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For links to information on Vinaya available on the internet and in printed books, see the section on Books.

Goal and Content of WikiVinaya

The goal of WikiVinaya is to create a free and editable online resource of information on the Buddhist monastic discipline – 'Vinaya'. WikiVinaya covers all the rules and related conventions relevant for bhikkhus (Buddhist monks) and bhikkhunis (Buddhist nuns), and the male and female lay buddhists who come into (regular) contact with buddhist monks and nuns. More specifically, this means the various Vinaya Pitakas and related commentaries and conventions. Information concerning the Vinayas of all the various extant Vinaya recensions have a place on WikiVinaya. It is hoped that this will help both contributors and readers to improve in knowledge about Vinaya.

WikiVinaya cannot guarantee the correctness of all the information that can be found on WikiVinaya, although it does strive to achieve factual correctness of the information contained in it.

For more detailed information, have a look at wikivinaya:Goal and content

Adding to the WikiVinaya

Since WikiVinaya is a wiki, the writing of all pages of the WikiVinaya is principally a community-effort, and the contents of these pages can be altered. Also this page, and any of the other pages. So feel free to change and add things. However, you need to apply for an account on WikiVinaya in order to be able to edit pages and make new pages. Any additions or changes made to WikiVinaya will fall under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Copyright Licence.

More information for newcomers to wikis can be found at the welcome page for newcomers at wikipedia. There is also a Tutorial at Wikipedia, giving some basic instructions on editing and formatting text in a wiki.

WikiVinaya and Wikipedia

WikiVinaya is not the same as Wikipedia, but it uses the same software as Wikipedia and mostly the same ethos. The two differences in ethos are:

1. WikiVinaya is aimed towards creating a resource of information that is fundamentally sympathetic to the Vinaya and the ideal of the monastic Saṅgha as essential parts of Buddhist practice. Points of view that are fundamentally unsympathetic to these basic ideals may not be given a 'fair' representation.
2. WikiVinaya may overstep the boundary of providing dry 'facts' sometimes and say something inspiring! Also, 'original research', which is not allowed in Wikipedia because it is an encyclopedia, is allowed here. However, as in Wikipedia it should always be accompanied with reasons and references; not as mere personal opinion.

A further difference is that WikiVinaya is not editable by anonymous users; only if you have an account at WikiVinaya can you edit content. Also the initial impetus for WikiVinaya comes from Buddhist monks, who are interested in making a serious, but more open and extensive resource on Vinaya than is available in the various manuals that exist today.