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The WikiVinaya is an effort to set up a place where any kind of information concerning the Vinaya of the (Theravadin) Buddhist Monastic Order can be found. The goal of WikiVinaya is to compose an 'open' online editable Vinaya-ebook, covering all the rules (and related conventions) relevant for the bhikkhus (monks) and bhikkhunis (nuns), and the male and female lay buddhists who come into (regular) contact with those buddhist monks and nuns.

The purpose of this online editable Vinaya-eboook is to generate a clearer understanding among both monks and laypeople about the actual monks' rules that the Buddha laid down (according to the Theravadin Buddhist tradition). It is hoped that WikiVinaya can help both the contributers and the readers by improving their knowledge of the 'true' Vinaya.

Subject-areas at WikiVinaya

WikiVinaya covers the following subject-areas:

1. General information on Vinaya as a scripture and a practice, the reasons for and background to the Vinaya.
2. General Buddhist terms like bhikkhu, Dhamma, almsbowl, meditation, Sariputta, etc. Many of these articles might be copied or adapted from the Wikipedia online encyclopedia[1].
3. Detailed information on the 227 patimokkha rules for bhikkhus and the 311 patimokkha rules for bhikkhunis.
4. Detailed information on the thousands of other prescriptions, regulations and rules as contained in the Mahavagga, Cullavagga and some of the suttas of the Sutta Pitaka.
5. Detailed information on the opinions of the various monks who have composed commentaries on the Vinaya during the last 2500 years.
6. Differences in current interpretation and practice of these rules, as practiced in the various current monastic lineages (or sub-groups) within the Theravadin Buddhist Monastic Order. An example of this are the different interpretations of the same rules in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Various origins of rules

Nowadays many different rules exist in the different Buddhist monasteries and the various Buddhist monastic lineages. One may hear different interpretations of the same rule, which can be quite confusing for the newcomer to Buddhism, and see some rules being emphasized in some monasteries, and unheard of at other monasteries.

WikiVinaya tries to clear things up by trying to always make a distinction concerning the origin of a certain rule:

1. Is the rule Buddha-Vinaya (contained in the oldest scriptures (the Vinaya Pitaka), and very likely to have been proclaimed by Buddha himself?
2. Is it one of a number of variant interpretations of a passage or rule in the Vinaya Pitaka, which subsequently lead to different practices of the very same rule.
3. Is it a commentarial comment on the Vinaya, written down (many) centuries after the passing away of the Buddha?
4. Or is it a current practice, of which it maybe cannot be said that it has a basis in any rule contained in the old scripture of the Tipitaka and her (ancient) commentaries?