12 Facts About Vinaya

1.

Vinaya is the division of the Buddhist canon containing the rules and procedures that govern the Buddhist monastic community, or Sangha.

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2.

Three parallel Vinaya traditions remain in use by modern monastic communities: the Theravada, Mulasarvastivada and Dharmaguptaka.

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3.

The earliest dates that can be established for most Vinaya texts is their translation into Chinese around the 5th Century CE.

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4.

The Mulasarvastivada Vinaya was translated into Chinese in the 8th Century and Tibetan in the 9th Century but Sanskrit manuscripts exist from the 5th - 7th Century.

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5.

Core of the Vinaya is a set of rules known as Patimokkha in Pali and Pratimoksa in Sanskrit.

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6.

Second major component of the Vinaya is the Vibhanga or Suttavibhanga, which provides commentary on each of the rules listed in the Pratimoksa.

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7.

The Pali Vinaya includes a text known as the Parivara that contains a question-and-answer format that recapitulates various rules in different groupings, as well as a variety of analyses.

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8.

The Mulasarvastivada Vinaya is preserved in both the Tibetan Buddhist canon in the Kangyur, in a Chinese edition, and in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript.

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9.

Buddhism in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand followed the Theravadin Vinaya, which has 227 rules for bhikkhus and 311 for bhikkhunis.

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10.

Buddhists in China, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, which has 253 rules for the bhikkhus and 348 rules for the bhikkhunis.

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11.

Tibetan Buddhists in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Ladakh and other places follow the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya, which has 253 rules for the bhiksus and 364 rules for bhiksunis.

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12.

Full nun's lineage of the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya was never transmitted to Tibet, and traditionally, Tibetan "nuns" were sramaneris or simply took eight or ten Precepts, see ordination of women in Buddhism.

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