BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Saṅghādisesa Chapter 5 1) The members of the group advocate one or more of the 18 grounds forcreating schism. 2) On the basis of any of these 18 points, they draw themselves apart,performing a separate Pāṭimokkha recitation, a separate Invitation, (or) aseparate Community transaction.The Parivāra (XV.10.9), trying to collate these two patterns into one, lists five waysin which a schism can take place: discussion, announcement, vote, transaction,and recitation. The Commentary interprets the five ways as four steps in a singleprocess (with the last two ways counting as alternative forms of a single step):1) Discussion. A bhikkhu aiming at schism advocates any of the 18 positionslisted above.2) Announcement. He announces that he is splitting off from the Communityand asks other bhikkhus to take sides.3) Vote. The issue goes to a vote in a Community of at least nine bhikkhus,with at least four on either side.4) Transaction or recitation. The bhikkhus who side with the schismatic splitfrom the others and recite the Pāṭimokkha or perform another Communitytransaction separately.According to the Commentary, the actual schism has not taken place until step 4,when the schismatic group conducts communal business separately within thesame territory as the group from which it has split. This is in accordance withCv.VII.5.2 but conflicts with Cv.VII.5.1, so the Commentary explains that if the voteis taken in a split-off meeting of the Community, steps 3 and 4 happensimultaneously, and the schism has been accomplished. Otherwise, if the vote istaken outside of the territory, the schism is not finalized until the split-off factionconducts Community transactions separately within the same territory as the otherfaction (Pv.VI.2 & XV.10.10).However, it's possible that the compilers of the Cullavagga intentionally listed twopatterns for a schism because there are two ways in which it can happen: bilaterallyand unilaterally. In a bilateral schism, the schismatic group meets with the groupfrom which it is splitting and asks everyone to take sides. This is the patternpresented in Cv.VII.5.1. In a unilateral schism, the schismatic group meets on itsown, announces that it has separated from the other bhikkhus in the same territory,and conducts Community transactions separately from them. This is the patternpresented in Cv.VII.5.2.The Vinaya-mukha, in trying to make the case that not all the canonical Vinayareflects the Buddha's intent, focuses on these detailed descriptions of schism as acase in point, arguing that they actually encourage schism by providing preciseinstructions for how to go about it. This, it says, is not the sort of thing an125