BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 1attainments who had succeeded in subduing many or all of their mental defilements.They knew his teachings well and behaved accordingly. The Canon tells of how Ven.Sāriputta, one of the Buddha's foremost disciples, asked the Buddha at an earlydate to formulate a Pāṭimokkha, or code of rules, to ensure that the celibate life theBuddha had founded would last long, just as a thread holding together a floralarrangement ensures that the flowers are not scattered by the wind. The Buddhareplied that the time for such a code had not yet come, for even the most backwardof the men in the Community at that time had already had their first glimpse of thegoal. Only when mental effluents (āsava) made themselves felt in the Communitywould there be a need for a Pāṭimokkha.As time passed, the conditions that provided an opening for the effluents within theCommunity eventually began to appear. The Bhaddāli Sutta (MN 65) presents theBuddha at a later point in his career listing these conditions as five:Ven. Bhaddāli: "Why is it, venerable sir, that there used to be fewer training rulesand more bhikkhus established in the knowledge of Awakening? And why is it thatthere are now more training rules and fewer bhikkhus established in the knowledgeof Awakening?" [Bhaddāli, who has been unwilling to abide by the training rules,seems to be suggesting that the rise in the number of training rules is itself thecause for fewer bhikkhus' attaining Awakening. The Buddha, however, offers adifferent explanation.]The Buddha: "So it is, Bhaddāli. When beings have begun to degenerate and thetrue Dhamma has begun to disappear, there are more training rules and fewerbhikkhus established in the knowledge of Awakening. The Teacher does not laydown a training rule for his disciples as long as there are no cases where theconditions that offer a foothold for the effluents have arisen in the Community. Butwhen there are cases where the conditions that offer a foothold for the effluentshave arisen in the Community, then the Teacher lays down a training rule for hisdisciples so as to counteract those very conditions."There are no cases where the conditions that offer a foothold for the effluents havearisen in the Community as long as the Community has not become large. But whenthe Community has become large, then there are cases where the conditions thatoffer a foothold for the effluents arise in the Community, and the Teacher then laysdown a training rule for his disciples so as to counteract those very conditions...When the Community possesses great material gains... great status... a large bodyof learning... When the Community is long-standing, then there are cases where theconditions that offer a foothold for the effluents arise in the Community, and theTeacher then lays down a training rule for his disciples so as to counteract thosevery conditions."Thus the rules themselves were not the cause for degeneracy in the Community,and the conditions that provided a foothold for the effluents were not themselveseffluents. Rather, the growing complexity of the Community provided the opportunityfor bhikkhus to act on the basis of their defilements in a growing variety of ways,and the rules — although they could not prevent any of the five conditions — had tovi