rules are listed in descending order, from the most serious (four rules that entail expulsion), followed by five further categories of more minor offenses.[2] Most traditions include an explicit listing of rules intended for recitation, calledPrātimokṣa-sutra, but in the Theravada tradition the Patimokkha rules occur in writing only alongside their exegesis and commentary, the Vibhanga described below. While the Prātimokṣa is preserved independent of the Vibhanga in many traditions, scholars generally do not believe that the rules it contains were observed and enforced without the context provided by an interpretive tradition, even in the early era- many of the exceptions and opinions of the Vibhanga seem to stem from older customs regarding what was and wasn't permissible for wandering ascetics in the Indian tradition.[2]
The second major component of the Vinaya is the Vibhanga orSuttavibhanga, which provides commentary on each of the rules listed in the Prātimokṣa.[2] This typically includes the origin of the rule in a specific incident or dispute, along with variations that indicate related situations covered by the rule, as well as exceptions that account for situations that are not to be regarded as violations of a more general rule.[2]
The third division of the Vinaya is known as the Vinayavastu, Skandhaka, or Khandhaka, meaning 'divisions' or 'chapters'. Each section of these texts deals with a specific aspect of monastic life, containing, for instance, procedures and regulations related to ordination, obtaining and storing medical supplies, and the procurement and distribution of robes.[2] The final segment of this division, the Ksudrakavastu ("Minor division") contains miscellanea that does not belong to other sections, and in some traditions is so large that it is treated as a separate work.[2] Strong agreement between multiple different recensions of the Skandhaka across different traditions and language with respect to the number of chapters (generally 20) and their topics and contents has led scholars to the conclusion that they must stem from a common origin.[9]
Parallel and independent Prātimokṣa rules and Vibhangas exist in each tradition forbhikkhus andbhikkhunis.[2] The majority of rules for monks and nuns are identical, but the bhikkhuni Prātimokṣa and Vibhanga includes additional rules that are specific to nuns, including the controversialEight Garudhammas whose authorship is not attributed to the Buddha.[10][11][12][2] In thePali tradition, a specific chapter of the Khandhaka deals with issues pertaining specifically to nuns, and the Mulasarvastivada tradition devotes most of one of the two volumes of its Ksudrakavastu to issues pertaining to nuns.[2]
Beyond this point, the distinct Vinaya traditions differ in their organization. The Pali Vinaya includes a text known as theParivāra that contains a question-and-answer format that recapitulates various rules in different groupings, as well as a variety of analyses. The Chinese texts include two sections not found in the Pali tradition, the Niddanas and Matrkas that have counterparts in the Tibetan tradition's Uttaragrantha.[2] Relatively little analysis of these texts have been conducted, but they seem to contain an independent reorganization of the Vinaya rules that may be an earlier strata of texts.[2]
The Theravada Vinaya is preserved in thePāli Canon in theVinaya Piṭaka. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is preserved in both theTibetan Buddhist canon in theKangyur, in a Chinese edition, and in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript. Some other complete vinaya texts are preserved in theChinese Buddhist canon (see:Taishō Tripiṭaka), and these include:
Six complete versions are extant. Fragments of the remaining versions survive in various languages. The first three listed below are still in use.
TheMūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya (Sanskrit;Tibetan:འདུལ་བ་,Wylie:‘Dul ba;Chinese:根本說一切有部律;pinyin:Gēnběnshuōyīqiēyǒubùlǜ;Wade–Giles:ken pen shuo i ch'ieh yu pu lü) (T. 1442), a translation from theMūlasarvāstivāda school, extant in both Chinese and Tibetan. This is the version used in theTibetan tradition. It comprises seven major works and may be divided into four traditional sections.
Three other Vinaya collections survive in Chinese translation.
TheTen Recitation Vinaya (Sanskrit:Daśa-bhāṇavāra-vinaya;Chinese:十誦律;pinyin:Shísònglǜ;Wade–Giles:Shisong lü) (T. 1435), a Chinese translation of theSarvāstivāda version
TheFive Part Vinaya (Sanskrit:Pañcavargika-vinaya;Chinese:五分律;pinyin:Wǔfēnlǜ;Wade–Giles:Wu-fen-lü) (T. 1421), a Chinese translation of theMahīśāsaka version
TheMahāsāṃghika-vinaya (Chinese:摩訶僧祇律;pinyin:Móhēsēngqílǜ;Wade–Giles:Mo-ho-seng-ch'i lü) (T. 1425), a Chinese translation ofMahāsāṃghika version. An English translation of the bhikṣunī discipline is also available.[13]
Buddhism inMyanmar,Cambodia,Laos,Sri Lanka, andThailand followed the Theravadin Vinaya, which has 227 rules[14] forbhikkhus and 311[15] forbhikkhunis. As the nun's lineage died out in all areas of the Theravada school, traditionally women's roles as renunciates were limited to takingeight or ten Precepts: seewomen in Buddhism. Such women appears asmaechi in Thai Buddhism,dasa sil mata in Sri Lanka,thilashin in Burma andsiladharas atAmaravati Buddhist Monastery in England. More recently, women have been undergoingupasampada as full ordination asbhikkhuni, although this is a highly charged topic within Theravadin communities: seeordination of women in Buddhism
Buddhists inChina,Korea,Taiwan andVietnam follow theDharmaguptaka Vinaya (四分律),[16][17] which has 250 rules[18] for the bhikkhus and 348 rules[19] for the bhikkhunis. Some schools inJapan technically follow this, but many monks there are married, which can be considered a violation of the rules. Other Japanese monks follow theBodhisattva Precepts only, which was excerpted from the Mahāyāna version of Brahmajālasutra (梵網經). And theBodhisattva Precepts contains two parts of precepts: for lay and clergy. According to Chinese Buddhist tradition, one who wants to observe theBodhisattva Precepts for clergy, must observe the Ten Precepts and High Ordination [Bhikkhu or Bhikkhunī Precepts] first.
Tibetan Buddhists inTibet,Bhutan,Mongolia,Nepal,Ladakh and otherHimalayan 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 ordainedbhikṣuṇī nuns officially recommenced inBhutan on 23 June 2022, when 144 women were ordained.[20] According toNyingma school andKagyu school scholars, the full ordination lineage of bhikkhuni for nuns within the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya was transmitted in Tibet by Shantarakshita,[21] but did not survive the later persecution of Tibetan Buddhists undertaken byUdum Tsenpo.[22] Afterwards, Tibetan nuns weregetsunma (Tib. novice) nuns (Skt. śramaṇerīs) only, after taking the lay vows ofeight or ten Precepts, seeordination of women in Buddhism.
.jpg)
TheVinaya 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.[23]
Among the several Vinaya texts transmitted to China, the Four-Part Vinaya (Sifen lü 四分律) of theDharmaguptaka school gained predominant authority. Translated into Chinese in 405 CE by the Kashmīri monkBuddhayaśas, 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 theZhongnanshan (South Mountain) region where its founder, the eminent Vinaya masterDaoxuan 道宣 (596–667), resided. His authoritative commentary on the Four-Part Vinaya, theSifen 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.[23]
Daoxuan theorized the teaching of the Vinaya as part of Buddhist soteriology, with a strong emphasis on ethical action. While the term "Vinaya school" appeared in his time, Daoxuan mainly saw it as referring to the scholastic teaching rather than a sectarian division. He would have found it strange if the Vinaya was observed and studied only by a single branch. Daoxuan took a syncretic approach, supplementing parts of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya with other Vinayas and actively seeking a connection between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna teachings. His works became the dominant and authoritative interpretation in China, partly due to Tang imperial court support. Most later commentaries focused on interpretingXingshichao. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya became the core concept of the Nanshan Vinaya school.
Despite the prominence of the Nanshan lineage, two other major Vinaya traditions were active during the early Tang period: theXiangbu zong 相部宗 led by Fali 法礪 (569–635), and theDongta zong 東塔宗 (East Pagoda School) led by Huaisu 懷素 (624–697). These schools also offered their own readings and practices based on alternative Vinaya texts, though they eventually faded in influence relative to the Nanshan system.[23]
The period after the fall of the Tang saw a resurgent interest in the commentarial tradition of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya.Yuanzhao (1048-1116), a Northern Song Vinaya master, is a pivotal figure in this period. His reinterpretation of Daoxuan's commentaries inspired monastic revival movements in medieval China and Japan. Through the efforts of Yuanzhao and his disciples, the teaching of the Vinaya eventually acquired an institutional presence in Song China. Around Yuanzhao's time, there was a boom in sub-commentaries on Daoxuan'sXingshichao. Yuanzhao became highly influential, unifying the interpretation of Daoxuan, and is designated as the Resurgent Patriarch of the Vinaya school. The institutional formation of the Vinaya school is essentially based on Yuanzhao's teaching. Yuanzhao initiated the effort to construct a lineage tracing back to India, composing theLineage of Nanshan Vinaya School which places Dharmaguptaka as the first patriarch and Daoxuan as the ninth. Yuanzhao's teachings were characterized by a synthetic approach, notably combining the Vinaya and Pure Land Buddhism. He saw receiving precepts as the beginning of the path and aspiring to rebirth in the Pure Land as the end. He integrated Pure Land belief into the conferral ritual. He focused on jieti (戒體), the "essence of precepts", as a central concept of the school. Yuanzhao defended Daoxuan's position on the nature of jieti, linking it to the "school of emptiness" and bridging Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna teachings. Yuanzhao criticized the lack of Vinaya understanding among monastics in his time, noting that their education often neglected it in favor of scriptures, treatises, and Chan. Records from the Southern Song indicate the Vinaya school had institutional infrastructure, attracting wide patronage from lay people and the royal family. The printing of Vinaya texts in the Southern Song was a campaign involving multiple parties and patronage, demonstrating national recognition and stabilization of the school.
In modern Chinese Buddhism, MasterHongyi is a key figure in the revival of the Vinaya school. He is recognized by later generations as the 11th patriarch of the Nanshan Vinaya School. Hongyi initially studied the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya but later shifted his focus to the Nanshan Vinaya school, partly influenced by Xu Weiru and recognizing its historical role in Chinese Buddhism. He vowed to promote the Nanshan Vinaya teachings that he felt had been largely neglected for over 700 years. Master Hongyi's contributions to the Vinaya school are significant. He compiled, edited, revised, and collated Vinaya texts, providing essential resources for study. He wrote commentaries and annotations on the Four-division Vinaya and the works of Daoxuan and Yuanzhao. Notably, he authored Nanshanlü zaijia beilan (南山律在家備覽) to help lay Buddhists understand precepts. He actively promoted the Vinaya through lectures and established Vinaya schools/academies to train monastics. Hongyi insisted on the importance of keeping precepts as the correct path and emphasized the Vinaya within the context of the Three Studies (precepts, meditative concentration, wisdom). He developed views on classifying and distinguishing Vinaya doctrines. While his status as the 11th patriarch faced some debate from other traditions like the Baohuashan sect, he is widely regarded as a patriarch who reinvigorated the Nanshan school.
In Korea, the tradition was transmitted under the name Gyeyul Jong 戒律宗, primarily through the efforts of the monk Jajang 慈藏. In Japan, the tradition became known asRisshū 律宗, established by the Chinese monk Jianzhen 鑑眞 (Japanese: Ganjin; 687–763). Ganjin’s transmission of the Nanshan Vinaya interpretations significantly shaped the development of early Japanese Buddhism, particularly during the Nara period. TheRisshū became one of the six Nara schools (Nanto Rokushū), and was later counted among the thirteen schools of Japanese Buddhism.[23]
The MahāyānaBodhisattvabhūmi, part of theYogācārabhūmi Śāstra, regards it an offense for monastics following the Mahāyāna to reject the traditional rules of the Vinaya:[24]
If he thinks or says, "A futurebuddha has nothing to do with learning or observing the law of theVehicle of the Śrāvakas," he commits a sin of pollution (kliṣṭā āpatti).
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:[25]
From the disciplinary point of view, the Mahāyāna is not autonomous. The adherents of the Mahāyāna are monks of the Mahāsāṃghika, Dharmaguptaka, Sarvāstivādin and other traditions, who undertake the vows and rules of thebodhisattvas without abandoning the monastic vows and rules fixed by the tradition with which they are associated on the day of their Upasampad [full ordination].
The Pāli Vinaya has been critically edited and translated in its entirety and will serve as a point of comparison with the Northern Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition that is the focus of this study.
Dating the MūlasarvāstivādaVinaya is problematic, since all the manuscripts and translations are relatively late. Scholarly consensus places it in the early centuries of the first millennium, probably around the time of theKuṣāṇa emperorKaniṣka.
.svg)
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
