Wikivinaya:Goal and content

From Wikivinaya

Revision as of 09:51, 1 July 2006

Goal of WikiVinaya

The goal of WikiVinaya is to create a free online resource of information on the Buddhist monastic discipline – 'Vinaya'.

Content of WikiVinaya: Vinaya and related subjects

The best known part of the Vinaya is the Pātimokkha in which the major rules are summarised; it is the part of the Vinaya which is recited every lunar fortnight on the Uposatha day. The two Buddhist monastic Orders (Saṅghas) - the Order of monks (bhikkhus) and the Order of nuns (bhikkhunīs) - each have a their own Pātimokkha. The Patimokkha is thus the 'essence' of the Vinaya, but WikiVinaya is to eventually cover not only the rules in the bhikkhu and bhikkhunī Pātimokkhas, but also the other information contained in the Vinaya Pitaka. More specifically, this refers to the chapters of the Khandhakas and Parivāra (and cognates). Since the current Vinaya-recensions also come with the traditional commentaries and manuals from later periods than the original canonical texts, this information will be added to the WikiVinaya as well. The articles in WikiVinaya may also make comments on current practices, and current understanding of Vinaya. WikiVinaya will also contain some synoptic examinations of topics that are spread out throughout the texts.

It is hoped that WikiVinaya will be more closely based on the earliest texts than current manuals in English (using direct translations of essential passages), with a more acutely historical analysis of 'what comes from where', accurately distinguishing root texts, commentaries and later traditions. Hopefully WikiVinaya will gradually grow into a comprehensive and well organised library. Now, however, we are just beginning and we invite you to help if you can.

WikiVinaya accepts the Vinayas of all language-recensions

There are very similar but slightly different recensions of the earliest Vinaya texts in other Indic dialects, including Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, Prakrit and Gandhāri, and in Chinese and Tibetan translations, belonging to various extant Vinaya recensions. These early texts are so similar in content and structure that it is very likely that they stem from a common source. The Vinaya texts must therefore have initially been compiled before the sectarian period, that is, before the different schools split up.

Initially the focus of WikiVinaya will probably be directed towards the Pāli Vinaya recension, because it is the mostly widely practiced, and the initial contributors are more familiar with it. However we would welcome contributors who can help us learn more about the other language recensions. The other language recensions will exist next to the Pali recension, so that the other recensions can also be worked on.

The WikiVinaya attitude

For full understanding a non-judgemental attitude is a prerequisite part of the methodology, or in other words analysis should come before evaluation. The interaction between the meaning and the expression of Buddhist monastic ideals, or between the essential principles and the not-intrinsically-essential means of establishing those principles needs to be understood. It may be that in a different cultural context the same essential principle has to be inculated in different ways.

An antihistorical bias, the definining characteristic of fundamentalism, is one of the attitudes not welcome at Wiki Vinaya. The academic method is useful for avoiding a priori assumptions in studying Dhamma & Vinaya, but the purpose of WikiVinaya is not merely academic.

The initial contributors to Wiki Vinaya are all practicing Buddhist monks from the Theravāda forest tradition, so for us Vinaya is a devotional practice also, something that helps us maintain mindfulness of our highest aspirations throughout our daily lives. Dhamma & Vinaya is the only valid authority for the monastic community allowed by the Buddha after his death. So our practice of Vinaya is for us a devotional offering to our founding Teacher, the foundation of the communal ideal of the Saṅgha and also for our own personal benefit.