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Promulgate rules, regulations and prohibitions to prevent the…
Promulgate rules, regulations and prohibitions to prevent the deterioration of the Order (Content of the Patimokkha )
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Introduction: The Buddha really needed to make many rules and limits to keep the monk group (Sangha) good and clean. He made these rules bit by bit, as different problems came up in the growing monk community. Here are some examples to show this
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- Make sure the group would last a long time as a place for spiritual growth
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- Stop the group of monks from getting worse
To sum up, these examples show that the Buddha had to make many rules because of specific problems that came up. He did this to:
- Nissaggiya Pācittiya Rules
These rules, which mean giving up things and saying sorry, were often about owning and using stuff. For example:
b) Rules about money: After some monks started saving up lots of money, the Buddha said monks can't take or touch gold or silver (which was used as money back then).
a) Rules about clothes: The Buddha made rules about how many monk clothes a monk could have and how long they could keep extra clothes.
These less serious rules, where monks had to say sorry, were made to keep everyone getting along nicely:
a) No digging: This rule came after monks dug in the ground, which upset local spirits and made people complain.
b) Eating rules: The Buddha made rules about when and how to eat to stop monks from being greedy and to keep them looking respectable.
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Rules for fixing arguments were made to keep peace among the monks.
We can see how the Buddha made these rules in the Vinaya Pitaka, a Buddhist book. In one part of this book, each rule comes after a story that tells why it was needed. This shows that the Buddha made rules when problems came up.
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"At first, Bhaddali, there were only a few rules for monks, and many monks understood freedom well. But as time went on, and more people learned about Buddhism, we needed more rules."
This shows that the Buddha knew that as more people became monks, more rules were needed to keep things from getting bad.
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The Vinaya also shows that the Buddha made rules bit by bit. He often changed rules as he learned more and as things changed. For example, he changed the rule about taking food many times to make sure monks got what they needed, but also to stop people from taking advantage.
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