[Buddha-l] Gremium, Ordination and Vinaya

[Richard Hayes]

On Jul 24, 2009, at 3:07 AM, Chris Fynn wrote:

> In the Tibetan tradition the vinaya is "secret" and supposed to only  
> be
> studied by monks.

The same is apparently true in Taiwan. I had a Taiwanese Buddhist nun  
in my class many years ago, and she was horrified when I gave the  
students some sections of the Theravāda vinaya to read. She said that  
knowing the vinaya as a lay person makes a person ineligible for the  
rest of her life to receive ordination. She said I was therefore an  
obstacle to the Dharma, since I was making it impossible for my  
students to become monks. I told her that such a prohibition does not  
exist in Theravāda; I can now cite as evidence the fact that one of my  
former students just sent me a photograph of himself in robes after  
taking upasampadā in Thailand. (Please forgive the redundancy. The  
term "upasampadā" means "the act of taking", and it makes no sense to  
say "taking the act of taking." So early in the day, and already I  
digress.)

> Most say laypeople are not supposed to read since it
> is believed they might misinterpret things and loose respect for the
> monastic sangha - which would of course be detrimental to their
> spiritual well being.

Something I have heard Theravādin monks say is that if one studies the  
vinaya at all, then one should study it very thoroughly, because  
without a very thorough knowledge, one is likely to misconstrue the  
rules and procedures for deciding how they are to be followed. The  
principle, not unknown in other fields of study, is that a little bit  
of knowledge is a dangerous thing. It is not surprising that there are  
contexts in which the default assumption is that lay people will  
probably dabble in vinaya rather than to dive deeply into it.

> IMO if some teacher has seriously harmed someone they should  
> probably be
> sued for damages in the court - or, where that harm involves a crime,
> reported to the police. Reporting to a "Buddhist panel" only invites
> cover-up.

As I understand it, this is how civil matters have been handled since  
the beginning of the vinaya. A violation of the laws of the land is  
automatically a vinaya offense. Similarly, being in financial debt and  
being a deserter from the army are obstacles to ordination.  
(Interesting that one cannot become a beggar, at least in a Buddhist  
context, if one is in debt. That makes to digressions in one posting.  
Somebody stop me before I digress again!)

This whole preoccupation with being a pseudo-bhikkhu is a pseudo- 
problem. There is absolutely nothing to prevent anyone from shaving  
his or her head and wearing robes and teaching Dharma. It is not  
considered offensive to dress like a monk. What IS a vinaya offense is  
to attend paṭimokkha recitations if one has not received ordination  
or if one has been permanently or temporarily disbarred from attended  
those ceremonies. It is also an offense to participate in the quorum  
of ten monks in good standing (known in Buddhist circles as a minyan)  
that are required to give ordination to a new monk if one is not in  
fact a monk in good standing. If one is not illegitimately attending  
paṭimokkha or upasampadā ceremonies, then one is not posing as a  
bhikkhu in a way that requires action. And if one IS attending those  
ceremonies on false pretenses, there are procedures within the vinaya  
for dealing with the matter. No Gremium other than the bhikkhu-sangha  
is necessary.


Dayāmati Dharmacārī (posing as a secular professor of Buddhist  
philosophy)