Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project: Analysis & Explication of the Bhikkhunis’ Code of Monastic Disciple (Vinaya Precepts)
With the contemporary and spreading revival of the Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha, knowledge of the monastic precepts and disciple of Theravada bhikkhunis has come to be of increasing interest and importance.
In 2012, the Alliance for Bhikkhunis seeded a request in support of an international team of monastics to create a new, digitized and freely available translation of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga of the Pali texts. Since 2012, there have been three intensive sessions of the project held in New Zealand, in the United States and in Sri Lanka. There isn’t a schedule yet for the fourth intensive session of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project, but Ayya Tathaaloka is hopeful that this can occur in 2020 or 2021.
Also known as the “Analysis and Explication” of the monastic precepts, the Vibhanga (pronounced: Veeb-hung-guh) texts comprise a full half of the Buddhist Monastic Code of Discipline or Vinaya. Of that half, 60% of the discipline is fully shared by the Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Sanghas; while 40% is either somewhat different or unique to the bhikkhunis’ community. The Bhikkhuni Vibhanga contains the explication and analysis of that 40%, that is, the unique discipline developed by and for the ancient bhikkhunis’ communities themselves.
The Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project entails reviewing and making known all available comparative Vinaya resources, providing full and clear references across Buddhist traditions. The Vibhanga gives background stories for all of the precepts, letting the student know under what type of circumstances and situations each precept was established and developed, and thus what types of situations it refers to. It also gives definitions for all of the words contained within the precepts to both clarify and establish their meaning. This is utterly essential information for those who would train themselves with the discipline developed by the Buddha for his monastic communities. It is also essential information to understand the discipline at anything more than a superficial level for those who would like to know it’s deep meaning and processes. This is especially so for those who wish to tap into, learn from and draw from the wisdom and means contained in the discipline taught by the Buddha for the sake of our modern word, whether it be for teachers in their teaching, practitioners in their practice, or scholars in their studies and work in the greater fields of human ethics and law, which touch and affect all of our lives.
The Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Patimokkhas are the bare form of the precepts themselves. The goal of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project team is to search out and compile historically relevant material while reviewing all comparative sources to create a comprehensive Bhikkhuni Patimokkha vocabulary, as well as a new translation of the Patimokkha, well and fully researched and informed by and in accordance with a fully researched and newly-translated Bhikkhuni Vibhanga.
Value for inter-traditional studies and understanding
This new translation of the Pali-language Bhikkhuni Vibhanga will be with annotated reference to the still-extant (even newly-rediscovered) other-language renditions of the Buddhist Monastic Code, including the still-living traditions of the four-part Dharmaguptaka Vinaya preserved and currently in use by East Asian Buddhist monastic traditions, and the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya currently preserved and in use by the Tibetan traditions. These will be referenced together with the monastic code texts of traditions that have already passed out of active Buddhist monastic communal use but from which much which is of value from our Buddhist heritage can still be gleaned and understood.
This level comparative inter-traditional work offers a substantial contribution to further knowledge, understanding and mutual compassion between diverse Buddhist traditions. This is especially so with regards to the related subjects of women’s ordination and monastic discipline, both for those in Theravada traditions to know much more about their peers of other Buddhist monastic traditions; and for those of other Buddhist monastic traditions, be they Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese or Tibetan traditions, who would like to understand the discipline and practice of their monastic brothers and sisters in Theravada traditions more deeply.
Supporting the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project
Your contribution supports comprehensive, international collaboration to make the best information on the Vinaya (monastic code) for bhikkhunis both clear and accessible. Your support enables a team of monastics (academics and translators amongst them) to search out, compile and make accessible the relevant material.
PROJECT COLLABORATORS
Venerable (Ayya) Tathaloka Mahatheri is an American-born Theravadin monastic, scholar and Buddhist teacher and a key figure in reinstating the full bhikkhuni ordination for monastic women in Theravada Buddhism. She began her entry into monastic life nearly 30 years ago at age 19, and has studied various Theravada Buddhist forest and insight meditation traditions extensively, as well as training for a decade under her South Korean elder bhikkhuni mentor’s guidance. Venerable Tathaloka is founding abbess of Dhammadharini “Women Upholding the Dhamma,” including Dhammadharini Sonoma Mountain Bhikkhuni Monastery and the Aranya Bodhi Awakening Forest Hermitage in Northern California. She is recipient of the 2006 Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award, was a presenting scholar at the 2007 International Congress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha, and appointed Preceptor for the historically significant 2009 Bhikkhuni Ordination held in Perth, Australia, as well as seven of the bhikkhuni ordinations in USA and Australia that have followed from 2010-17. She is the founding abbess, senior teacher and preceptor of the Dhammadharini Sangha.
Venerable Adhimutta Bhikkhuni entered monastic life as a Mae Chee in 2005 at Wat Ram Poeng with Ajahn Suphan, subsequently going forth as a Samaneri at Santi Forest Monastery in 2008 and then as a Bhikkhuni at Aranya Bodhi Hermitage in 2010 both with Ayya Tathaloka Theri as Preceptor. She is currently based in New Zealand, and is involved with the establishment of the New Zealand Bhikkhuni Sangha Trust.
Ayya Adhimutti is of the view that an important part of re-establishing the Theravadin Bhikkhuni Sangha is to ensure that the early Vinaya texts are both accessible and understandable. Having the texts concerning the vinaya readily available would enable the bhikkhunis to connect with the heart and the underlying spirit of their discipline. This would mean that the precise guidelines emerging from these texts could be understood in an open and flexible way, which would be based on the depth and clarity which comes from rigorous scholarship. In this way, bhikkhunis would have the opportunity to connect more directly with the original intentions of the Buddha in establishing the Bhikkhuni Sangha.
Ayya Adhimutti has worked extensively with developing study resources for the Pali-text vocabulary of the Bhikkhuni Patimokkha, and has been a coordinator and/or participant in the first three intensive sessions of the Project.
Alison Hoffmann became interested in the teaching of the Buddha about 30 years ago. Since then, alongside deepening her own practice, she has supported other women practitioners, in particular, women monastics who live a life of renunciation. She sees the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga project as an important means of validating the existence of the Bhikkhuni Sangha as lived today – in accord with the original teaching. Working with Venerable Nibbida, who provided guidance with concept meaning and helped with text preparation, she made a start on translating into English the German commentary of Professor Ute Huesken’s German translation of the Pali-text Bhikkhuni Vibhanga and its commentary and subcommentaries, which was the first contemporary translation of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga into a European language. Alison is also a founding council member of the newly-registered New Zealand Bhikkhuni Sangha Trust, one of the aims of which is to support and enable bhikkhunis’ deeper study and understanding of their ancient texts of discipline.
Additional Project Consultants
- Prof. Ute Huesken, translator of the Pali-text Bhikkhuni Vibhanga and its commentary and subcommentaries into German. Pali and Sanskrit text consultant to the Project, spec. Pali Bhikkhuni Vibhanga and Commentaries
- Ven Bhikkhu Brahmali, contemporary translator of the Pali-text Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Vibhangas
- Ven Bhikkhu Nyanatusita, comparative Pali, Sanskrit & Chinese text consultant, Bhikkhu Vinaya consultant
- Ven Bhikkhu Sujato, Pali in light of comparative text consultant
- Prof. Amy Paris Langenberg, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Mahasanghika-Lokuttaravada Bhikkhuni Vinaya text consultant
- Prof. Ann Heirmann, Classical Buddhist Chinese, esp. Dharmaguptaka Bhiksuni Vinaya text consultant
- Ven Bhikkhuni Seri, multi-traditional Classical Buddhist Chinese text consultant
- ***Tibetan Mulasarvastivada Bhikkhuni Vibhanga consultant needed***
Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project: Analysis & Explication of the Bhikkhunis’ Code of Monastic Disciple (Vinaya Precepts)
With the contemporary and spreading revival of the Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha, knowledge of the monastic precepts and disciple of Theravada bhikkhunis has come to be of increasing interest and importance.
In 2012, the Alliance for Bhikkhunis seeded a request in support of an international team of monastics to create a new, digitized and freely available translation of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga of the Pali texts. Since 2012, there have been three intensive sessions of the project held in New Zealand, in the United States and in Sri Lanka. There isn’t a schedule yet for the fourth intensive session of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project, but Ayya Tathaaloka is hopeful that this can occur in 2020 or 2021.
Also known as the “Analysis and Explication” of the monastic precepts, the Vibhanga (pronounced: Veeb-hung-guh) texts comprise a full half of the Buddhist Monastic Code of Discipline or Vinaya. Of that half, 60% of the discipline is fully shared by the Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Sanghas; while 40% is either somewhat different or unique to the bhikkhunis’ community. The Bhikkhuni Vibhanga contains the explication and analysis of that 40%, that is, the unique discipline developed by and for the ancient bhikkhunis’ communities themselves.
The Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project entails reviewing and making known all available comparative Vinaya resources, providing full and clear references across Buddhist traditions. The Vibhanga gives background stories for all of the precepts, letting the student know under what type of circumstances and situations each precept was established and developed, and thus what types of situations it refers to. It also gives definitions for all of the words contained within the precepts to both clarify and establish their meaning. This is utterly essential information for those who would train themselves with the discipline developed by the Buddha for his monastic communities. It is also essential information to understand the discipline at anything more than a superficial level for those who would like to know it’s deep meaning and processes. This is especially so for those who wish to tap into, learn from and draw from the wisdom and means contained in the discipline taught by the Buddha for the sake of our modern word, whether it be for teachers in their teaching, practitioners in their practice, or scholars in their studies and work in the greater fields of human ethics and law, which touch and affect all of our lives.
The Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Patimokkhas are the bare form of the precepts themselves. The goal of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project team is to search out and compile historically relevant material while reviewing all comparative sources to create a comprehensive Bhikkhuni Patimokkha vocabulary, as well as a new translation of the Patimokkha, well and fully researched and informed by and in accordance with a fully researched and newly-translated Bhikkhuni Vibhanga.
Value for inter-traditional studies and understanding
This new translation of the Pali-language Bhikkhuni Vibhanga will be with annotated reference to the still-extant (even newly-rediscovered) other-language renditions of the Buddhist Monastic Code, including the still-living traditions of the four-part Dharmaguptaka Vinaya preserved and currently in use by East Asian Buddhist monastic traditions, and the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya currently preserved and in use by the Tibetan traditions. These will be referenced together with the monastic code texts of traditions that have already passed out of active Buddhist monastic communal use but from which much which is of value from our Buddhist heritage can still be gleaned and understood.
This level comparative inter-traditional work offers a substantial contribution to further knowledge, understanding and mutual compassion between diverse Buddhist traditions. This is especially so with regards to the related subjects of women’s ordination and monastic discipline, both for those in Theravada traditions to know much more about their peers of other Buddhist monastic traditions; and for those of other Buddhist monastic traditions, be they Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese or Tibetan traditions, who would like to understand the discipline and practice of their monastic brothers and sisters in Theravada traditions more deeply.
Supporting the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga Project
Your contribution supports comprehensive, international collaboration to make the best information on the Vinaya (monastic code) for bhikkhunis both clear and accessible. Your support enables a team of monastics (academics and translators amongst them) to search out, compile and make accessible the relevant material.
PROJECT COLLABORATORS
Venerable (Ayya) Tathaloka Mahatheri is an American-born Theravadin monastic, scholar and Buddhist teacher and a key figure in reinstating the full bhikkhuni ordination for monastic women in Theravada Buddhism. She began her entry into monastic life nearly 30 years ago at age 19, and has studied various Theravada Buddhist forest and insight meditation traditions extensively, as well as training for a decade under her South Korean elder bhikkhuni mentor’s guidance. Venerable Tathaloka is founding abbess of Dhammadharini “Women Upholding the Dhamma,” including Dhammadharini Sonoma Mountain Bhikkhuni Monastery and the Aranya Bodhi Awakening Forest Hermitage in Northern California. She is recipient of the 2006 Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award, was a presenting scholar at the 2007 International Congress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha, and appointed Preceptor for the historically significant 2009 Bhikkhuni Ordination held in Perth, Australia, as well as seven of the bhikkhuni ordinations in USA and Australia that have followed from 2010-17. She is the founding abbess, senior teacher and preceptor of the Dhammadharini Sangha.
Venerable Adhimutta Bhikkhuni entered monastic life as a Mae Chee in 2005 at Wat Ram Poeng with Ajahn Suphan, subsequently going forth as a Samaneri at Santi Forest Monastery in 2008 and then as a Bhikkhuni at Aranya Bodhi Hermitage in 2010 both with Ayya Tathaloka Theri as Preceptor. She is currently based in New Zealand, and is involved with the establishment of the New Zealand Bhikkhuni Sangha Trust.
Ayya Adhimutti is of the view that an important part of re-establishing the Theravadin Bhikkhuni Sangha is to ensure that the early Vinaya texts are both accessible and understandable. Having the texts concerning the vinaya readily available would enable the bhikkhunis to connect with the heart and the underlying spirit of their discipline. This would mean that the precise guidelines emerging from these texts could be understood in an open and flexible way, which would be based on the depth and clarity which comes from rigorous scholarship. In this way, bhikkhunis would have the opportunity to connect more directly with the original intentions of the Buddha in establishing the Bhikkhuni Sangha.
Ayya Adhimutti has worked extensively with developing study resources for the Pali-text vocabulary of the Bhikkhuni Patimokkha, and has been a coordinator and/or participant in the first three intensive sessions of the Project.
Alison Hoffmann became interested in the teaching of the Buddha about 30 years ago. Since then, alongside deepening her own practice, she has supported other women practitioners, in particular, women monastics who live a life of renunciation. She sees the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga project as an important means of validating the existence of the Bhikkhuni Sangha as lived today – in accord with the original teaching. Working with Venerable Nibbida, who provided guidance with concept meaning and helped with text preparation, she made a start on translating into English the German commentary of Professor Ute Huesken’s German translation of the Pali-text Bhikkhuni Vibhanga and its commentary and subcommentaries, which was the first contemporary translation of the Bhikkhuni Vibhanga into a European language. Alison is also a founding council member of the newly-registered New Zealand Bhikkhuni Sangha Trust, one of the aims of which is to support and enable bhikkhunis’ deeper study and understanding of their ancient texts of discipline.
Additional Project Consultants