CHAPTER SIX
Aniyata
This term means “indefinite.” The rules in this section do not assign definite or fixed penalties, but instead give procedures by which the Community may pass judgment when a bhikkhu in uncertain circumstances is accused of having committed an offense. There are two training rules here.
1
Should any bhikkhu sit in private, alone with a woman on a seat secluded …
… It was because of the Buddha’s teaching that illnesses should be treated whenever possible that the Vinaya—the collection of rules for the monks and nuns—includes detailed instructions on medical treatments and medicines for a wide variety of diseases. In fact, it was through the spread of the Dhamma and Vinaya throughout South, Southeast, and Central Asia that Indian medical knowledge spread …
… But with only a few exceptions, the
Canon limits its accounts to incidents that carried lessons in
Dhamma & Vinaya.
This chapter begins with one of the few exceptions: a poem
attributed to Ven. Kāludāyin, a monk not otherwise identified
in the Vinaya or the four nikāyas. The Commentary asserts that,
as a lay person, he was sent by the Buddha’s father to invite …
… As we noted under NP 23, the Vinaya-mukha—arguing from the parallel between sugar cane juice, which is a juice drink, and sugar, which is made by boiling sugar cane juice—maintains that boiled juice would fit under sugar in the five tonics. This opinion, however, is not accepted in all Communities. In those that do accept it, pasteurized juice, juice concentrates, and …
… The Vinaya-mukha seems more correct in using the Great Standards to say that all forms of sugar and molasses, no matter what the source, would be included here. Thus maple syrup and beet-sugar would come under this rule.
The Vinaya-mukha—arguing from the parallel between sugar cane juice, which is a juice drink, and sugar, which is made by boiling sugar …
… The Vinaya-mukha interprets the allowance in these instances as valid only if one’s health is in serious jeopardy.
Dangers to the holy life
If anyone tries to tempt a bhikkhu, offering him wealth or a wife (or to be his wife), or if he sees abandoned treasure, and in any of these cases he reflects, “The Blessed One says that the mind …
… They look at the Dhamma and Vinaya of the Buddha, and notice that it had many analogous marvelous qualities as well. So when your practice begins to flag, remind yourself that you’ve got a good road map here, the most reliable one there is. It’s been tested for more than two thousand years. It deals with the big issues in life, issues …
… Angulimala, Devadatta, Saccaka, and then all the
monks and nuns who created trouble in ways that forced him to
formulate the Vinaya. The Buddha went to great lengths to teach people
to talk to themselves in new ways. And of course, from the talking to
themselves in new ways, then they would learn to act in new ways,
too.
This is why meditation starts …
… You may categorically hold, ‘This is not the Dhamma,
this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher’s
instruction.’
“As for the qualities of which you may know, ‘These qualities
lead to utter disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to
calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding’: You
may categorically hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya,
this is …
… You can find them in the Buddha’s teaching to Gotami about the eight
basic principles for measuring what’s Dhamma and Vinaya what’s not.
The three are these: how you relate to yourself in the practice, what
goals you’ve set for the practice, and how your practice has an impact
on other people. For your practice to be good in a …
… Finally, the naga appears to Ajaan Mun and says, “I’ve been watching
you, and unlike other monks, you’re actually hold by the Vinaya.”
That’s why Ajaan Mun was then able to teach him. So have a sense that
you’re being watched. Live frugally. Speak frugally. The more careful
you are with your mouth, the more value your words will have …
… Look at his teachings to the monks, especially in the Vinaya. Someone
does something wrong and he calls him a “worthless person,” which is
harsh, and then he gives that person a real dressing down. And in all
of those cases, we notice, when the Buddha asked him, did you actually
do this? The person will ‘fess up and say, “Yes, that’s something …
… In the Vinaya, the monks’ rules, there’s a very large section
devoted to medical care. The Buddha recognized that some illnesses
respond to medicine and others don’t. When the medicines are
available, use them.
Think of that story about Ajaan Mun that Ajaan Fuang told. When there
was a monk who was be sick, and there was no medicine, if the monk …
… But you have to remember the set of standards the Buddha
taught his stepmother about how we can know what’s Dhamma and Vinaya.
One of them is that it leads to dispassion; another is that it leads
to being unburdensome. This is a case where dispassion trumps
unburdensomeness. We do burden people sometimes by the fact that we
can’t buy things. They …
… There’s a story in the Vinaya of a group of monks who began the Rains retreat with a vow: “Okay, we’re not going to talk to each other. Each person just maintain silence throughout the Rains.” At the end of the retreat they went to see the Buddha, very proud of the fact that they had succeeded in not talking to each …
… living in the forest, eating out of his bowl, being very
strict about the Vinaya. But as he said, if you want to be a noble
one, you have to practice by the customs of the noble ones, and not by
the customs of any particular country, because every country’s customs
are put together by people with defilements.
The customs of the noble …
… In the Vinaya, the monks’ rules, there’s a very large section devoted to medical care. The Buddha recognized that some illnesses respond to medicine and others don’t. When the medicines are available, use them.
Think of that story about Ajaan Mun that Ajaan Fuang told. When there was a monk who was sick and there was no medicine, if the monk asked …
… They
stuck fast to what they knew of the Dhamma and the Vinaya, and even
that they tested.
This is a principle that Ajaan Mun trained in all of his students: one
was the confidence that they could actually do the practice and figure
out what was genuine Dhamma from what’s not, and two, that it depended
on their own truthfulness, their own …
… He wasn’t in a position
where he could tell us what we have to do, aside from the monks
who—once we become ordained—are committed to following the teachings,
following the Vinaya. But otherwise, there’s no imposition. But he
spoke as an expert: If you want true happiness, this is what you’ve
got to do. We follow the path voluntarily …
… He set out the Dhamma, set out
the Vinaya, the monastic rules, in such a way that his teaching has
been able to survive up until now.
When you look at his life, there are three qualities that stand out.
The first is wisdom or discernment, his ability to realize what needed
to be done, his ability to gauge what he had learned about …
Aniyata | The Buddhist Monastic Code, Volumes I & II
CHAPTER SIX Aniyata This term means “indefinite.” The rules in this section do not assign definite or fixed penalties, but instead give procedures by which the Community may pass judgment when a bhikkhu in uncertain circumstances is accused of having committed an offense. There are two training rules here. 1 Should any bhikkhu sit in private, alone with a woman on a seat secluded …
Nobility is the Best Policy
… In the Vinaya, the monks’ rules, there’s a very large section devoted to medical care. The Buddha recognized that some illnesses respond to medicine and others don’t. When the medicines are available, use them. Think of that story about Ajaan Mun that Ajaan Fuang told. When there was a monk who was be sick, and there was no medicine, if the monk …
