Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c13.124

v1.c13.124

Khandhakā.—The name given to a portion of the Vinaya Piṭaka. This is generally further divided into two parts, the Mahāvagga and the Cullavagga. It contains an attempt to give a coherent picture of the whole legal life of the Saṅgha, with detailed and connected accounts of the admission thereto, the ceremony of the uposatha, the annually recurring observances connected with the rainy season, etc. An account is given, in the case of each regulation, of the occasion on which it was formulated by the Buddha. The separate chapters are arranged in chronological order, and are intended to present a connected account of ecclesiastical history from the time of the Enlightenment of the Buddha down to that of the Second Council, convened one hundred years after the death of the Buddha.¹ In many ways the Khandhakā resemble the Sutta Vibhaṅga of the Vinaya, but while in the case of the Vibhaṅga the stories were added later to an original basis of regulations, the Pātimokkha, in that of the Khandhakā the regulations and the stories were contemporary.