What is the Vinaya?
Reciting the Patimokkha, Wat Pah Nanachat
The Vinaya is the name given to the compendium of training rules, protocols, procedures and duties laid down by the Buddha for the monastic order. The Vinaya is intended to maintain harmony within amongst monastic communities and to create the optimum conditions for the practice of Dhamma by each individual monk. The heart of the Vinaya is the Patimokkha, the 227 rules which constitute the basic code of discipline.
The Patimokkha is divided into a number of sections. The first consists of four expulsion offenses: sexual intercourse, stealing, killing a human being, making bogus claims of spiritual attainments. The second section consists of thirteen extremely grave offenses which constitute serious blots on the honor of a monk and, if committed, require a period of penance for purification. These include casa of gross sexual misconduct such as masturbation, touching a woman body with lust, and sexually explicit flirting. All other offenses are confessed and purified in a short procedure preceding the twice-monthly meeting of the monastic community, the Uposatha, during which the entire Patimokkha discipline is chanted by one of the monks
More questions and answers HERE
Source:
- Without and Within – Ajahn Jayasaro
Ryokan Says
Due to the small number of monks at the beginning of the order, the rules and regulations for the control of the Sangha were not much needed. All the disciples practiced and followed the Teacher’s, the Buddha, way of conduct. When monks increased in numbers and were more scattered, then the rules became more necessary has a means of unify and regulate the conduct of the monastic order. A lot of the established rules of training were created because the misconduct of some monks, so with these rules the Buddha could contribute favorably to their practice and to the good coexistence within the order.
The action of transgressing the rules of training is called apatti, which means ‘committing’. The apatti consist of three grades of penalties: garukapatti (heavy offence) which causes the fall from the state of bikkhuhood (ceases to be a monk); majjhimapatti (middle offence) causing a time of probation and penitence; and lahukapatti (light offence) which cause the offender to confess in front of a monk (or monks) within certain procedures.
