Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c19.s9.1

v1.c19.s9.1

Following the practice of the non-Buddhist sects, Buddha introduced (tradition says at the instance of King Bimbisāra) the fortnightly sitting of monks either on the 14th or 15th (and/or 8th) day, to hold discussions about the Dhamma and Vinaya and to recite the rules of the *Pātimokkha*.¹ Before the recitation, the preliminaries to be attended to, were: Sweeping of the Uposatha hall, provision of seats, lamps and drinking water, formal announcement of the day, declaration of *Pārisuddhi* of all the members, selection of monks to put and answer questions relating to *dhamma* and *vinaya*, counting of the members to ascertain the completeness of the Sangha.²