[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [A History of Indian Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927) › v2.c19.s2 # A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s2: The Vinayapiṭaka of the Pāli Canon A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s2 - **Language:** English ### The Vinayapiṭaka of the Pāli Canon ### [v2.c19.s2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.1) The Buddhists themselves place the Vinayapiṭaka² at the head of the canon, and we may follow their example, without committing ourselves to the opinion that this is earlier than the Suttapiṭaka.³ The Vinayapiṭaka comprises the following texts: ### [v2.c19.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.2) ² Edited by H. \*Oldenberg\*, London, 1879-1883. ### [v2.c19.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.3) ³ Kern, Manual, p. 2, and \*La Vallée Poussin\*, Buddhisme, E'tudes et Matériaux, p. 27, regard the Vinayapiṭaka as earlier. In the opinion of R. Otto \*Franke\* (JPTS 1908, pp. 8 ff., 68 ff., 74) the Mahāvagga and Cullavagga of the Vinayapiṭaka would be later than the Dīghanikāya. K. E. \*Neumann\* (Prefaces to Vols. I and III of the "Reden Gotamo Buddhos") believes that "the Vinayapiṭaka and later the Abhidhammapiṭaka gradually partly became eliminated, and partly were further developed, out of the Suttapiṭaka." In support of this view, we could adduce the fact that some of the Suttas deal with Vinaya, and some resemble the texts of the Abhidhamma very closely both in form and contents. However, as the Vinayapiṭaka and the Suttapiṭaka have some texts in common, I think it likely that the final compilation of these two took place at about the same time. ### [v2.c19.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.4) I. The Suttavibhaṅga, consisting of 1. Mahāvibhaṅga, and 2. Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga. II. The Khandhakās, consisting of 1. Mahāvagga and 2. Cullavagga. III. The Parivāra or Parivārapāṭha. ### [v2.c19.s2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.5) The nucleus of the Vinayapiṭaka is the Pātimokkha,¹ a list of transgressions against the rules of discipline of the order, together with the corresponding atonements. The life of the monk was regulated by this code of rules, which formed the bond² holding the community together. Its immense significance as regards the stability of the Buddhist order becomes evident from a speech attributed to Ānanda,³ in which he declares that though Buddha had not appointed any one of his disciples as his successor nor invested him with the supreme authority, the community of monks would continue, because the Sublime One had proclaimed the Sikkhāpada (the ten commandments for the conduct of the monks) and the Pātimokkha to the monks. In an oft recurring phrase, it is said of a good monk that his life is "restrained by the restraints of the Pātimokkha."⁴ This code of rules was recited in the form of a confession formulary in solemn conclave of the monks, twice every month, on the new moon and the full moon days.¹ After the recital of each chapter—there are eight different kinds of greater and lesser sins, the treatment of which takes up eight chapters—the conductor of the ceremony would ask whether any one had committed the sin in question: and if this was the case, he had to confess his guilt.² This Uposatha ceremony, as it is called, was probably already instituted by Buddha himself, being modelled on ceremonies of a similar character among earlier sects of ascetics,³ and the very earliest Buddhist literature must have included a Pātimokkha.⁴ Originally it probably contained only 152 rules,⁵ but they were extended to 227 at the time of the origin of the Vinayapiṭaka of the Theravādins. Though the text of these 227 rules of the Pāṭimokkha has come down independently in manuscripts, it does not, as such, form a part of the Canon, but is included in the Suttavibhaṅga, for this last-named work is nothing but an ancient commentary on the Pāṭimokkha consisting of 227 rules—a commentary which attained to the honour of being included in the canon. Suttavibhaṅga means "explanation of the Suttas," and in this case we should take "Sutta"¹ to mean the separate clauses or articles of the Pāṭimokkha. Each Sutta, \*i.e.\*, each single article, is explained word for word, and in an introduction it is related where and on what occasion the Buddha issued the decree in question. The Mahāvibhaṅga consists of eight chapters, corresponding to the eight classes of transgressions against the discipline. By analogy with the Pāṭimokkha for the monks, a similar code was compiled later for the nuns. The Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga, a much shorter work, is a commentary on it. ### [v2.c19.s2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.6) ¹ Cf. \*Oldenberg\*, Vinayapiṭaka, Introd., p. xv ff.; T. W. \*Rhys Davids\* in ERE IX, 1917, 675 ff.: \*Sukumar Dutt\*, Early Buddhist Monachism, London, 1924, pp. 75 ff., 99 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.7) ² S. \*Dutt\*, l. c., p. 90 f. thinks that, even etymologically pāṭimokkha means "bond" in this sense. The PTS Dic. s. v. (also R. C. \*Childers\*, Dict. of the Pāli Language, s. v.) explains it by pratimokṣya "that which should be made binding," "obligatory," "obligation," with reference to Jātaka V, p. 25, where it explains saṃgaraṃ paṭimokhaṃ by "a binding promise." In my opinion, the correct explanation of this phrase is "a promise to be redeemed," and, accordingly, I am inclined to explain pāṭimokkha as "that which is to be redeemed." For other etymologies see \*Rhys Davids\* and \*Oldenberg\*, SBE., Vol. XIII, p. xxvii f. ("Disburdening, Getting free "), \*Oldenberg\*, Buddha, p. 419 n. 1, \*Kern\*, Manual, p. 74 n. 5 ("a spiritual cuirass "), and R. O. \*Franke\*, Dīghanikāya, p. 66 n. 7. The earliest etymology is the one in the old commentary Mahāvagga II, 3, 4, which was also accepted by Buddhaghosa, pāṭimokkha being taken as a derivative of mukhaṃ, which is quite impossible. ### [v2.c19.s2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.8) ³ Majjhimanikāya 108 (Vol. III, p. 9 f.). ### [v2.c19.s2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.9) ⁴ Pātimokkhasaṃvarasaṃvuto, see Dīghanikāya II, 42; XIII, 42; XXVI, 28; cf. Dhammapada 185. ### [v2.c19.s2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.10) ¹ According to Dīghanikāya XIV, 3, 22-28, at an earlier period—the legend is here dealing with the period of the former Buddha Vipassī—the Buddhist monks appear to have assembled every six years at some large centre, for the recital of the Pātimokkha, which then was merely a kind of confession of faith, though the expression pūtimokkho-padesāya is the same as in Majjh. 77 (Vol. II, p. 8), where there is mention of the fortnightly celebration. ### [v2.c19.s2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.11) ² At least this was the original idea, according to the wording of the formulas of the Pāṭimokkha. However, even in the Vinayapiṭaka itself the procedure was simplified and toned down, inasmuch as a monk who felt himself guilty of some transgression, had to confess it to one of the brethren \*before\* the Uposatha ceremony, so that he might be pure when he took his place in the assembly. Cf. \*Oldenberg\*, Buddha, pp. 381 f., 418 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.12) ³ There may possibly be some historical foundation for the story told in Mahāvagga II, 1, that the heretical Paribbājakas convened assemblies for the recital of their Dhamma on the 14th, 15th and 8th days of each half-month, and that King Bimbisāra proposed to Buddha that similar assemblies should be organised. The Pāli word \*Uposatha\* is the Sanskrit Upavasatha, which means "fasting." From time immemorial the Brahmanical Indians observed the new moon and full moon days by sacrifices, prayers and fasting. The Uposatha ceremony, as performed in Ceylon at the present day, is described by J. F. Dickson, JRAS 1875 (reprinted in \*Warren\*, Buddhism in Translations, p. 405 ff.). ### [v2.c19.s2.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.13) ⁴ This is proved by the fact that we have a Prātimokṣa (Sanskrit for Pāṭimokkha) also in a Sanskrit version, and in one Tibetan and four Chinese versions. Cf. \*L. Finot\* and \*Ed. Huber\* in JA 1913, s. 11, t. II, p. 462 ff.; Mahāvyutpatti paragraphs 256-264; \*Oldenberg\*, ZDMG, 52, 645 f.; \*Kern\*, Manual, 74 f., 85 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.14) ⁵ Aṅguttaranik. I, pp. 236, 230 (III, 83, 1; 87, 1) and Milindapañha, pp. 243, 272 speak of 150 Sikkhāpadas, which probably mean the rules of the Pāṭimokkha. Most likely the figure 150 is only a round number for the 152 rules remaining out of the total of 227 rules, after deducting the 75 sekhiyā dhammā which are merely rules of etiquette. The Prātimokṣa of the Sarvāstivādins gives the number of Pātayantikā dharmāḥ as 90 (in the Pāli 92 Pācittiyā dhammā), and it also gives us a total of 150, excluding the Saikṣā dharmāḥ. The Sarvāstivādins have 113, the Mūla-Sarvāstivādins 106, the Dharmaguptas 100 Saikṣā dharmāḥ (corresponding to the 75 sekhiyā dhammā in the Pāli), and the Mahāvyutpatti, para. 256 reads only: sambahulāḥ śaikṣadharmāḥ. Cf. Finot, JA 1913, s. 11, t. II, p. 469 f.; S. Dutt, Early Buddhist Monachism, p. 92 f. ### [v2.c19.s2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.15) ¹ In the sense of the ancient meaning of the word \*Sūtra\*, see Vol, I, p. 268 f. The text of the Pāṭimokkha is published separately and translated by J. F. Dickson, JRAS 1876, p. 62 ff. and translated once again by \*Rhys Davids\* and \*Oldenberg\* in SBE vol. 13, p. 1 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.16) The Khandhakās, \*i.e.\*, "sections,"² which give the precepts for the various arrangements of the order (Saṅgha) and regulate the entire conduct of the monks and nuns in their daily life, form a kind of continuation and supplement of the Suttavibhaṅga. The ten sections of the Mahāvagga, \*i. e.\*, the "great section," contain the special precepts for admission into the order, for the Uposatha celebration, for life during the rainy season and for the Pavāraṇā celebration taking place at the end of the rainy season, and further, the rules for the wearing of shoes, facilities for seats and vehicles, medicine and clothing of the monks, and finally for the regulation of the legal conditions and the legal procedure within the order, especially in the case of schisms. The first nine sections of the Cullavagga, \*i.e.\*, the "lesser section," deal with the disciplinary methods in lesser matters, with various atonements and penances, the adjustment of disputes, the daily life of the monks, dwellings and furnishing of dwellings, the duties of monks towards one another and the exclusion from the Pāṭimokkha ceremony. Section X of the Cullavagga deals with the duties of the nuns. In the same way as the Pāṭimokkha underlies the Suttavibhaṅga, there are also, underlying the acts and ceremonies prescribed in the Khandhakās, old formulae, the so-called Kammavācā, \*i. e.\*, "words for the acts." These do not form a part of the Tipiṭaka any more than the Pāṭimokkha does,¹ but are merely included in the Khandhakās, in a similar manner as the mantras or prayers are included in the Vedic Brāhmaṇas and Sūtras. Sections XI and XII, in which the story of the first two councils of Rājagaha and Vesālī² is told, are no doubt later additions, and form a kind of appendix to the Cullavagga. ### [v2.c19.s2.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.17) ² Translated into English by \*Rhys Davids\* and \*Oldenberg\* in SBE vols. XIII, XVII and XX. ### [v2.c19.s2.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.18) ¹ Upasampadā-Kammavācā, formularies for admission into the Order. These were first published by \*F. Spiegel\* (Kammavakya, liber de officiis sacerdotum Buddhicorum, Bonnae ad. Rh. 1841), with Latin translation, then by J. F. \*Dickson\* (JRAS 1875, p. 1 ff.) with English translation. The last-named also describes the ceremony of admission, as it is still performed to-day in Ceylon. Other Kammavācā have been published and translated by \*O. Frankfurter\*, Handbook of Pāli, London, 1883, Herbert \*Baynes\* (JRAS 1892, p. 53 ff. ; cf. also p. 380), \*Śarat Candra Das\* in JASB 63, Part I, 1894, p. 20 ff. and G. L. M. \*Clauson\* (JPTS 1906-1907, pp. 1-7). ### [v2.c19.s2.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.19) ² See above, p. 4 ff. The fact that the last two books were added later, also appears from the title Cullavagga, "lesser section," which would only be justified if this work, like the Mahāvagga, were composed of ten parts only. Cf. \*Rhys Davids\* and \*Oldenberg\* in SBE, Vol. 13, p. xxi, n. 3. ### [v2.c19.s2.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.20) As this appendix, too, only deals with the history of the order, we can say that the one and only subject of the books of the Vinayapiṭaka is the monastic community, or the Order (Saṅgha). ### [v2.c19.s2.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.21) The Pāṭimokkha already indicates a fairly complicated organisation of the community.¹ The Khandhakās presuppose a still more advanced organisation. We are struck by the far-reaching liberality, if not laxity, in the rules for monastic life. According to the strict regulation the monk is to live only on what he obtains by begging, but he is also allowed to accept invitations to meals. He is to clothe himself in cast-off rags, but he may also wear garments of linen, cotton and even silk. He is to live at the foot of a tree, but he may also seek a more comfortable lodging in houses, huts or caves. Urine is to be his sole medicament, but he may also take butter, oil and honey. He may even eat fish, as long as the fish have not been killed for him.² All this indicates that there must have been a fairly long development of the discipline of the community prior to the final compilation of the Vinayapiṭaka, and that the bulk of the rules originated, not all at once, but gradually. On the other hand it has been shown that many of the regulations of the order of the community are identical with those which were in vogue among other sects of ascetics before Buddha.³ Nevertheless, all the rules and regulations of the Vinaya are attributed to Buddha himself; for just as in the Suttavibhaṅga, the rules and regulations in the Khandhakās too, are introduced by narratives recording when and on what occasion they were declared by Buddha. As regards style, too, the stories in the Khandhakās agree with those in the Suttavibhaṅga to so great an extent that we are bound to assume that they belong approximately to the same time.¹ In a few cases these stories may possibly have reference to actual events. In the majority of cases, however, they were probably invented \*ad hoc\*. On the whole, they are stereotyped, and of little value as literature. ### [v2.c19.s2.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.22) ¹ Cf. \*E. Waldschmidt\* Bruchstiicke des Bhikṣuṇī-Prātimokṣa der Sārvāstivādins, p. 3 f. ### [v2.c19.s2.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.23) ² Mahāvagga, I, 30; Cullavagga VII, 3, 14 f. ### [v2.c19.s2.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.24) ³ \*S. Dutt\*, Early Buddhist Monachism, pp. 16, 28, 37. ### [v2.c19.s2.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.25) ¹ If the rule dealt with in the Khandhakās is the same as the one dealt with in the Suttavibhaṅga, then the introductory story is also the same. Cf. Oldenberg, Vinaya-piṭaka, Introd., p. xxii f. ### [v2.c19.s2.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.26) Fortunately this is not true of all the narratives. The very commencing chapters of the Mahāvagga² contain one of the oldest fragments of a Buddha legend. In beautiful, archaic language, it is here related how Gotama Buddha obtained enlightenment (bodhi), how he decided to proclaim his doctrine, and how he gained his first disciples. Here is related, for instance, the legend of the noble youth Yasa, who grows up in a life of luxury, spends the nights among a band of female singers and dancers, but once waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the beautiful women in various ugly positions, is seized by disgust and satiety with the pleasures of this world; he flees from the life of voluptuousness, hastens to Buddha and becomes a monk. The later Buddha legend relates this story of Prince Siddhārtha, the subsequent Buddha, himself. A strange picture of manners is revealed by the story of the conversion of a band of young men, who are going out with their wives to enjoy themselves; one of them, who has no wife, takes a harlot with him; the latter steals the belongings of the men, and runs away. While the young men are pursuing her, they meet with Buddha, and ask him whether he has not seen a woman. The Buddha asks whether they would not do better to seek \*themselves\*, rather than a woman, and avails himself of the opportunity to preach the doctrine to them, whereupon they all become monks. There is no lack of marvellous stories, in which snake kings and gods play a part. The most beautiful of all these conversion-stories is that of the conversion of the two friends Sāriputta and Moggallāna, who were afterwards among the favourite disciples of the Buddha.¹ The first sermons of Buddha, for instance, the "sermon of Benares" and the "fire sermon," are also included in this old report. ### [v2.c19.s2.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.27) ² I, 1—24. SBE, Vol. 13, p. 73 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.28) ¹ Mahāvagga, I, 7 f. ; 14 ; 15 ff. ; 23 f. SBE, Vol. 13, pp. 102 ff., 116 ff., 118 ff., 144 ff. All these stories end with the admission of the converts into the Order. For this reason they form quite a natural introduction to the section about admission into the Order. ### [v2.c19.s2.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.29) In a later section of the Mahāvagga,² the story is told how the Buddha visits his native town and admits his son Rāhula into the order. In the Cullavagga we then find the narratives of the rich merchant Anāthapiṇḍaka, who presents his park to the order; of Devadatta, the enemy and rival of Buddha, who causes the first schism in the community; of the founding of the order of nuns, to which Buddha unwillingly gives his consent at the prayers and entreaties of his foster-mother Mahāpajāpati, who finds a noble advocate in the disciple Ānanda, and so on.³ ### [v2.c19.s2.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.30) ² I, 54. SBE, Vol. 13, p. 207 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.31) ³ Cullavagga VI. 4, 9 ; VII. 2—4, X. 1 f. ; SBE, Vol. 20, pp. 187 ff., 233 ff., 320 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.32) Even among those of the introductory stories which, presumably, were only invented \*ad hoc\* and have no value otherwise, either historical or legendary, there is many a beautiful and valuable passage to be found. A narrative of this kind, touching in its simplicity, is the following: ### [v2.c19.s2.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.33) "Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu had a disturbance in his bowels, and he lay fallen in his own evacuations. And the Blessed One on going round the sleeping-places accompanied by the venerable Ānanda came to that Bhikkhu's abode, and found him so. And he went up to him, and asked him, 'what is the matter with you, O Bhikkhu?' 'I have a disturbance, Lord, in my bowels.' 'Then have you, O Bhikkhu, any one to wait upon you?' 'No, Lord.' ### [v2.c19.s2.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.34) 'Why do not the Bhikkhus wait upon you?' 'Because I am of no service, Lord, to the Bhikkhus.' Then the Blessed One said to the venerable Ānanda: 'Go, Ānanda, and fetch some water. Let us bathe this Bhikkhu.' 'Even so, Lord,' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent to the Blessed One, and fetched the water. And the Blessed One poured the water over that Bhikkhu; and the venerable Ānanda wiped him down. And the Blessed One taking hold of him at the head, and the venerable Ānanda at the feet, they lifted him up, and laid him down upon his bed. ### [v2.c19.s2.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.35) Then the Blessed One, on that occasion and in that connection, convened a meeting of the Bhikkhu-saṃgha, and asked the Bhikkhus, 'Is there, O Bhikkhus, in such and such an apartment, a Bhikkhu who is sick?' 'There is, Lord.' 'Then what, O Bhikkhus, is the matter with that Bhikkhu?' 'He has a disturbance, Lord, in his bowels.' 'And is there any one, O Bhikkhus, to wait upon him?' 'No, Lord.' 'Why, then, do not the Bhikkhus wait upon him?' 'That Bhikkhu, Lord, is of no service to the Bhikkhus; therefore do they not wait upon him.' 'Ye, O Bhikkhus, have no mothers and no fathers who might wait upon you! If ye, O Bhikkhus, wait not one upon the other, who is there indeed who will wait upon you? Whosoever, O Bhikkhus, would wait upon me, he should wait upon the sick.'¹ ### [v2.c19.s2.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.36) ¹ Mahāvagga, VIII, 26, translated by \*Rhys Davids\* and \*Oldenberg\* in SBE, Vol. 17, p. 240 f. However forcibly this passage may remind us of St. Matth. 25, 40 ("Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me "), the situation is, after all, quite different in this case, and the resemblance cannot be more than pure chance. ### [v2.c19.s2.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.37) Others of these stories are valuable to us because they afford us some insight into the everyday life of the ancient Indians.² Thus, for instance, when it is related how the parents of the boy Upāli take counsel together, with regard to what they shall let the boy become, how they consider that he might get sore fingers from writing, or pains in his chest from arithmetic, or spoil his eyes with painting, and therefore determine to let him become a monk, because this is the most comfortable way of earning a livelihood.¹ Not only extremely interesting from the point of view of the history of civilisation, but full of delightful humour too, are the stories of the doctor Jīvaka,² from which at least a very short extract shall here be given: ### [v2.c19.s2.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.38) ² In this respect the Vinayapiṭaka is a valuable complement to the Brahmanical Gṛhyasūtras. See Vol. I, p 272 ff. Moreover, some of the sections, \*e.g.\*, the detailed enumerations of thefts, sexual offences (cf. P. E. \*Pavolini\*, GSAI, Vol. 17, p. 325 ff.) and crimes of all descriptions, are of interest, because they add to our store of knowledge of the laws and customs of ancient India. ### [v2.c19.s2.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.39) ¹ Mahāvagga, I, 49. ### [v2.c19.s2.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.40) ² Mahāvagga, VIII, 1.. The stories end with Jīvaka's making Buddha a present of clothes, and therefore they form the introduction to the section on the clothing of the monks. The stories of Āmrapālī (Ambapālī) and Jīvaka also occur in the Chinese Tripiṭaka, s. \*Éd. Chavannes\*, Cinq cents contes, III, p. 325 ff. ### [v2.c19.s2.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.41) The town of Rājagaha vies with the great city of Vesālī in renown and splendour. The magnificence of the latter is not a little enhanced by the famous courtesan Ambapālī, who demands fifty florins for one night. In order to make Rājagaha, too, as flourishing as Vesālī, the beautiful and well-educated Sālavatī is installed there as courtesan at the command of the king and she demands a hundred florins for one night. She becomes pregnant, but on account of her profession keeps her pregnancy secret and after she has given birth to a child, she has it turned adrift in a little basket. The child is found by Prince Abhaya, who has it brought up and gives it the name of Jīvaka. ### [v2.c19.s2.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.42) When Jīvaka is grown up, he goes as apprentice to a famous doctor in Takkasilā (Taxila). After a seven years' course of instruction he passes his "examination." This consists of his teacher's giving him a spade and commissioning him to bring him all the plants from the environs of Takkasilā which cannot be used as herbs of healing. Jīvaka comes back, and declares that far and wide he did not find one such plant. With this the teacher is satisfied, gives him some money for his journey, and lets him depart. ### [v2.c19.s2.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.43) The money is soon spent and in order to earn something, he announces himself as a doctor in a town where he hears that the wife of a rich merchant is very ill. Jīvaka puts a little melted butter into her nose, this comes into her mouth and she spits it out, whereupon she instructs the maid to preserve the melted butter. Jīvaka is at once anxious about his fee, as he regards the woman as mean. She reassures him, however, that she is merely a good house-wife, for the melted butter could still be used by the servants as grease or for the lamp. She recovers, and rewards the doctor with 4,000 florins; in addition, her son, her daughter-in-law and her husband, each gives him 4,000 florins, and the latter also gives him a male slave, a female slave and a carriage with a team. ### [v2.c19.s2.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.44) Thus he returns to Rājagaha, where he hands over the money he has earned to Prince Abhaya, as a recompense for having brought him up. The latter does not accept it, but desires that Jīvaka shall take up his residence in Rājagaha. After he has cured the old King Bimbisāra of an unpleasant disease, he becomes the court physician and effects many remarkable cures. Once a great merchant in Rājagaha becomes very ill. All the doctors have already given him up. Then the king gives permission for his court physician to treat the merchant. Jīvaka first stipulates for an honorarium of a hundred thousand florins for himself and the same for the king, then he asks him whether he will be able to lie quietly first on one side, then on the other, and finally on his back, for seven months in each position. The invalid answers in the affirmative, whereupon the doctor ties him to the bed, cuts open his scalp, pulls out two worms, for it was they which had threatened the life of the merchant, and sews the wound up again. But the invalid is not able to lie for seven months on each side, but can always only endure it for seven days. After three times seven days, however, he is well. Jīvaka now explains that he only spoke of seven months, because otherwise the patient would not even have managed to lie still for seven days. ### [v2.c19.s2.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.45) Many other stories are told of the cunning and the skill of the doctor Jīvaka.¹ He also treated Buddha professionally and was a great friend of the order. ### [v2.c19.s2.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.46) ¹ He passed as an authority on the diseases of children, and was called the "children's doctor." Cf. \*Jolly\*, Medicin (in Grundriss III, 10), p. 68. In later times, too, the Buddhists took an active interest in medical science. (\*Jolly\*, l.c., pp. 8 and 15 f.) ### [v2.c19.s2.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.47) This is not the only example which shows that the authors or compilers of the Vinayapiṭaka sometimes got tired of the dry tone, and interspersed the enumeration of prohibitions and regulations with narratives in lighter vein. Thus, for instance, as an introduction to the rules regarding the precedence of age among the monks, Buddha relates the following fable:¹ ### [v2.c19.s2.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.48) ¹ Cullavagga, VI, 6, 3. Translated by \*Rhys Davids\* and \*Oldenberg\* in SBE, Vol. 20, p. 193 f. ### [v2.c19.s2.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.49) “Long ago, O Bhikkhus, there was a great banyan tree on the lower slopes of the Himālaya range; and near it there dwelt three friends—a partridge, a monkey, and an elephant. And they dwelt together without mutual reverence, confidence, and courtesy. Then, O Bhikkhus, it occurred to those friends, ‘Come now, let us find out which of us is the oldest by birth; and let us agree to honour and reverence and esteem and support him, and by his counsels let us abide.’ So, Bhikkhus, the partridge and the monkey asked the elephant, “How far back can you, friend, remember?” “Friends! when I was little I used to walk over this banyan tree, keeping it between my thighs, and its topmost twig brushed my stomach. So far back, friends, can I remember.” Then, O Bhikkhus, the partridge and the elephant asked the monkey (the same question). “Friends, when I was little, sitting once on the ground, I gnawed at the then topmost twig of this banyan. So far back can I remember.” Then, O Bhikkhus, the monkey and the elephant asked the partridge (the same question). “Friends! there was formerly a lofty banyan tree in yonder open space. One day after eating one of its fruits, I voided the seed here; and from that this banyan tree grew up. So I must be older than either of you.” Thereupon, O Bhikkus, the elephant and the monkey said to the partridge, “You, friend, are the oldest of us all. Henceforth we will honour and reverence and esteem and support you, and by your counsels will we abide.” ### [v2.c19.s2.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.50) Serious narratives, too, embodying the purest and most genuine Buddhist morality, are occasionally inserted; thus, the touching story of Prince Dīghāvu (“ Longlived ”), who makes every effort to avenge the murder of his parents, but who, at the very moment when the murderer, King Brahmadatta, is entirely in his power, sheathes his already drawn sword and foregoes his revenge.¹ Finally, similes too, which play such a large part in the sermons and sayings, are not wanting in the Vinayapiṭaka. Thus, for example, in the Cullavagga (IX, 1, 3f.) in a carefully worked out simile, eight qualities of the ocean are compared with eight peculiarities of the Buddhist doctrine and discipline of the order. Here we meet with the oft-quoted sentence : ### [v2.c19.s2.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.51) ¹ Mahāvagga, X, 2, 3-20; SBE, Vol. 17, p. 293 ff. I do not think it very likely that the legend is influenced by the Biblical story of David and Saul (I Sam. 24) as is suggested by \*Copleston\*, Buddhism, p. 103 note. ### [v2.c19.s2.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.52) “Just as, O Bhikkhus, the great ocean has but \*one\* taste, the taste of salt, so, O Bhikkhus, this religion and discipline has but \*one\* taste, the taste of liberation.” ### [v2.c19.s2.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.53) The Vinayapiṭaka texts bear a certain resemblance to the Vedic Brāhmaṇas. In both cases we find “rule” (vidhi) and “explanation of meaning” (arthavāda) side by side, and to the latter belong, in both cases, narrative poems, which appear like oases in the desert of religious technicalities.² ### [v2.c19.s2.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.54) ² See Vol. I, pp. 202 and 208. ### [v2.c19.s2.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.55) The Parivāra, the last book of the Vinayapiṭaka, is an insignificant and much later production, probably only the work of a Singhalese monk.³ This comprises nineteen shorter texts, catechisms, indices, appendices, lists, and so on, very similar to the Anukramaṇīs and Pariśiṣṭas of the Veda and Vedāṅga texts. They are in the form of questions and answers, just like the texts of the Abhidhammapiṭaka, which probably date from the same time. ### [v2.c19.s2.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2.56) ³ SBE, Vol. 13, p. xxiv. ## Linked texts (19) - [Mahāvagga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.khandhaka.mahavagga.2.1) — Pāli - [Cullavagga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.khandhaka.cullavagga.7.3.14) — Pāli - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka.513) — Pāli - [Mahāsakuludāyisutta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.majjhima.77.9.7) — Pāli - [Gopakamoggallānasutta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.majjhima.108.6.2) — Pāli - [Dutiyasikkhattayasutta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.anguttara.3.90.3.1) — Pāli - [Khettasutta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.anguttara.3.83.1.1) — Pāli - [Dīghanikāya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.digha.2.42) — Pāli - [Aṅguttaranikāya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.anguttara.3.83.1) — Pāli - [Mahāvibhaṅga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.suttavibhanga.maha) — Pāli - [Parivāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.parivara) — Pāli - [Milindapañha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.milindapanha) — Pāli - [Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.suttavibhanga.bhikkhuni) — Pāli - [Dhammapada](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada) — Pāli - [Suttavibhaṅga](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.suttavibhanga) — Pāli - [Vinayapiṭaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp) — Pāli - [Suttantapiṭaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp) — Pāli - [Abhidhammapiṭaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.ap) — Pāli - [Pātimokkha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.vp.patimokkha) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s2) · Pramāṇa