The Foundations of Buddhism

86 The Buddhist Community

Buddhists have, then, always understood the Buddha's mes-

sage not only as an invitation to give up the household life and

join the Buddha's group of monks, but also as an invitation to

the wider community to support the religious life. The Buddhist

understanding of the nature of the lifestyle of 'one gone forth'

sees the Buddhist monastic community as a significant part of

society as a whole. Thus when the Buddha is reported, shortly

after his awakening, as instructing his growing group of newly

'awakened' monastic followers to set off, never two by the same

way, to teach Dharma that is 'lovely in the beginning, lovely in

the middle, and lovely in the end', 'for the benefit and happiness

of the many, out of sympathy for the world, for the good, bene-

fit, and happiness of gods and men', this represents more than

simply a recruitment drive for the Sangha or Order of monks

and nuns.^2 The presence of Buddhist monks and nuns within a

society has been seen as in itself a positive good and of benefit

for all. Let us turn now to consider the members of the assem-

blies of the monks and nuns.

The procedures governing ordination, along ·with the rule

governing life as a Buddhist monk or nun, are set out in the

Vinaya, the division of Buddhist scriptures devoted to monastic

'discipline'. As we saw in Chapter 2, a number of different

versions of this survive from ancient times. Only three are in

actual use today. In Sri Lanka and South-East Asia monks in

principle follow the rule of the Pali Theravadin Vinaya; in East

Asia (China, Korea, and Japan) monks follow the rule of the

ancient Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, translated into Chinese from

an Indian original in the fifth century; in Tibet and Mongolia

monks follow the rule of the Mfilasarvastivada, a branch of the

Sarvastivada school, translated into Tibetan in the ninth century.^3
The Vinayas fall into two basic parts: (1) a set of rules governing

the life of the individual monk or nun known as the priitimok~a

(Palipiitimokkha); and (2) regulations concerning the communal

ceremonies and corporate 'acts' of the Sangha (i.e. an 'act' that

is confirmed after having been formally proposed before a chap-

ter of the Sangha either just once or three times, depending on

the type of proposal), beginning with admission to the order.^4