English Articles on Vinaya

From Wikivinaya

Contents 1 Dhammatalks on Vinaya 2 Articles by Ajahn Brahmavamso 3 From Journal of Buddhist Ethics 4 Articles from Miscellaneous sources

Dhammatalks on Vinaya

Understanding Vinaya. Ajahn Chah (38.7KB)

Comment: Ajahn Chah delivers a candid discourse on the Vinaya and his encounters related to it. He hands on practical advice from Ajahn Mun to monks who find the observing the Vinaya too daunting a task. Good reading.

Articles by Ajahn Brahmavamso

• The Four Disrobing Offenses.
• Monks and Money.
• Wrong Livelihood.
• May a monk act as a doctor?.
• Ordination of Women.
• Monks and Women, Nuns and Men.
• Ownership and Administration of Monasteries.
• The Ordination Ceremony of a Monk.
• What the Buddha said about eating meat.
• The time and place for eating.

From Journal of Buddhist Ethics

Comment: Good readings for those into scholastic studies. Not for casual readers.

• Attitudes to Euthanasia in the Vinaya and Commentary. Damien Keown

Extract: In his commentary on the third paaraajika in the Samantapaasaadikaa, Buddhaghosa sets out to clarify the legal provisions of the monastic precept against taking life. The root text and his comments on it are relevant to the contemporary debate on euthanasia, and this paper considers what light Buddhist jurisprudence can shed on this moral dilemma.

• Buddhist Case Law on Theft: the viniitavatthu on the second paaraajika. Andrew Huxley

• Vinaya Principles for Assigning Degrees of Culpability. Peter Harvey

• Vinaya in Theravaada Temples in the United States. Paul David Numrich

• Damming the Dhamma: Problems with Bhikkhunis in the Pali Vinaya. Kate Blackstone (65KB)

Extract: ... in the story of the inauguration of women's ordination, when the Buddha utilizes the metaphor of a dam for the eight special rules he imposes upon Mahaaprajaapatii Gotamii as a condition of ordination, the implications are clear. The presence of women in the order poses a serious and inescapable threat to the dhamma and vinaya, liable, like a flood, to wash away the edifice he had so carefully built up.

• A Buddhist View of Women: A Comparative Study of the Rules for Bhiksunis and Bhiksus Based on the Chinese Praatimoksa. In Young Chung (268KB)

Extract: Although most Buddhist scholars and writers contend that bhik.su.niis were subordinated to bhik.sus by having so many additional rules and the Eight Rules imposed upon them, I disagree. Rather, a close and comparative examination of the Buddhist monastic rules for both bhik.su.niis and bhik.sus reveals a compassionate and practical regulation of the daily monastic life of both men and women, based on the realities of life at the time the rules were formulated.

Articles from Miscellaneous sources

• Caught in Another Cycle of Paradox.

The Buddha promulgated the Vinaya to regulate the behavior of monks so that they could live in a harmonious and fraternal environment conducive to their spiritual development. Yet, paradoxically, throughout the history of Theravada Buddhism it has been the recurrent cause of disunity, disharmony and schism. With its emphasis on Vinaya orthodoxy, will Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary, a Malaysian monk training center, activate another cycle of paradox? Will it bring about further disunity, disharmony or discrimination in our already amorphous Malaysian Sangha? Saccesi surveys the situation from the historical and visionary perspectives. (from Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary)

• How Copyright Law Relates to Vinaya.

Phra William Varado attempts to show how copyright relates to a variety of Vinaya regulations, with suggested grading of copyright offenses according to that of Vinaya standards.

Comment: One should be careful on this matter and be clear about the rule, as it concerns a parajika rule and may cost one's monkhood.