How important is the Vinaya?
To promote understanding to the different point of views of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and the New Kadampa Tradition regarding NKT-ordination and the point of view of the Australian Sangha Association (ASA), here the words of Buddhist authorities.
How important is the Vinaya?
Buddha Shakyamuni (Vinaya Sutra)
“As long as the complete Vinaya, the supreme treasure, abides,
The Lamp of Dharma shall abide.”[1]
How extensive is the Vinaya?
Altogether the Vinaya is twelve volumes, containing 327 fascicles (bam po), i.e. 98100 śloka or about three million syllables. The “internal summaries” are in fact found in the Prātimokṣa-sūtra, a short text preceding the Vinaya-vibhaṅga. The Vinaya-vastu (Luṇ gźi – ‘Dul ba gźi) is the first of the four great books of the Vinaya-piṭaka, and occupies four volumes of the Kangyur. It is followed by the Vinaya-vibhaṅga (three volumes for bhikṣus, and another for bhikṣuṇīs), the Vinaya-kṣudraka-vastu (two volumes) and the Vinaya-uttara-grantha (two volumes).[2]
What is the Prātimokṣa?
The means dependent on which one goes
With ease to liberation’s city,
The Sugata’s doctrine’s supreme essence,
Which is known as pratimoksha.[3]
How important is the Prātimokṣa?
In the bimonthly Sojong purification rite for bhikṣus, just before the recitation of the Prātimokṣa-sūtra, it is stated:
The recognition of the Teacher, the Buddha, in the pratimoksha; the recognition of diligence in one’s own training; and the recognition that the long abiding of the Conqueror’s doctrine depends on this method – pray listen with these three set in your mind.
Excerpt from the Prātimokṣa-sūtra
Buddha Shakyamuni (Prātimokṣa-sūtra)
Of the entire, bottomless
And limitless ocean of the Buddha’s
Vinaya, the abiding heart
And essence is this pratimoksha.It is the supreme guide of all
Dharmas of the king of true Dharma.
It is the great shop selling trainings
Of the bhikshus’merchants’ guild.“When I have entered into nirvana
It will be your teacher” – so
With devotion the Self-Arisen earnestly
Praised it before the assembly of monks.Even the word expressing “buddha”
Is exceedingly rare in the worlds.
Gaining humanity is very hard.
Going forth also is very rare.Likewise, perfect morality of
Those gone forth is very rare.
Even with perfectly pure morality,
Good companions are hard to find.A buddha’s arising in the world,
Being human, going forth,
Perfect morality and good friends -
When they have found these rarities,The wise who want what’s good for them
Will desire to make them fruitful;
Such ascetics will endeavour
To listen to the pratimoksha.The pratimoksha is a bridle
With hundreds of sharp spikes, suited to
The horse of the mind, so hard to steer
And always driven with effort.Great ones who are stopped by just
A word, not going past the bounds,
Are the finest human horses,
Sure to overcome defilements.Those who do not have this bridle
Nor desire to ever, either,
Will roam about without settling down,
Confused by the army of defilements.
Je Tsongkhapa (The Essence of Vinaya)
From keeping these vows, one will gain the temporal fruit, divine or human birth, and the ultimate fruit, the three awakenings. Since this is taught, the energetic always keep the pratimoksha, devotedly striving.
Prātimokşa Sūtra of the Mūlasarvāstivādins:
- Introduction to the Pratimoksha Sutra – Geshe Tekchok: Monastic Rites, London 1985
- Mahāmahopādyāya Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana: So-sor-thar-pa : The Tibetan version of the Prātimokşa Sūtra of the Mūlasarvāstivādins
- The Bhikshuni Pratimoksha Sutra of the Mulasarvastivadin School
- Je Tsongkhapa: The Essence of the Vinaya Ocean
- Opening of the Prātimokşa Sūtra from the Gelong Sojong text of Sera Je monastery (bimonthly ritual of confession proscribed by the Buddha for Buddhist monks and nuns)
- The Sutra on Being Endowed with Morality: Sila Samyukta Sutra
Dedication:
Through these merits, may sentient beings attain
The rank of all-seeing, subdue the foe of faults,
And be delivered from samsara’s ocean,
Perturbed by waves of aging, sickness and death.
[1] HH the XIV Dalai Lama, Advice from Buddha Shakyamuni, p.2, Dharamsala, LTWA
[2] Joe Wilson, Regular Monastic Rites in a Tibetan Buddhist Tradition, unpublished manuscript
[3] Je Tsong Khapa, The Essence of the Vinaya Ocean
