The Chapter on the Rains
Prologue
Toh 1-4
Degé Kangyur, vol. 1 (’dul ba, ka), folios 237.b–251.b
Imprint
First published 2024
Current version v 1.0.5 (2024)
Generated by 84000 Reading Room v2.26.1
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.
This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 3.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license.
Table of Contents
Summary
The Chapter on the Rains is the fourth of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline’s seventeen chapters. It sets out the Rite of Pledging to Settle for the Rains, in which monastics pledge to remain at a single site for the duration of the varṣā or summer rains. It concludes with a lengthy presentation of cases in which a monastic incurs no offense for interrupting the rains by prematurely leaving a site.
This is the third of the “Three Rites,” along with the Rite of Restoration and the Rite of Lifting Restrictions, which are set out in The Chapter on the Restoration Rite and The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions respectively. The regular observance of the “Three Rites” at an officially demarcated monastic site is considered a crucial component in ensuring the integrity of the monastics living there and nearby.
Acknowledgements
This text was translated from the Tibetan and checked against the Sanskrit original and Yijing’s Chinese translation by Robert Miller. The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Nathaniel Rich and John Canti edited the translation and the introduction, and Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. André Rodrigues was in charge of the digital publication process.
Text Body
The Chapter on the Rains
Prologue
Bibliography
Kangyur and Tengyur Sources
dbyar gyi gzhi (Varṣāvastu). Toh 1, ch. 4, Degé Kangyur, vol. 1 (’dul ba, ka), folios F.237.b–251.b.
dbyar gyi gzhi (Varṣāvastu). bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 1, pp. 553-585.
Dharmamitra. ’dul ba’i mdo’i rgya cher ’grel pa (Vinayasūtraṭīkā). Toh 4120, Degé Tengyur vols. 162–63 (’dul ba, ’u–yu): vol. ’u, folios 1b–388.a; vol. yu, folios 1.b–390.a.
Kalyāṇamitra. ’dul ba gzhi rgya cher ’grel ba (Vinayavastuṭīkā). Toh 4113, Degé Tengyur vol. 156 (’dul ba, tsu), folios 177.b–326.b.
Vimalamitra. so sor thar pa’i mdo’i rgya cher ’grel pa ’dul ba kun las btus pa (Pratimokṣasūtraṭīkāvinayasamuccaya). Toh 4106, Degé Tengyur vols. 152–54 (’dul ba, pu–bu): vol. pu, folios 1.b–312.a; vol. phu, folios 1.b—281.a; vol. bu, folios 1.b–150.a.
Viśeṣamitra. ’dul ba bsdus pa (Vinayasaṃgraha). Toh 4105, Degé Kangyur vol. 146 (’dul ba, nu), folios 88.a–255.b.
Sanskrit Sources
Dutt, Nalinaksha, ed. Gilgit Manuscripts, Vol. III, Parts I-IV. Calcutta: Calcutta Oriental Press, 1939–59.
Shono, Masanori. “A Re-edited text of Varṣāvastu in the Vinayavastu and a Tentative Re-edited Text of the Vārṣikavastu in the Vinayasūtra.” Acta Tibetica et Buddhica, (3) 1-128. Minobu: Minobusan University, 2010.
Chinese Sources
Secondary Sources
84000. The Chapter on Going Forth (Pravrajyāvastu, rab tu ’byung ba’i gzhi, Toh 1, ch. 1). Translated by Robert Miller. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.
————. The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions (Pravāraṇāvastu, dgag bye’i gzhi, Toh 1, ch. 3). Translated by Robert Miller. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.
————. The Chapter on the Restoration Rite (Poṣadhavastu, gso sbyong gi gzhi, Toh 1, ch. 2). Translated by Robert Miller. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.
————. The Gaṇḍī Sūtra (Gaṇḍīsūtra, gaN+DI’i mdo, Toh 298). Translated by Annie Bien. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). ’dul ba’i mdo’i rnam par ’byed pa ’dul ba rgya mtsho’i snying po rab tu gsal bar byed pa. In gsung ’bum/ rin chen grub [Delhi reprint of the Zhol xylograph], vol. 21 (zha), pp. 140–730. Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71. BDRC W22106.
Cabezón, José Ignacio. “Homosexuality and Buddhism.” In Homosexuality and World Religions, edited by Arlene Swidler, 81–101. Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1993.
Dungkar Losang Trinlé (dung dkar blo bzang phrin las). dung dkar bod rig pa’i tshig mdzod chen mo [Dungkar’s Dictionary], vols.1–2. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2002.
Dutt, Sukumar. Early Buddhist Monachism: 600 B.C.–100 A.D. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1924.
Geshe Tsewang Nyima (dge bshes tshe dbang nyi ma). dam chos ’dul ba gtso gyur gyi gzhung sne mang las btus pa’i tshig mdzod mun sel sgron me [A Lamp to Dispel Darkness: A Dictionary Drawing On a Variety of Texts But Focusing on the Sublime Vinaya]. Taipei: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, 2009.
Gyatso, Janet. “One Plus One Makes Three: Buddhist Gender, Monasticism, and the Law of the Non-excluded Middle.” History of Religions 43, no. 2 (November 2003): 89–115.
Heirman, Ann. “Indian Disciplinary Rules and the Early Chinese Adepts: A Buddhist Reality.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 128, no. 2 (2008): 257–72.
Hu-von Hinüber, Haiyan (1997a). “On the Sources of Some Entries in the Mahāvyutpatti, A Contribution to Indo-Tibetan Lexicography.” In Untersuchungen zur buddhistsichen Literatur II, Gustav Roth zum 80. Geburtstag gewidmet, edited by Heinz Bechert and Petra Kieffer-Pülz, 183–99. Göttingen (Sanskrit-Wörterbuch der buddhistischen Texte aus den Turfan-Funden, Beiheft 8), 1997.
______ (1997b). “The 17 Titles of the Vianyavastu in the Mahāvyutpatti. Contribution to Indo-Tibetan Lexicography II.” In Bauddhavidyāsudhākaraḥ Studies in Honour of Heinz Bechert on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, edited by Petra Kieffer-Pülz and Jens-Uwe Hartmann, 339–45. Swisttal-Odendorf (Indica et Tibetica 30), 1997.
Khenpo Shenga (mkhan po gzhan dga’). ’dul ba mdo rtsa ba’i mchan ’grel [Annotated Commentary on the Vinayasūtra]. Chauntra: Dzongsar Chokyi Lodroe College of Dialectics, 2007.
Kishino, Ryoji. “A Study of the Nidāna: An Underrated Canonical Text of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-Vinaya.” PhD diss., University of California at Los Angeles, 2013.
Likhitpreechakul, Paisarn. “Semen, Viagra and Paṇḍaka: Ancient Endocrinology and Modern Day Discrimination.” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies vol. 3 (2012): 91–127.
Monier-Williams, Monier. Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (digitized version), 2008.
Negi, J.S. Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary (bod skad dang legs sbyar gyi tshig mdzod chen mo). 16 vols. Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1993–2005.
Orgyan Nordrang (o rgyan nor brang). gangs can rig brgya’i chos kyi rnam grangs mthong tshad kun las btus pa ngo mtshar ‛phrul gyi sde mig chen po [A Great and Wondrous Key: A Compendium of All the Enumerations from the Snowy Land’s One Hundred Fields of Knowledge]. Vols. 1–3. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2008.
Rotman, Andy. Divine Stories: Divyāvadāna, Part I. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008.
Schopen, Gregory (2000). “Hierarchy and Housing in a Buddhist Monastic Code: A Translation of the Śāyanāsanavastu.” Buddhist Literature 2 (2000): 92–196.
______ (2002). “Counting the Buddha and the Local Spirits In: A Monastic Ritual of Inclusion for the Rains Retreat.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 30 (2002): 359–88.
Silk, Jonathan. Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism. New York: Oxford University Press 2008.
Zwilling, Leonard. “Homosexuality as Seen in Indian Buddhist Texts”. In Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender, edited by José Ignacio Cabezón, 203–13. New York: State University of New York Press, 1992.