Vinaya Piṭaka

Vinaya Piṭaka, (Pāli and Sanskrit: “Basket of Discipline”), the oldest and smallest of the three sections of the Buddhist canonical Tipiṭaka (“Triple Basket”) and the one that regulates monastic life and the daily affairs of monks and nuns according to rules attributed to the Buddha. It varies less from school to school than does either the Sutta (discourses of the Buddha and his disciples) or Abhidhamma (scholastic) sections of the canon, and the rules themselves are basically the same even for Mahāyāna schools, although some of the latter greatly extended the accompanying narrative and commentarial material. Three works comprise the Pāli Vinaya:

1. Sutta-vibhaṅga (“Classification of the Suttas”; corresponds to Vinaya-vibhaṅga in Sanskrit), an exposition of the monastic rules (pātimokkha, q.v.) and the disciplinary actions prescribed for each offense, arranged according to severity—from transgressions requiring expulsion from the order to those needing only to be confessed—plus minor rules of conduct. Each rule is accompanied by (a) the story of the incident that first prompted the Buddha’s ruling, (b) an early word-for-word commentary on the rules, and (c), in some instances, a later discussion of exceptions.

2. Khandhaka (“Divisions”; Sanskrit Vinaya-vastu, “Vinaya Subjects”), a series of 22 pieces (at least in the Pāli version) dealing with such matters as admission to the order; monastic ceremonies; rules governing food, clothing, lodging, and the like; and procedures for handling offenses and disputes. As in the Sutta-vibhaṅga, an account is given of the occasion when each regulation was formulated by the Buddha. The arrangement is chronological, and stories of major events are included, thus providing a picture of the evolving life of the early monastic community.

3. Parivāra (“Appendix”), a classified digest of the rules in the other Vinaya texts, apparently confined to the Theravāda school.