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Secondary sourceBook1881

Vinaya Texts, Volume 1

T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg · 1881

An 1881 English translation of monastic rules traditionally attributed to the Buddha for organising the Buddhist community.

These are monastic rules traditionally attributed to the Buddha, showing how he is said to have organised his followers.

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Vinaya Texts, Volume 1PDF · 452 pages
Vinaya Texts, Volume 1, translated by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg, 1881. Scanned copy, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This book is the first volume of an 1881 English translation from Pali of the Vinaya texts, the monastic rules traditionally attributed to the Buddha, translated by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg. It includes the Patimokkha and parts of the Mahavagga, texts governing the conduct of Buddhist monks and nuns.

Why it matters

The Vinaya shows how the Buddha is said to have organised his community of followers, the sangha, with detailed rules for daily life. Along with the suttas, it is one of the core collections of early Buddhist scripture, and this translation made it available to English-speaking scholars studying how Buddhist monastic life was structured.

Look closer

  • What does a detailed rulebook for monks and nuns tell you about how organised early Buddhist communities were?
  • Why might rules for communal living have been written down and preserved so carefully?
  • What questions can't this translation answer about how these rules were actually followed in practice?

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