What the <span class='italic'>Vinayas</span> Can Tell Us about Law

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139044134.005

2 - What the Vinayas Can Tell Us about Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014

Petra Kieffer-Pülz

Edited by

Rebecca Redwood French and

Mark A. Nathan

Show author details

Rebecca Redwood French: Affiliation:
State University of New York, Buffalo
Mark A. Nathan: Affiliation:
State University of New York, Buffalo

Book contents

Get access

Summary

“Whatever Dhamma and Vinaya has been taught, made known by me to you, Ānanda, will, with my passing, be your Teacher.”

Introduction

When the Buddha entered Nirvāṇa, he is said to have left his adherents with what he had taught, that is, with dharma (Pāli dhamma) and Vinaya. No central body headed the Buddhist community. As the highest legal authority, the Buddhist monastic legal code, Vinaya, served as a guide for the daily life of monastics of the Buddhist community (saṅgha): Buddhist monks and nuns and, to a lesser degree, male and female novices as well as female probationers. The Vinaya forms the first part of the Buddhist canon, the so-called tripiṭaka – the authoritative Buddhist writings believed to be the “Word of the Buddha.” It contains the rules and regulations that govern the life of monastics both as individuals and as a community. Unlike the discourses, sūtra, which are directed toward lay people and ordained alike, the Vinaya is an internal document meant for monastics. Since the community of the Buddhists split into two branches – Mahāsāṃghikas and Sthaviravādins, which subsequently split into further schools, all transmitting the word of the Buddha – we have not one, but several canons and, consequently, several Vinayas. The Vinayas are not systematically planned and arranged law books. Rather, they are based on case law. They constitute one of the oldest self-contained legal systems, of which the Buddha is thought to be the lawgiver. Unlike the primarily prescriptive Brahmanical law codes, the Vinayas contain narrative portions, commentaries, and casuistries, albeit to different degrees. These additional portions shed some light on the historical realities of the religious communities in which they were authored and subsequently redacted.

Type: Chapter
Information: Buddhism and Law
An Introduction
, pp. 46 - 62

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139044134.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Rhys Davids, T.W. and Carpenter, J.E. (eds.), Dīghanikāya vol. 2 (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1903), 154, 156–58

Pachow, W., A Comparative Study of the Prātimokṣa on the Basis of its Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali Versions (Santiniketan: The Sino-Indian Cultural Society, 1955)Google Scholar

Clarke, Shayne, “Vinaya Mātṛkā – Mother of the Monastic Codes, or Just Another Set of Lists? A Response to Frauwallner’s Handling of the Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya,” Indo-Iranian Journal, 47 (2004), 77–120CrossRef Google Scholar

Yuyama, Akira, Systematische Übersicht über die buddhistische Sanskrit-Literatur/A Systematic Survey of Buddhist Sanskrit Literature, Part 1: Vinaya-Texte (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1979)Google Scholar

Prebish, Charles S., A Survey of Vinaya Literature (London: Routledge, 1994)Google Scholar

Oberlies, Thomas, “Ein bibliographischer Überblick über die kanonischen Texte der Śrāvakayāna-Schulen des Buddhismus (ausgenommen der des Mahāvihāra-Theravāda),” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, 47 (2003), 37–84Google Scholar

Yamagiwa, Nobuyuki, “Vinaya Manuscripts: State of the Field,” in Klaus, Konrad and Hartmann, Jens-Uwe (eds.), Indica et Tibetica. Festschrift für Michael Hahn (Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, 2007), 607–16Google Scholar

Strauch, Ingo, The Bajaur Collection: A New Collection of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscripts. – A Preliminary Catalogue and Survey (Online version 1.1, May 2008), 22ff

Kieffer-Pülz, Petra, “Die buddhistische Gemeinde” in Bechert, Heinz, Bronkhorst, Johannes, Ensink, Jacob, Hartmann, Jens-Uwe, Kieffer-Pülz, Petra, Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim, Lienhard, Siegfried, and Mabbett, Ian William (eds.), Der Buddhismus I. Der indische Buddhismus und seine Verzweigungen (Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 2000), 285ffGoogle Scholar

von Hinüber, Oskar, “The Pedestal Inscription of Śirika,” Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University for the Academic Year 2007, vol. 11 (2008), 34Google Scholar

Golzio, Karl-Heinz, Die Ausbreitung des Buddhismus in Süd- und Südostasien. Eine quantitative Untersuchung auf der Basis epigraphischer Quellen (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2010), 55ffGoogle Scholar

von Hinüber, Oskar, A Handbook of Pāli Literature (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1996), § 22ffCrossRef Google Scholar

Clarke, Shayne, “Monks Who Have Sex: Pārājika Penance in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms,” Journal of Indian Philosophy, 37 (2009), 1–43CrossRef Google Scholar

Norman, K.R., Pāli Literature including the Canonical Literature on Prakrit and Sanskrit of all the Hīnayāna Schools of Buddhism (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1983), 26ffGoogle Scholar

Kieffer-Pülz, Petra, Die Sīmā. Vorschriften zur Regelung der buddhistischen Gemeindegrenze in älteren buddhistischen Texten (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1992), 143ffGoogle Scholar

Clarke, Shayne, “Guṇaprabha, Yijing, Bu sTon and the Lack of a Coherent System of Rules for Nuns in the Tibetan Tradition of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya,” unpublished conference presentation (Buddhist Nuns in India, University of Toronto, April 15–17, 2011), 11

Schopen, Gregory, Buddhist Monks and Business Matters: Still More Papers on Monastic Buddhism in India (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2004), 124ffGoogle Scholar

Oldenberg, H. (ed.), Vinayapiṭaka, 5 Vols. (London: Pali Text Society, 1879–1883), IV 71, 18–74, 27

Schlingloff, Dieter, “Zur Interpretation des Prātimokṣasūtra,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 113 (1963), 536–51Google Scholar

von Hinüber, Oskar, “Sprachliche Beobachtungen zum Aufbau des Pāli-Kanons,” Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik, 2 (1976), 27–40, 32

Selected Papers on Pāli Studies (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1994), 62–75;

Chung, Jin-il and Kieffer-Pülz, Petra, “The Karmavācanās for the Determination of sīmā and ticīvareṇa avippavāsa,” in Dhammaratana, Bhikkhu T. and Pāsādika, Bhikkhu (eds.), Mélanges offerts au Vénérable Thích Huyên-Vi à l’occasion de son soixante-dixième anniversair (Paris: Editions You-feng, 1997), 13–56Google Scholar

Bechert, Heinz, “Some Remarks on the Kaṭhina Rite,” Journal of the Bihar Research Society, 54 (1968), 319–29Google Scholar

von Simson, Georg, (ed.), Prātimokṣasūtra der Sarvāstivādins, 2 vols. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2000), 2ff

von Hinüber, Oskar, “Review to: Georg von Simson, Prātimokṣasūtra der Sarvāstivādins,” Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 98 (2003), 581ffGoogle Scholar

Vogel, Claus, “On the date of the Poṣadha Ceremony,” in Kieffer-Pülz, P. and Hartmann, Jens-Uwe (eds.), Bauddhavidyāsudhākaraḥ. Studies in Honour of Heinz Bechert on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday (Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica-et-Tibetica-Verlag, 1997), 673–88Google Scholar

Huxley, Andrew, “Buddhism and Law – The View From Mandalay,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 18 (1995), 42, 82Google Scholar

Kieffer-Pülz, Petra, “The Law of Theft: Regulations in the Theravāda Vinaya and the Law Commentaries,” Journal of the Pali Text Society, 31 (2012), § 3.2Google Scholar

Harris, Ian, “Rethinking Cambodian Political Discourse on Territory: Genealogy of the Buddhist Ritual Boundary (sīmā),” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 41 (2010), 215–39CrossRef Google Scholar

Hecker, Hellmuth, “Allgemeine Rechtsgrundsätze in der buddhistischen Ordensverfassung (Vinaya),” Verfassung und Recht in Übersee, 10 (1977), 89–115CrossRef Google Scholar

Clarke, Shayne, “One Rule for All? Saṃghāvaśeṣa Indemnity for the Sarvāstivādin Monastic Hierarchy,” in Publication Committee (eds.), Buddhist and Indian Studies in Honour of Professor Sodo Mori (Hamamatsu: Kokusai Bukkyōto Kyōkai, 2002), 396Google Scholar

Walser, Joseph, Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 93CrossRef Google Scholar

von Hinüber, Oskar, “Buddhist Law According to the Theravāda-Vinaya: A Survey of Theory and Practice,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 18 (1995), 29fGoogle Scholar

Horner, I.B., The Book of the Discipline (Vinaya-Piṭaka), vol. 4 (London: Pali Text Society, 1952), 92Google Scholar

von Hinüber, Oskar, Das Pātimokkhasutta der Theravādin. Studien zur Literatur des Theravāda-Buddhismus II (Stuttgart: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Abhandlungen der geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse. Jahrgang, 1999, Nr. 6), 41ffGoogle Scholar

Kane, P.V., History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law), vol. 3 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1973), 281Google Scholar

Schopen, Gregory, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997), 209Google Scholar

Schopen, Gregory, “Counting the Buddha and the Local Spirits in: A Monastic Ritual of Inclusion for the Rain Retreat,” Journal of Indian Philosophy, 30 (2002), 360ff.CrossRef Google Scholar

Ratnapāla, Nandasena (ed., trans., annotated), The Katikāvatas: Laws of the Buddhist Order of Ceylon from the 12th Century to the 18th Century (München: Kitzinger, 1971)