The Buddhist Community – Monks and Nuns

Generosity (dāna)

Ethical or Good conduct (śīla)

Meditation (bhāvanā) – but better translated as ‘development’ of mind, body, loving-kindness, wisdom, and meditation

Cultivations of generosity that is not exclusively lay:

The transference of merit

The rejoicing in the merit of others

Begins with śraddhā/saddhā and the sequence of the eightfold path begins with right view

‘Hearing the Dharma’

Also seeing the Buddha, his stūpas, pilgrimage or image can also induce faith

Devotional and ritual practices act as a preliminary meditation practice

an ordinary person – pṛthagjana (P. puthujjana)

Ārya/Ariya – one who has directly seen the 4 Noble Truths

1.“stream-enterer” or “stream-winner” (srotāpanna, P. sotāpanna) – Attains enlightenment within 7 rebirths.

2.“once-returner” (sakṛtāgāmin, P. sakadagami) – Attains enlightenment in his next rebirth.

3.“nonreturner” (anāgāmin, P. anāgāmin) – Will have no additional rebirths; will attain enlightenment after being reborn in one of the higher heavens

4.Arhat “Worthy One” – achieves Awakening through the Dharma of the Buddha

Śraddha – usually translated as ‘Faith’ but with connotations of ‘Trust’ or ‘Commitment’

Faith causes the mind to become settled and inspires it with confidence to continue forward.

The traditional expression of faith is the act of going to the three jewels of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha for refuge.

Expressions of faith consist of devotion

Types of devotional acts – generosity or donation to members of the Sangha, recitation of verses or texts of the Dharma, ritual acts perform at or directed to the Buddha or his relics, stūpas, or images

The best metaphor for understanding the daily practice of a Buddhist

One seeks not only to avoid the negative, but also to engage in the positive Merit can be destroyed in a single moment of anger Should not be wasted on fleeting happiness Dedicate or transfer it to guard it

Ritual is one of the principle means for such engagement Puja – devotion Recitation Pilgrimage Meditation

1.bhikṣu/bhikku – monks

2.bhikṣuṇī/bhikkunī – nuns Five monks (former ascetics) with Kaundinya at their

head ‘Ehi, bhikku’ (Come, monk) formula

3.upāsaka – laity, male (householders)

4.upāsikā – laity, female Five Precepts (pañcaśīla)

EB 2.1.1 The First Disciples of the

Buddha

Karmic ‘connection’ with the Buddha from previous prediction by a Buddha

Take refuge in the ‘Two’ Jewels since there is no Sangha (community) yet

Laypeople before there are monks (or nuns)

First food offering after Buddha’s enlightenment

First Buddhist monk’s bowl

First words of dharma were given

First relics were given of Gautama

First stupas of the Buddha were created

Hair and nails are considered impure in India

Buddhism reinterprets as a symbol of the body in its impermanence and non-self

Justified by story of Sumati and Dipamkara

 Leech:

the body of the Buddha is different than most people so the hair was not ordinary hair either.

The most impure part of a divinity (like hair and nails) were still purer than the purist part of their worshippers (their heads).

Buddha’s plucking of his hair from his head, makes him a monk symbolically and asserted his purity. When becoming a Buddha, the hair was worthy of worship.

Laywomen in Buddhism

EB 2.1.2 The Laywoman Sujātā Notice the genre characteristics of this story

and the previous one about “Long ago, at the time of the past Buddha

Padumuttara… she made a formal resolution aspiring to attain the same status herself.

For 100 thousand eons, she was repeatedly reborm in saṃsāra, in the realms of gods and humans…”

Food offerings very important

Homeless wanderer

Renounces all possessions

Gone forth from the household life

Dresses in robes made from discarded rags

Begs for food

Dwells in the forest, a mountain cave, or the foot of a tree

Five monks with Kaundinya at their head

‘Ehi, bhikku’ formula

More and more monks

Upali – former barber, renowned for knowledge of the monastic code or Vinaya

Ananda – the Buddha’s cousin & personal attendant; revered by nuns

Mahākāśyapa – few desires, obtained robe of the Buddha, preserves it until the coming of the next Buddha, Maitreya

EB 2.1.3 The Conversion of Śāriputra and

Maudgalyāyana

Śāriputra

Renowned for knowledge of his wisdom and Abhidharma Dies before the Buddha His relics become important objects of worship

Maudgalyāyana

Foremost in supernatural powers attained through dhyānas (meditative attainments)

Often used as a surrogate for the Buddha in making magical contests against other religious figures

Devoted to his mother EB 2.1.7 Maudgalyāyana Brings about the Conversion of His Mother Important in East Asian Buddhism

Novice (śrameṇera/sāmaṇera) - ‘Going Forth’ or pravrajyā

7-8 years old Take a monk 10 years senior as one’s preceptor and teacher Goes for refuge in 3 Jewels Takes 10 precepts or Rules of Training (śikṣā-/sikkhā-pada)

Monk or Nun – Ordination or upasampadā

Age 20 5 properly ordained monks of 10 years standing (5 for nuns as

well) Four basic ‘resources’ Four ‘requisites’ Eight ‘requisites’ as personal possession

Based on inscriptional evidence of donations from roughly the beginning of the Common Era up until the 4th or 5th century CE show that approximately the same number of nuns as monks acted as donors

Full ordination for women in Theravādin Buddhism died out in 11th century CE

May have never been fully established in Tibetan tradition

Still exists in East Asian Buddhism

EB 2.1.4 The Acceptance of Women into the Order

The Eight ‘Heavy’ Rules

The Eight ‘Heavy’ Rules

1.A bhikkhuni who has been fully ordained even for more than a century must bow down, rise up from her seat, salute with hands palm-to-palm over her heart, and perform the duties of respect to a bhikkhu even if he has been fully ordained only a day. This rule is to be honored, respected, revered, venerated, never to be transgressed as long as she lives.

2.A bhikkhuni must not spend the rains in a residence where there is no bhikkhu.

The Eight ‘Heavy’ Rules

3.Every half-month a bhikkhuni should request two things from the Bhikkhu Sangha: she should ask for the date of the uposatha day and come for an exhortation.

4.At the end of the Rains-residence, a bhikkhuni should invite (criticism both from) the Bhikkhu Sangha and the Bhikkhuni Sangha on any of three grounds: what they have seen, what they have heard, what they have suspected.

5.A bhikkhuni who has broken any of the vows of respect must undergo penance for half a month under both Sanghas.

The Eight ‘Heavy’ Rules

6.At the end of the Rains-residence, a bhikkhuni Only after a probationer has trained in the six precepts for two years should she request ordination from both Sanghas.

7.A bhikkhu must not in any way be insulted or reviled by a bhikkhuni.

8.From this day forward, the admonition of a bhikkhu by a bhikkhuni is forbidden, but the admonition of a bhikkhuni by a bhikkhu is not forbidden. This rule, too, is to be honored, respected, revered, venerated, never to be transgressed as long as she lives.

EB 2.1.5 The Conversion of Paṭācārā

Lost husband, two sons, family

Neither sons, nor parents, nor kinfolks are a refuge.

Relatives offer no shelter for one seized by Death (Mara)

Knowing this situation, the wise, exercising moral restraints,

can quickly clear the way that leads to nirvāṇa.

Becomes stream-winner, then ordains as a nun

Become arhat and becomes master of the monastic code (Vinaya)

Foremost of knowing the Vinaya

Fear of the Buddha and the Sangha

Conversion through magic

Householders (brahmins) & heretics (unknown)

Buddha (Gautama) with 1200 disciples like a hailstorm that destroys crops b/c take sons

Householders decide to confront Buddha with weapons

Old man sets fire to village

The Buddha extinguishes the fire through supernatural powers

Faith arises in the householders

Mother ‘not’ his mother…new incarnation

But his aggregates fostered by her

Evidence monks & nuns continued to care for parents, spiritually and materially

Buddha teaches gratitude towards parents

Maudgalyāyana wonder where his mother is and brings the Buddha there through his magical power

Buddha preaches and his mother becomes a stream-winner

EB 2.2.1 Passage Denied: The Nāga Who Tried to Become a

MonkE

B 2.2. Passage Achieved: Joining the Order

EB 2.2.1 Passage Denied: The Nāga Who Tried to Become a Monk Limits to ordination List in intro to 2.2.1, but debtors, runaway slaves,

army deserters, criminals Needed sponsors within monastic community

(preceptor & teacher) Had to be human Supernatural creatures are accepted as

commonplace

EB 2.2. Passage Achieved: Joining the Order Description by Chinese monk in India of

ordination during the late 7th century

Sūtra

Vinaya

Abhidharma

1.The unity and cohesion of the Saṅgha

2.The spiritual life

3.The dependence of the Saṅgha upon the wider community

4.The appearance of the Saṅgha in the eyes of the community

Gethin 91-94

Development from list of @ 250 rules (pratimokṣa) that was recited semi-monthly in public gatherings

To six canonical Vinayas that survive from later period

Corporate institution Endowments of land Monks >100 at large monasteries

Prātimokṣa (Pāṭimokkha)

Bi-monthly ceremony of its recitation, Uposatha

Public confession of faults

4 Cases Involving Explusion

Extra rules for nuns

Not guide for a life of quiet, individualized contemplation

“monastic” from Greek monazein, ‘to live alone’

Vinaya provided narrative authority for a collective enterprise between laypeople and monastics

Strong social life for monastics

Multiple types of interaction with laypeople

Four “resources” – food (begging), robes (dustheap) lodging (under tree), medicine (cow urine)

Settled down into monasteries

1) The homeless life is characterized lodging at the foot of trees. This you should try to respect for the rest of your life. In addition, these are allowed: monasteries, lean-tos, palaces, rooftops, caves.