འདལ་བ་གཞ intro.88
The Chapter on Going Forth; The Chapter on the Restoration Rite; The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions; The Chapter on the Rains; The Chapter on Medicines intro.88
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intro.88
The distinction between preceptor/ward and instructor/apprentice that is introduced in The Chapter on Going Forth is here augmented with distinctions between resident and occupant monks, as well as resident and visiting monks. These designations speak to a mobile Buddhist saṅgha and suggest that the freedom of movement promised after five years to qualified monks was eagerly embraced. Such movement is well documented in both medieval China and Tibet, where monks traveled for business, pilgrimage, study, and more. The Chapter on the Restoration Rite picks up from The Chapter on Going Forth, as Buddhist monks living in parks form communities united around a shared restoration rite site. There, they meet fortnightly to restore their training through meditation and confession. The compilers of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya cite numerous difficulties that interfere with the monks’ ability to meditate as the pretext for the increasingly complex monastic settlements.