Vinaya Pitaka (Pali Canon)
| Pali Canon |
|---|
| Vinaya Pitaka |
| Sutta Pitaka (Nikayas) |
| Abhidhamma Pitaka |
| See also: Early Buddhist Texts, Agamas |
The Vinaya Pitaka is to one of the three pitakas (three "baskets") of the Pali Canon. This "basket" contains codes for monastic discipline.
About the Vinaya
The texts of the Vinaya "comprise the monastic code, its history, and commentaries on it. As well as detailing all the rules to be kept by monks, nuns, male and female novices, and male and female lay practitioners, they include a wealth of history, biography, and narrative recording the circumstances under which each rule was originally introduced by the Buddha."[1]
The Buddha called his teaching the "Dhamma-Vinaya", emphasizing both the philosophical teachings of Buddhism as well as the training in virtue that embodies that philosophy.
Three sections
The Pali Vinaya Pitaka has the following sections:
- Suttavibhanga (-vibhaṅga): commentary on the Patimokkha, with much of its text embedded
- Mahavibhanga (mahā-) dealing with monks
- Bhikkhunivibhanga (bhikkhunī-) dealing with nuns
- Khandhaka: 22 chapters on various topics
- Parivara: analyses the rules from various points of view
The Pali version of the Patimokkha, the code of conduct that applies to Buddhist monastics, contains 227 rules for bhikkhus and 311 rules for bhikkhunis. The Vibhanga sections of Vinaya Pitaka constitute a commentary on these rules, giving detailed explanations of them along with the origin stories for each rule.
The Khandhaka/Skandhaka sections give numerous supplementary rules grouped by subject, again with origin stories.
Translations
For English translations of texts of the Pali Canon, see:
Theravāda Vinayapiṭaka, SuttaCentral
Vinaya Pitaka, Access to Insight- Vinaya-piṭaka, Pali Text Society
See also
References
External links
- Pali Canon online: Vinaya Pitaka in English
- Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg
- Access to Insight translation
- Translation by Isaline Blew Horner
- Davids, T. W. Rhys, Oldenberg, Hermann (joint tr): Vinaya texts, Oxford, The Clarendon press 1881. Vol.1 Vol.2 Vol.3 Internet Archive