The History of Buddhist Thought c10.18

c10.18

The Pātimokkha was used at the fortnightly fast-day (posatha), when it was recited at the meeting of the monks held at new moon and at full moon.² Oldenberg held that its present shape, or at least in its most essential parts, might reach back to Buddha’s own time or to that of his personal disciples.³ This view is now strengthened by the fact that we are now able to compare the formulary as used by several schools, Pāli and Sanskrit, and there is essential agreement between them. The arrangement is exactly the same in all, and the rules for the most part agree in their actual wording and numbering.⁴ This implies that we have it practically in the form it had assumed before any sects arose.