Description
The Book of the Discipline, Vol. I (1938, 1992, 2014 with hitherto untranslated passages by P. Kieffer-Pülz, 2024)
The collection of monastic law, the purpose of which is to regulate life within the community of monks and nuns as well as their relationship with the laity.
The collection deals with the rules relating to individual conduct and with the legal procedures and formulae used by the community as a whole. It is divided into three sections, the first of which contains the set of rules for monks and nuns (the Pātimokkha), which is an independent text according to other Buddhist schools. The Vinaya-piṭaka also contains a large number of stories and biographical material relating to the Buddha.
(The Pātimokkha is contained in Vols. III and IV of the text and in Vols. I, II, and III of the translation.)
Translation of Vinaya-piṭaka: Suttavibhaṇga