Khandhaka
Encyclopedia
Khandhaka is the second book of the Theravadin
Vinaya Pitaka
and includes the following two volumes:
The Cullavagga has 12 chapters:
and Pali Canon
.
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
Vinaya Pitaka
Vinaya Pitaka
The ' is a Buddhist scripture, one of the three parts that make up the Tripitaka. Its primary subject matter is the monastic rules for monks and nuns...
and includes the following two volumes:
- Mahavagga:
includes accounts of the Buddha's and his great disciplesSravakaShravaka or Śrāvaka or Sāvaka means "hearer" or, more generally, "disciple".This term is used by both Buddhists and Jains. In Jainism, a shravaka is any lay Jain...
' awakeningBodhiBodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...
s, as well as rules for uposathaUposathaThe Uposatha is Buddhist day of observance, in existence from the Buddha's time , and still being kept today in Buddhist countries. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind," resulting in inner calm and joy...
days and monastic ordination. - Cullavagga:
includes accounts of the FirstFirst Buddhist councilThe First Buddhist council was convened in the year following the Buddha's Parinibbana, which is 543–542 BCE according to Theravada tradition, at various earlier dates according to certain Mahayana traditions, and various later dates according to certain Western estimates. According to late...
and Second Buddhist CouncilSecond Buddhist councilThe Second Buddhist council took place approximately one hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa. Virtually all scholars agree that the second council was a historical event...
s and the establishment of the community of Buddhist nunsBhikkhuniA bhikkhuni or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the vinaya...
, as well as rules for addressing offenses within the communitySanghaSangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...
.
Outline
The Mahavagga has 10 chapters:- the first chapter is simply called the great chapter; it starts with a narrative beginning immediately after the Buddha's enlightenment and telling of the beginning of his preaching and foundation of the order of monks; it goes on to give rules on ordination and related matters
- the second deals with the recitation of the PatimokkhaPatimokkhaIn Buddhism, the Patimokkha is the basic Theravada code of monastic discipline, consisting of 227 rules for fully ordained monks and 311 for nuns . It is contained in the Suttavibhanga, a division of the Vinaya Pitaka.- Parajika :...
, which is to take place every half month (at new and full moons) wherever there is a quorum of four monks - then comes provision for the retreat for three months in the rainy season, when monks are supposed to stay in one place except for specified reasons
- at the end of the retreat they must invite their colleagues to say if they have any criticisms of their behaviour
- the fifth chapter is called the chapter on hides and deals with various topics
- the next chapter is on medicines; a passage authorizing inhalation of smoke through a tube is used by some modern monks to justify smoking
- the next chapter is called kathina, the process of making up robes, but is in fact about the exemptions granted monks from certain rules in consequence of this
- robe material
- a dispute between monks at Campa
- a dispute at Kosambi
The Cullavagga has 12 chapters:
- the first deals with various procedures to be followed in dealing with badly behaved monks
- the next deals with probation for monks guilty of certain offences (see SuttavibhangaSuttavibhangaSuttavibhanga is the first book of the Theravadin Vinaya Pitaka. It is a commentary on the community rules . The general form of the commentary is that each rule is preceded by a story telling how the Buddha came to lay it down, and followed by explanations. Sometimes this includes further...
) - the next chapter deals with the case where a monk on probation commits a further offence
- explanation of the seven rules for settling disputes (see SuttavibhangaSuttavibhangaSuttavibhanga is the first book of the Theravadin Vinaya Pitaka. It is a commentary on the community rules . The general form of the commentary is that each rule is preceded by a story telling how the Buddha came to lay it down, and followed by explanations. Sometimes this includes further...
) - minor matters
- lodgings
- schism; this chapter starts with the story of DevadattaDevadattaDevadatta was by tradition a Buddhist monk, cousin and brother-in-law of Gautama Siddārtha, the Śākyamuni Buddha, and brother of Ānanda, a principal student of the Buddha...
, the Buddha's fellow clansman; he starts by inviting the elderly Buddha to retire and appoint him in his place; when this is refused he makes three attempts to assassinate the Buddha; when these fail he asks the Buddha to impose strict practices, including vegetarianism, on the monks; when this is refused he leads a schism - observances; various duties
- a monk may suspend the recitation of the Patimokkha if another monk has an offence unconfessed
- nuns; the Buddha, after being asked seven times, finally agrees to establish an order of nuns, but warns that it will weaken the teaching and shorten its lifetime, and imposes strict rules subordinating nuns to monks (some even more misogynistic material can be found in the Pali Canon, most notably the Kunala Jataka; for the other side see TherigathaTherigathaThe Therigatha, often translated as Verses of the Elder Nuns , is a Buddhist scripture, a collection of short poems supposedly recited by early members of the Buddhist sangha in India around 600 BC...
) - shortly after the Buddha's death, Kassapa holds a council at which the teachings are recited; Upali answers questions on the vinaya and Ananda on the dhamma
- a century later a dispute arises on various points, mainly on the acceptance of gold and silver; another council is held which agrees on the stricter position, after receiving advice from an aged pupil of Ananda
Translations
- Vinaya Texts, tr T. W. Rhys Davids & Hermann Oldenberg, Sacred Books of the East, volumes XIII, XVII & XX, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881-5; reprinted Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (&? Dover, New York)
- The Book of the Discipline, volumes IV & V, tr I. B. Horner, 1951-2, Pali Text SocietyPali Text SocietyThe Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pali texts".Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved...
http://www.palitext.com, Lancaster
Origins
According to tradition, the Khandhaka was compiled at the first council, mentioned in the text, with the account of the first council added at the second and that of the second at the third. Scholars do not take this literally, but differ as to how far they disagree with it. Professor Erich Frauwallner argued in 1956 that the original version of this book was compiled at the second council, and this theory is still taken seriously by many scholars. For further scholarly opinions see Vinaya PitakaVinaya Pitaka
The ' is a Buddhist scripture, one of the three parts that make up the Tripitaka. Its primary subject matter is the monastic rules for monks and nuns...
and Pali Canon
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
.
See also
- First Buddhist CouncilFirst Buddhist councilThe First Buddhist council was convened in the year following the Buddha's Parinibbana, which is 543–542 BCE according to Theravada tradition, at various earlier dates according to certain Mahayana traditions, and various later dates according to certain Western estimates. According to late...
- Second Buddhist CouncilSecond Buddhist councilThe Second Buddhist council took place approximately one hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa. Virtually all scholars agree that the second council was a historical event...
- SanghaSanghaSangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...
- BhikkhuniBhikkhuniA bhikkhuni or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the vinaya...
- Vinaya PitakaVinaya PitakaThe ' is a Buddhist scripture, one of the three parts that make up the Tripitaka. Its primary subject matter is the monastic rules for monks and nuns...
External links
- "Mahavagga (selected texts)", on www.accesstoinsight.org. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- "Cullavagga (selected texts)", on www.accesstoinsight.org. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.