[Buddha-l] Vinaya Texts trans/ed. by Oldenberg

[Chris Fynn]

Weng-Fai Wong wrote:
> By the way, in Chinese Buddhism (not sure if this is the case in Tibetan
> Buddhism), lay people are NOT to read the Vinaya. I was told that the same
> is true in Theravada Buddhism - till the "red hair devils" came along.
> 
> W.F. Wong

In the Tibetan (Mulasarvastivada vinaya) tradition the non-ordained may 
not study the vinaya. One of the reasons given is that this might cause 
people to lose faith in the Sangha ~ one of the Three Jewels ~ and thus 
break their vows of refuge. I think there may even be some prohibition 
which forbids ordaining people with blond hair ~ if they knew about red 
heads back in the good old days they surely would have banned them too. :-)

- C