This article surveys two sources of ethics in Theravada Buddhism. Firstly, it briefly surveys the texts that record the process of the proclamation of training rules. Secondly, it investigates the main events which provoked proclamation. This process of setting down an ethical standard itself emerges from both an intuitive sense of ethics held by society and the realized ethics of the Buddha. Further, though the proclamation of the 227 vows is designed to restrain physical and verbal action, the underlying purpose of the vows is to control the mind's motivating unethical action. This survey will show that of the three roots of ignorance, aversion, and attachment, the vows are primarily directed to eliminating the root of attachment.
The Buddha's declaration of ethical rules was seen as one of his two fundamental responsibilities. He states in the Suttavibhanga: "The enlightened ones, the lords, question the monks concerning two matters, either 'Shall we teach dhamma?' or 'Shall we declare the course of training for the disciples?' "1 In proclaiming training rules, the Buddha not only delineated the basic modes of behavior that facilitate the attainment of the transcendent state, but he also defined how the lay and ordained may interact ethically within society. This process is not simply the imposition of an ethical code by ecclesiastic edict; it evinces a twofold process that has as much to do with social action as religious innovation. As such the rules demonstrate the inductive tendency of society to intuitively reject various types of action and the complementary deductive tendency of the Buddha to deduce, from the general principle of nibbana, modes of behavior that conform to nibbana and lead to nibbana.
In this study I shall focus on the record of ethical jurisprudence covering the proclamation of the 227 rules for monks within the Theravada tradition and the general trends that explain the structure and function of the vows. This process of ethical proclamation reflects the relationship between the laity and the ordained, and the social tension surrounding the idea of the sacred and how it should be represented. This process is revealed in the discourses on discipline (Vinaya-pitaka), which present a diverse field of phenomenological data recorded in the centuries after the passing of the Buddha. They are accounts of religious jurisprudence that not only form the basis of a descriptive phenomenology but also bear the mark of different layers of interpretation. Because this material forms the basis of this investigation, its historicity and the conditions surrounding its accumulation require some examination.
目次
A Survey of the Textual Sources 144 The Preconditions for the Proclamation of Vows 147 The Relative Severity of the Vows 149 A Survey of the Events Initiating the Proclamation of Training Rules 151 A Brief Analysis of the Precedents 153 Conclusion 160 Abbreviations 161 Notes 162 References 166
