Mar Ngok Summer Teaching 2022 Day 10
On day 10 of the Mar Ngok summer teachings, His Holiness resumed the presentation of the order of the First Council, attempting to compile and synthesize disparate accounts from the following four extant sources:
- The Dharmaguptaka “Four-Part Vinaya”
- The Mahīśāsaka “Five-Part Vinaya”
- The Theravāda “Khandhaka”
- The Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya
Comparative sequential ordering of the events of The First Council, according to four disparate traditions of extant Vinaya
The Order of the First Council According to the Dharmaguptaka “Four-Part Vinaya”
- The Mallas’ preparations for the cremation
- Mahākāśyapa learning of the Buddha’s parinirvana
- Mahākāśyapa seeing the Buddha for the last time
- The decision to hold the council
- The bhikshu from Vṛiji teaching Ananda dharma
- Ananda achieving the result
- Discussion regarding minor precepts
- Ananda’s seven faults
- Upāli’s compilation of the Vinaya
- Ananda’s compilation of the basket of Sūtras
- Regarding Pūrṇa
The Order of the First Council According to the Mahīśāsaka “Five-Part Vinaya”
- Mahākāśyapa learning of the Buddha’s parinirvana
- The decision to hold the council
- The bhikshu from Vṛiji teaching Ananda dharma
- Ananda achieving the result
- The five hundred arhats arriving in Rajagriha and making preparations
- Mahākāśyapa asking Upāli about the vinaya
- Mahākāśyapa asking Ananda about the basket of Sūtras
- Regarding minor precepts
- Ananda’s six faults
- The need to keep all minor precepts without distinction
- Regarding Pūrṇa
- Ananda taming the bhikshu Channa
The Order of the First Council According to the Theravāda “Khandhaka”
- Mahākāśyapa learning of the Buddha’s parinirvana
- Ananda’s inclusion among the Bhikshus
- The five hundred bhikshus traveling to Rajagriha and preparing
- Ananda achieving the result
- Upāli compiling the Vinaya
- Ananda compiling the basket of Sūtras
- Discussion of minor precepts
- Ananda’s five faults
- Regarding Pūrṇa
- Ananda taming the bhikshu Channa
- The servant girl offering the dharma robe
- Verses in summary
The Order of the First Council According to the Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya
- Mahākāśyapa learning of the Buddha’s parinirvana
- The decision to hold the council
- 499 Arhats travel to Rajagriha
- Ananda rouses diligence and achieves the result
- The 500 Arhats arrive Rajagriha and prepare the Seven-Leaf Cave
- Kāśyapa Questions Ananda to compile the sūtras
- Kāśyapa questions Upāli to compile the Vinaya
- Upāli explains Ananda’s seven offenses
- 1000 monks gather outside the cave and participate in a discussion about minor precepts
- Not making new rules that the Buddha had not made and holding the ones he did make.
The Karmapa remarked that the most significant differences across accounts were (1) whether Ananda was exiled from the group before achieving arhatship, and (2) the number of Ananda’s faults.
For the remainder of the day 10 teaching, His Holiness completed his detailed presentation of the three final events of The First Council: Upāli’s compilation of the Vinaya, Ananda’s compilation of the basket of Sūtras, and the events regarding Pūrṇa.
Upāli’s compilation of the Vinaya
His Holiness continued, detailing Upāli’s recitation of the vinaya using the Dharmaguptaka “Four-Part Vinaya” as a reference:
As the five hundred arhats arrived in Rajagriha, it was the beginning of the first of the three months of the summer rainy season. The arhats used that month to prepare the places where the Buddha taught: fixing up the buildings, bedding, and so forth. During the second month of the rainy season, the arhats all entered dhyana and practiced meditation. Then in the third month of the rainy season, they all gathered in one place for the compilation of the sūtras. The first speaker was Upāli, who was extremely learned and knew the vinaya best.
At that time, Kāśyapa said, “Venerable ones, if the time has come and you consent, now we shall ask Upāli about the vinaya.”
“Great venerable ones,” said Upāli, “If the time has come and you consent, now Kāśyapa has raised the question, and I shall respond.”
Then Kāśyapa asked, “Where did the first defeat occur? Who committed the offense first?”
Upāli replied, “The place was Vaiśālī. The offender was Sudatta, son of Kalandaka.”
Then Kāśyapa asked, “Where did the second defeat occur?”
Upāli replied, “In Rajagriha, Venerable Dhanika, the potter’s son, first committed the offense.”
Then Kāśyapa asked, “Where did the third defeat occur?”
Upāli replied, “On the banks of the Markaṭa Pond in Vaiśālī, a bhikshu first committed this offense.”
Then Kāśyapa asked, “Where did the fourth defeat occur?”
Upāli replied, “The bhikshus on the banks of the Markaṭa Pond committed this offense.”
In this manner, the Q & A session continued between the pair, listing where and by whom all enumerated offenses were first committed.
Then Kāśyapa asked, “Where did the first remainder occur?”
Upāli replied, “It happened in Śrāvasti. Kālodāyin first committed this offense.”
Kāśyapa asked similarly about the second, third, fourth, and all subsequent remainders.
Kāśyapa then asked: “Where did the first indeterminate dharma occur?”
In response, “It was in Śrāvasti. Kālodāyin was the first to commit this offense.”
Kāśyapa inquired similarly about the second, third, and fourth indeterminate dharmas.
Kāśyapa asked again, “Where did the first forfeiture occur?”
Upāli replied, “It occurred in Śrāvasti. It was the Gang of Six [the six bhikshus who were very badly behaved] who first committed it.”
Kāśyapa asked similarly about the remaining forfeitures.
Then came the section on the downfalls, with questions and answers in similar fashion. There are differences between the number of downfalls in the various accounts. He asked again, “Where did the first confessable occur?” Response: “In Śrāvasti. It occurred because of the Bhikshuni Utpalavarṇā. He asked similarly about the second, third, fourth, and so forth confessables.
He asked again, “Where did the first of the many trainings (offenses) occur?” In response, Upāli said, “It occurred in Śrāvasti. It was the Gang of Six who committed it.” He asked similarly about the first, second, third, fourth, etc., trainings. He also asked about the bhikshuni Prātimokṣa as it appears in the Vinaya.
He asked again, “Where did the first full ordination occur?” In response, “The place was Vārāṇasī. It was given to the Good Group of Five.”
Then: “Where was the vinaya discipline (Prātimokṣa) first taught?” In response, “In Rajagriha. It was taught to many new monks.”
Again he asked, “Where was the first rains retreat held?” In response, “It was in Śrāvasti. It occurred because of the Gang of Six.”
Again he asked, “Where was the first Pravāraṇa (release of strictures) held?” The response: “The place was Śrāvasti. It occurred because of the Gang of Six. He asked similarly about each point up through the bhikshuni Prātimokṣa.
Then the sangha gathered all the points related to bhikshus and compiled the bhikshu Vinaya, and they gathered all the points related bhikshunis and compiled the bhikshuni Vinaya. They gathered together everything related to full ordination and compiled the chapter on ordination. In this way the order of the chapters in the Vinaya was established. They gathered everything related to poṣada (sojong) and compiled the chapter on poṣada. They gathered everything related to the rains retreat, creating the chapter on rains retreat. They gathered everything on pravāraṇa and compiled the chapter on pravāraṇa. They gathered everything related to the usage of leather into the chapter on leather. They gathered everything on the topic of robes into the chapter on robes. They gathered everything on medicines into the chapter on medicines, and they gathered everything on spreading the kaṭhina into the chapter on the kaṭhina. They compiled the bhikshu and bhikshuni Prātimokṣa and Vinaya scriptures, collectively forming the basket of the Vinaya.
His Holiness remarked that because the accounts in the Theravāda “Khandaka” and the “Five-part Vinaya” were basically the same as the “Four-part Vinaya”, with only minor differences, there was no need to go through these.
Ananda’s compilation of the basket of Sūtras
Then, the Karmapa detailed Ananda’s recitation of the sūtras, using the Dharmaguptaka “Four-Part Vinaya” as a reference:
At that time, Kāśyapa asked permission of the sangha, “Great venerable ones, please listen to me. if the time has come and the sangha consents, today I shall ask Ananda everything about the Dharma.”
Ananda also asked permission according to the rituals of that period, “Bhikshus, please listen to me. If the time has come and the sangha consents, may Mahākāśyapa question me, and I shall answer.”
Then Mahākāśyapa began to question Ananda. “Where was the ‘Brahmajāla Sūtra’ taught? Where was the ‘Book of Ones’ taught? Where was the ‘Book of Tens’ taught? Where was the ‘Abhiniṣkrama Sūtra’ (Sutra of the Formation and Destruction of the World) taught? Where was the ‘Sūtra of Great Interdependence’ taught? Where was the ‘Sūtra of Sakra’s Questions’ taught?” Ananda answered each as it appears in the “Long Discourses” (Dirgha nikāya).
Thus the sangha compiled the sūtras and organized them into sections. They compiled the long sūtras and called them the “Long Discourses”. They gathered the medium-length sūtras and called them the “Middle Length Discourses”. There are some sutras which discuss different categories of Dharma going from one category to ten categories. They were compiled together and called the “Numerical Discourses”. They gathered the various sūtras taught to various bhikshus, bhikshunis, lay practitioners, the gods, Śakra, the Maras, and Brahma into the “Connected Discourses”. Together these compilations made the “Four Āgamas”—the “Four Sets of Scriptures”.
Similarly, they also compiled the “Sūtra on Birth”, “Jataka Sūtra”, and so forth.
The Karmapa commented that the “Four Agamas” are missing from the Tibetan canon. This is a difficult situation which needs to be rectified because many scholars these days say that the “Four Āgamas” are examples of the earliest Buddhist scriptures. Only a few sections from the “Four Āgamas”, such as the “Sūtra of Brahma’s Net”, are in the Tibetan Kangyur. The “Four Āgamas” do exist in Pāli and there is also a Sarvāstivāda translation of them, so it would be good if they could be translated into Tibetan in the future.
The Karmapa continued listing sutras: “Sūtra of the Results of Virtuous Karma”, “Sūtra of Gathering”, “Sūtra of No Increase”, “Sūtra of Analogies”, “Sūtra of the Meaning of Words”, “Verses on Dharma” (which exists in a Tibetan translation by Gendun Choephel), “Parayana Sūtra”, “Sūtra of Verses of the Noble Ones”, and so forth. These were compiled into a section called “Various Sūtras”, known as “Many Sūtras” in Tibetan.
Also, they gathered the relevant texts into the basket of the Abhidharma. And so the sangha compiled the three baskets (pitakas): the Vinaya, Sūtras, and Abhidharma.
As the “Five-Part Vinaya” and Theravāda “Khandhaka” give similar renditions of (1) where, (2) by whom, and (3) for whom each sūtra was said. His Holiness moved on to the section regarding Pūrṇa, an important student of the Buddha, said to have the greatest skill in teaching dharma, but who had not been included in the First Council until this juncture.
Events regarding Pūrṇa
Pūrṇa was said to be the foremost at teaching dharma. However, he was not in Rajagriha at that time. Having heard that five hundred arhats had gathered there to compile the sutras and vinaya, he traveled with five hundred bhikshus to Rajagriha. (The Karmapa reminded everyone not to take the number ‘500’ literally.) They arrived where Kāśyapa and the others were staying and Pūrṇa said, “We have heard, Venerable, that you and five hundred arhats have been compiling the dharma and the vinaya. I would like to participate and hear the dharma.”
His Holiness posed a question at this point: If Pūrṇa led five hundred bhikshus to Rajagriha, where there were already five hundred monks, wouldn’t there have been one thousand monks gathered? However, later it was stated that there were no more than five hundred bhikshus at the First Council. This issue remains unresolved.
Pūrṇa listened to the discussion of the vinaya, and when they had finished, he raised questions about eight of the dharmas. The Karmapa explained seven of these, based on a commentary which only lists seven: (1) whether it was permissible to store food in the monastery; (2) whether it was permissible to cook food for the sangha inside the monastery; (3) whether a bhikshu was allowed to cook food for himself; (4) whether a bhikshu could eat food that had not been given; (5) whether it was permissible to pick fruit and food growing naturally; (6) whether it was permissible to pick food growing naturally in water; (7) whether it was possible to peel fruit. [The eighth one is ‘only eating in the morning’ and is often combined with No.7.] Pūrṇa maintained that he had heard the Buddha directly in his presence say that all these practices were allowed.
Kāśyapa explained that the Buddha had allowed exceptions as a contingency in a particular situation when the harvests had been poor and there was a famine. Out of compassion, the Buddha waived the eight dharmas. “However, later, when the harvests improved, food and drink became plentiful, and people once again had bountiful resources of food and clothing, the Buddha again revised the vinaya rules, and included those eight dharmas among the prohibited precepts.”
Pūrṇa argued, “Venerable Kāśyapa, the Buddha is omniscient. Once he had made a rule, he did not then allow it and later again not allow it, revising his earlier precepts.”
Kāśyapa said, “It is because the Buddha was omniscient that he made the vinaya rules, but he allowed or prohibited them according to the situation or time. Pūrṇa, this is the extent of what we are compiling. We are not making rules that the Buddha did not make, and if the Buddha made a rule, we are not discarding it. We are taking what the Buddha said as the basis, following it, and studying it.”
His Holiness remarked that the accounts regarding Pūrṇa are essentially the same according to the “Five-Part Vinaya” and the Theravāda “Khandhaka”. Pūrṇa was an important elder in the community and voiced his opinions and objections. It seems he disagreed with some of the things which Kāśyapa and the 500 arhats had agreed at the First Council.
The day’s teaching ended with a reminder that we will recite the “Offerings to Shakyamuni” puja as this year’s Mar Ngok teachings conclude. His Holiness aspires to write a praise of the Buddha for this puja, to accumulate merit.
