… The fence is the Vinaya, which prescribes penalties for our errors—major, intermediate, and minor. This is the fence that blocks the wrong paths so that we won’t stray down them, and that opens the right path—the Dhamma—so that we can follow it to the goal to which we aspire. The Vinaya is a fence on both sides of the path …
… The full set of disciplinary rules is called the Vinaya. Central to the Vinaya for each of the orders is a code of important rules, called the Pāṭimokkha, which the members of each Saṅgha should listen to every two weeks.
The Buddha established the Vinaya rules to serve three purposes:
• to maintain the good faith of the laity,
• to promote harmony within the Saṅghas …
… This is why we have the Vinaya for the monks—all the
rules that, at first glance, seem really obsessive. But they point to
an important issue: that if the mind is really well trained, if the
mind really is in a solid state of well-being, that fact should be
reflected in all of its activities. And one way of catching it is …
… When the Dhamma & Vinaya
proclaimed by the Tathagata is being taught, he heeds it, gives
it attention, engages it with all his mind, hears the Dhamma with
eager ears.
“He discerns that, ‘I am endowed with the strength of a person
consummate in view.’ This is the sixth knowledge attained by him
that is noble, transcendent, not held in common with
run-of-the …
… You read the story of his life, even just the section in the Vinaya,
and you see all the problems that the monks and nuns created for
him—and those were the people who were supposedly his disciples. On
top of that, he had to deal with sectarians of other kinds. Here he
was, offering them a path to the end of suffering, and …
… From the cessation of delight, I tell you, comes the cessation of suffering & stress. {By this means, Puṇṇa, you are not far from this Dhamma & Vinaya.”
When this was said, a certain monk said to the Blessed One, “Here is where I am ill at ease, lord, for I don’t discern, as they have come to be, the origination, the passing away, the …
… You look at the remainder of his life and you can see that it was full
of difficulties in trying to get the Dhamma and Vinaya established.
Here he had been working so hard to find something of real value, and
he was offering it for free, but there were a lot of people who
wouldn’t take it. Not only that, they would …
… The Khuddakasikkhā—a Vinaya manual written by Ven. Dhammasiri, a Sinhalese monk, in the 11th or 12th century—states that the sky lightens in four stages before sunrise (measuring in Sinhalese hours, of which there are 60 in one period of day and night): a slight reddening 4 Sinhalese hours (= 1 hour and 36 minutes) before sunrise; a slight whitening 3 Sinhalese hours (= 1 …
… When he goes to visit the lay followers, though, instead of asking their forgiveness he quotes passages from the suttas and Vinaya showing that the Buddha did not allow bhikkhus to accept money. This time the lay followers are convinced by his arguments and announce that of all the bhikkhus in Vesālī, he is the only true son of the Sakyan. The Vajjiputta bhikkhus …
… People saying, “Well, why
don’t we change the Vinaya here, why don’t we change the Dhamma there,
make it nicer?” That’s what’s going to kill the Dhamma.
So while the true Dhamma is still alive, take advantage of it. It’s
still available. It’s simply up to you to decide whether it’s
important enough to focus all your …
… I needed only to arouse mindfulness in them.
“So, monks, you, too, should abandon unskillful qualities and commit yourselves to skillful qualities, and in that way you, too, will come to growth, increase, & abundance in this Dhamma-Vinaya. Suppose, monks, that—not far from a village or town—there were a large sal-forest choked with castor-oil weeds. And suppose that some man …
Accusing
Codanā Sutta (AN 5:167)
The text to Saṅghādisesa 12, one of the rules in the Vinaya, states: “Let the venerable one admonish the monks in accordance with what is Dhamma, and the monks will admonish the venerable one in accordance with what is Dhamma; for it is thus that the Blessed One’s following is nurtured: through mutual admonition, through mutual rehabilitation …
… The Vinaya counts as one’s relatives all those related back through seven generations past one’s grandparents—in other words, all those descended from one’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.
2. Apparently, “ornaments” for poultry would consist of brilliant plumage. Similarly, “ornaments” for elephants, horses, & cattle might consist of attractive markings.
3. For some reason, the translation of this …
… For those who knew the suttas, he assigned lodgings in the same place, (thinking,) “They will rehearse the suttas with one another.” For Vinaya experts, he assigned lodgings in the same place, (thinking,) “They will investigate the Vinaya with one another.” For Dhamma teachers, he assigned lodgings in the same place, (thinking,) “They will discuss the Dhamma with one another.” For those who practiced …
… This is one of the reasons why we have the Vinaya. The rules are
there, not simply to look after the individual’s mind, but also to
look after peace in the community, harmony in the community. So as
we’re living together, it’s good to think about the principles—not
only the rules, but also the larger principles of how we can …
… There’s a passage in the Vinaya where Ven. Moggallana’s talking to some monks and saying that when he was in what they call the imperturbable concentration, sitting by the bank of a river, he heard the elephants in the river playing and trumpeting, splashing around and crossing over the river. The monks got upset. They didn’t think that if he was …
… It’s always amazing to see throughout the Vinaya, when someone has
misbehaved and they get called into the Buddha’s presence, the Buddha
asks them, “Did you say this? Did you do this?” And there was
something about being in the Buddha’s presence that people who may
have been devious at other times weren’t devious with him. They
admitted, yes, that …
… He established the religion, established the Dhamma and the Vinaya to make it available to people so that they, too, could put an end to suffering.
So as you sit here and meditate, ask yourself: What are the potentials here? There’ll be some bad ones, but there will also be some good ones. Why stew around in the bad ones? Why encourage them …
… He follows the teachings of the Dhamma and Vinaya well and so doesn’t offend his fellow monks. He is interested in studying and diligently practicing the threefold training of virtue, concentration, and discernment. He takes instruction easily, has faith in the principles of the Dhamma and Vinaya, is intent on his duties, and believes in what is reasonable.
The third sort of monk …
… He ordained them and he had them stay with their teachers for a
while so that they could pick up the teacher’s habits, pick up the
teacher’s way of looking at things, pick up some knowledge about the
Buddha’s teachings, both the Dhamma and the Vinaya, to provide the
student with good friends inside.
So try to figure out who your …
The Path of Strength | Things as They Are : A Collection of Talks on the Training of the Mind
… The fence is the Vinaya, which prescribes penalties for our errors—major, intermediate, and minor. This is the fence that blocks the wrong paths so that we won’t stray down them, and that opens the right path—the Dhamma—so that we can follow it to the goal to which we aspire. The Vinaya is a fence on both sides of the path …
Surveying the World
… You read the story of his life, even just the section in the Vinaya, and you see all the problems that the monks and nuns created for him—and those were the people who were supposedly his disciples. On top of that, he had to deal with sectarians of other kinds. Here he was, offering them a path to the end of suffering, and …
SN 35:88 Puṇṇa Sutta | To Puṇṇa
… From the cessation of delight, I tell you, comes the cessation of suffering & stress. {By this means, Puṇṇa, you are not far from this Dhamma & Vinaya.” When this was said, a certain monk said to the Blessed One, “Here is where I am ill at ease, lord, for I don’t discern, as they have come to be, the origination, the passing away, the …
