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65-412: According to Buddhist monastic codes ( Vinaya ), a person must be 20 years old in order to become a monk or nun. A person under the age of 20 years cannot undertake upasampadā (i.e., become a monk ( bhikkhu ) or nun ( bhikkhuni )), but can become a novice (m. samanera , f. samaneri ). After a year or at the age of 20, a novice will be considered for upasampadā. Traditionally, the upasampadā ritual

130-611: A Buddhist monk named Revata was Buddhaghosa bested in debate, first being defeated in a dispute over the meaning of a Vedic doctrine and then being confounded by the presentation of a teaching from the Abhidhamma . Impressed, Buddhaghosa became a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) and undertook the study of the Tipiṭaka and its commentaries. On finding a text for which the commentary had been lost in India, Buddhaghosa determined to travel to Sri Lanka to study

195-558: A Sinhala commentary that was believed to have been preserved. In Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa began to study what was apparently a very large volume of Sinhala commentarial texts that had been assembled and preserved by the monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya . Buddhaghosa sought permission to synthesize the assembled Sinhala-language commentaries into a comprehensive single commentary composed in Pali . Traditional accounts hold that

260-496: A comprehensive summary of older Sinhala commentaries on Theravada teachings and practices. According to Sarah Shaw, in Theravada this systematic work is "the principal text on the subject of meditation ." The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravada scriptures since at least the 12th century CE. He is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravadins as

325-559: A legal case. It also explains the eventual loss of the Sinhala originals that Buddhaghosa worked from in creating his Pali commentaries by claiming that Buddhaghosa collected and burnt the original manuscripts once his work was completed. Buddhaghosa was reputedly responsible for an extensive project of synthesizing and translating a large body of ancient Sinhala commentaries on the Pāli Canon . His Visuddhimagga (Pāli: Path of Purification)

390-551: A question-and-answer format that recapitulates various rules in different groupings, as well as a variety of analyses. The Chinese texts include two sections not found in the Pali tradition, the Niddanas and Matrkas that have counterparts in the Tibetan tradition's Uttaragrantha. Relatively little analysis of these texts have been conducted, but they seem to contain an independent reorganization of

455-712: Is "characterized by relentless accuracy, consistency, and fluency of erudition, and much dominated by formalism." According to Richard Shankman, the Visuddhimagga is "meticulous and specific," in contrast to the Pali suttas, which "can be vague at times, without a lot of explanatory detail and open to various interpretations." According to Maria Heim, Buddhaghosa is explicitly clear and systematic regarding his hermeneutical principles and exegetical strategies in his commentaries. He writes and theorizes on texts, genre , registers of discourse, reader response , Buddhist knowledge and pedagogy . Buddhaghosa considers each Pitaka of

520-399: Is a comprehensive manual of Theravada Buddhism that is still read and studied today. Maria Heim notes that, while Buddhaghosa worked by using older Sinhala commentarial tradition, he is also "the crafter of a new version of it that rendered the original version obsolete, for his work supplanted the Sinhala versions that are now lost to us". Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu writes that Buddhaghosa's work

585-697: Is a highly charged topic within Theravadin communities: see ordination of women in Buddhism Buddhists in China , Korea , Taiwan and Vietnam follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (四分律), which has 250 rules for the bhikkhus and 348 rules for the bhikkhunis. Some schools in Japan technically follow this, but many monks there are married, which can be considered a violation of the rules. Other Japanese monks follow

650-508: Is a listing of the fourteen commentaries ( Aṭṭhakathā ) on the Pāli Canon traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa While traditional accounts list Buddhaghosa as the author of all of these works, some scholars hold that only the Visuddhimagga and the commentaries on the first four Nikayas as Buddhaghosa's work. Meanwhile, Maria Heim holds that Buddhaghosa is the author of the commentaries on

715-610: Is a phenomenon of attention is one he develops with greater sophistication than has been done elsewhere. Ganeri sees Buddhaghosa's work as being free from a mediational picture of the mind and also free of the Myth of the Given , two views he sees as having been introduced by the Indian philosopher Dignāga . The Visuddhimagga ' s doctrine reflects Theravada Abhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not found in

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780-550: Is assumed to be generally accurate. While the Mahavamsa claims that Buddhaghosa was born in northern India near Bodh Gaya, the epilogues to his commentaries make reference to only one location in India as being a place of at least temporary residence: Kanci in southern India. Some scholars thus conclude (among them Oskar von Hinüber and Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera ) that Buddhaghosa was actually born in Amaravati , Andhra Pradesh and

845-680: Is available about the life of Buddhaghosa. Three primary sources of information exist: short prologues and epilogues attached to Buddhaghosa's works; details of his life recorded in the Mahavamsa , a Sri Lankan chronicle written in about the 13th century; and a later biographical work called the Buddhaghosuppatti . A few other sources discuss the life of Buddhaghosa, but do not appear to add any reliable material. The biographical excerpts attached to works attributed to Buddhaghosa reveal relatively few details of his life, but were presumably added at

910-511: Is not the same as what the Visuddhimagga says [...] they are actually different," leading to a divergence between a [traditional] scholarly understanding and a practical understanding based on meditative experience. Gunaratana further notes that Buddhaghosa invented several key meditation terms which are not to be found in the suttas, such as " parikamma samadhi (preparatory concentration), upacara samadhi (access concentration), appanasamadhi (absorption concentration)." Gunaratana also notes that

975-619: Is performed within a well-demarcated and consecrated area called sima ( sima malaka ) and needs to be attended by a specified number of monks: "ten or even five in a remoter area". Customs regarding upasampada vary between regional traditions. In the Theravada tradition, monastics typically undertake higher ordination as soon as they are eligible. In East Asia, it is more typical for monastics to defer or avoid upasampada ordination entirely, remaining novices ( samanera ) for most or all of their monastic careers. This difference may originate from

1040-438: Is the shortest portion of every Vinaya, and universally regarded as the earliest. This collection of rules is recited by the gathered Sangha at the new and full moon. Rules are listed in descending order, from the most serious (four rules that entail expulsion), followed by five further categories of more minor offenses. Most traditions include an explicit listing of rules intended for recitation, called Prātimokṣa-sutra , but in

1105-500: Is their translation into Chinese around the 5th century CE. The earliest established dates of the Theravada Vinaya stem from the composition of Buddhaghosa 's commentaries in the 5th century, and became known to Western scholarship through 17th- and 18th-century manuscripts. The Mulasarvastivada Vinaya was brought to Tibet by Khenpo Shantarakshita by c.  763 , when the first Tibetan Buddhist monks were ordained, and

1170-480: Is unlikely that the meditative tradition could have survived in such a healthy way, if at all, without his detailed lists and exhaustive guidance." Yet, according to Buswell, by the 10th century vipassana was no longer practiced in the Theravada tradition, due to the belief that Buddhism had degenerated, and that liberation was no longer attainable until the coming of Maitreya . It was re-introduced in Myanmar (Burma) in

1235-462: Is with the immediate and transformative impact of the Buddha's words on his audiences, as attested in the suttas Regarding his systematic thought, Maria Heim and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad see Buddhaghosa's use of Abhidhamma as part of a phenomenological "contemplative structuring" which is expressed in his writings on Buddhist praxis. They argue that "Buddhaghosa’s use of nāma-rūpa should be seen as

1300-707: The Bodhisattva Precepts only, which was excerpted from the Mahāyāna version of Brahmajālasutra (梵網經). And the Bodhisattva Precepts contains two parts of precepts: for lay and clergy. According to Chinese Buddhist tradition, one who wants to observe the Bodhisattva Precepts for clergy, must observe the Ten Precepts and High Ordination [Bhikkhu or Bhikkhunī Precepts] first. Tibetan Buddhists in Tibet , Bhutan , Mongolia , Nepal , Ladakh and other Himalayan regions follow

1365-795: The Kāśyapīya , the Mahāsāṃghika , the Mahīśāsaka , the Sammatīya , and the Sarvāstivāda . The word Vinaya is derived from a Sanskrit verb that can mean to lead, take away, train, tame, or guide, or alternately to educate or teach. It is often translated as 'discipline', with Dhamma-vinaya , 'doctrine and discipline', used by the Buddha to refer to his complete teachings, suggesting its integral role in Buddhist practice. According to an origin story prefaced to

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1430-506: The Mahayana ) were emerging, many of them making use of classical Sanskrit both as a scriptural language and as a language of philosophical discourse. The monks of the Mahavihara may have attempted to counter the growth of such schools by re-emphasizing the study and composition in Pali, along with the study of previously disused secondary sources that may have vanished in India, as evidenced by

1495-459: The Tipiṭaka and match in every respect, the monks acceded to his request and provided Buddhaghosa with the full body of their commentaries. Buddhaghosa went on to write commentaries on most of the other major books of the Pali Canon, with his works becoming the definitive Theravadin interpretation of the scriptures. Having synthesized or translated the whole of the Sinhala commentary preserved at

1560-421: The dhamma to be "well-spoken [...] visible here and now, timeless," visible meaning that the fruits of the path can be seen in the behavior of the noble ones, and that comprehending the dhamma is a transformative way of seeing, which has immediate impact. According to Heim, this idea of the transformative and immediate impact of the scriptures is "vital to Buddhaghosa's interpretative practice," concerned as he

1625-653: The 18th century by Medawi (1728–1816), leading to the rise of the Vipassana movement in the 20th century, re-inventing vipassana -meditation and developing simplified meditation techniques, based on the Satipatthana sutta , the Visuddhimagga , and other previous texts, emphasizing satipatthana and bare insight. The Mahavamsa ascribes a great many books to Buddhaghosa, some of which are believed not to have been his work, but composed later and attributed to him. Below

1690-538: The Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya, Buddhaghosa reportedly returned to India, making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay his respects to the Bodhi Tree . The details of the Mahavamsa account cannot readily be verified; while it is generally regarded by Western scholars as having been embellished with legendary events (such as the hiding of Buddhaghosa's text by the gods), in the absence of contradictory evidence it

1755-544: The Buddha's enlightenment. Three parallel Vinaya school traditions remain in use by modern ordained sanghas : the Theravada (Sri Lanka & Southeast Asia), Mulasarvastivada ( Tibetan Buddhism and the Himalayan region ) and Dharmaguptaka ( Taiwan and East Asian Buddhism ). In addition to these three Vinaya traditions, five other Vinaya schools of Indian Buddhism are preserved in Asian canonical manuscripts, including those of

1820-566: The Buddha. In the Pali tradition, a specific chapter of the Khandhaka deals with issues pertaining specifically to nuns, and the Mulasarvastivada tradition devotes most of one of the two volumes of its Ksudrakavastu to issues pertaining to nuns. Beyond this point, the distinct Vinaya traditions differ in their organization. The Pali Vinaya includes a text known as the Parivāra that contains

1885-600: The Buddhaghosa's emphasis on kasina -meditation is not to be found in the suttas, where dhyana is always combined with mindfulness. Bhikkhu Sujato has argued that certain views regarding Buddhist meditation expounded in the Visuddhimagga are a "distortion of the Suttas" since it denies the necessity of jhana . The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work. He concludes that Buddhaghosa did not believe that following

1950-469: The Buddhist canon a kind of method ( naya ) that requires different skills to interpret. One of his most important ideas about exegesis of the buddha's words ( buddhavacana ) is that these words are immeasurable, that is to say, there are innumerable ways and modes to teach and explain the Dhamma and likewise there are innumerable ways in which to receive these teachings. According to Heim, Buddhaghosa considered

2015-586: The Mahavamsa. Early indications of this resurgence in the use of Pali as a literary language may be visible in the composition of the Dipavamsa and the Vimuttimagga , both dating to shortly before Buddhaghosa's arrival in Sri Lanka. The addition of Buddhaghosa's works — which combined the pedigree of the oldest Sinhala commentaries with the use of Pali, a language shared by all of the Theravada learning centers of

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2080-501: The Mahāyāna to reject the traditional rules of the Vinaya: If he thinks or says, "A future buddha has nothing to do with learning or observing the law of the Vehicle of the Śrāvakas ," he commits a sin of pollution ( kliṣṭā āpatti ). Louis de La Vallée-Poussin wrote that the Mahāyāna relies on traditional full ordination of monastics, and in doing so is "perfectly orthodox" according to

2145-747: The Mon records refer to another figure, but whose name and personal history are much in the mold of the Indian Buddhaghosa. Finally, Buddhaghosa's works likely played a significant role in the revival and preservation of the Pali language as the scriptural language of the Theravada, and as a lingua franca in the exchange of ideas, texts, and scholars between Sri Lanka and the Theravada countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The development of new analyses of Theravada doctrine, both in Pali and Sinhala, seems to have dried up prior to Buddhaghosa's emergence in Sri Lanka. In India, new schools of Buddhist philosophy (such as

2210-680: The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya was transmitted in Tibet by Shantarakshita, but did not survive the later persecution of Tibetan Buddhists undertaken by Udum Tsenpo . Afterwards, Tibetan nuns were getsunma (Tib. novice) nuns (Skt. śramaṇerīs) only, after taking the lay vows of eight or ten Precepts , see ordination of women in Buddhism . The Mahāyāna Bodhisattvabhūmi , part of the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra , regards it an offense for monastics following

2275-499: The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, which has 253 rules for the bhiksus (monks) and 364 rules for bhiksunis (nuns). In addition to these pratimokṣa precepts, there are many supplementary ones. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition of fully ordained bhikṣuṇī nuns officially recommenced in Bhutan on 23 June 2022, when 144 women were ordained. According to Nyingma school and Kagyu school scholars, the full ordination lineage of bhikkhuni for nuns within

2340-564: The Theravada Bhikkhu Suttavibhanga , in the early years of the Buddha's teaching the sangha lived together in harmony with no vinaya, as there was no need, because all of the Buddha 's early disciples were highly realized if not fully enlightened. After thirteen years and as the sangha expanded, situations arose which the Buddha and the lay community felt were inappropriate for mendicants . According to Buddhist tradition,

2405-567: The Theravada following the reunification of the Sri Lankan (Sinhala) monastic community by King Parakramabahu I . Sariputta incorporated many of the works of Buddhaghosa into his own interpretations. In subsequent years, many monks from Theravada traditions in Southeast Asia sought ordination or re-ordination in Sri Lanka because of the reputation of the Sri Lankan (Sinhala) Mahavihara lineage for doctrinal purity and scholarship. The result

2470-585: The Theravada tradition the Patimokkha rules occur in writing only alongside their exegesis and commentary, the Vibhanga described below. While the Prātimokṣa is preserved independent of the Vibhanga in many traditions, scholars generally do not believe that the rules it contains were observed and enforced without the context provided by an interpretive tradition, even in the early era- many of the exceptions and opinions of

2535-485: The Vibhanga seem to stem from older customs regarding what was and wasn't permissible for wandering ascetics in the Indian tradition. The second major component of the Vinaya is the Vibhanga or Suttavibhanga , which provides commentary on each of the rules listed in the Prātimokṣa. This typically includes the origin of the rule in a specific incident or dispute, along with variations that indicate related situations covered by

2600-691: The Vinaya rules that may be an earlier strata of texts. The Theravada Vinaya is preserved in the Pāli Canon in the Vinaya Piṭaka . The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is preserved in both the Tibetan Buddhist canon in the Kangyur , in a Chinese edition, and in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript. Some other complete vinaya texts are preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon (see: Taishō Tripiṭaka ), and these include: Six complete versions are extant. Fragments of

2665-408: The analytic by which he understands how experience is undergone, and not his account of how some reality is structured." Some scholars have argued that Buddhaghosa's writing evinces a strong but unacknowledged Yogācāra Buddhist influence, which subsequently came to characterize Theravada thought in the wake of his profound influence on the Theravada tradition. According to Kalupahana , Buddhaghosa

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2730-457: The complete Vinaya Piṭaka was recited by Upāli at the First Council shortly after the Buddha 's death. All of the known Vinaya texts use the same system of organizing rules and contain the same sections, leading scholars to believe that the fundamental organization of the Vinaya must date from before the separation of schools. While traditional accounts fix the origins of the Vinaya during

2795-410: The conclusion that they must stem from a common origin. Parallel and independent Prātimokṣa rules and Vibhnagas exist in each tradition for bhikkhus and bhikkhunis . The majority of rules for monks and nuns are identical, but the bhikkhuni Prātimokṣa and Vibhanga includes additional rules that are specific to nuns, including the controversial Eight Garudhammas whose authorship is not attributed to

2860-608: The day of their Upasampad [full ordination]. Buddhaghosa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator and philosopher . He worked in the Great Monastery ( Mahāvihāra ) at Anurādhapura , Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajjavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese Mahāvihāra. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga ("Path of Purification"),

2925-516: The earliest discourses ( suttas ) of the Buddha. Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga includes non-canonical instructions on Theravada meditation , such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta)," which point to later developments in Theravada meditation. According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu , "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon." Bhante Henepola Gunaratana also notes that what "the suttas say

2990-408: The elder monks sought to first test Buddhaghosa's knowledge by assigning him the task of elaborating the doctrine regarding two verses of the suttas ; Buddhaghosa replied by composing the Visuddhimagga . His abilities were further tested when deities intervened and hid the text of his book, twice forcing him to recreate it from scratch. When the three texts were found to completely summarize all of

3055-579: The first four Nikayas, the Samantapasadika , the Paramatthajotika, the Visuddhimagga and the three commentaries on the books of the Abhidhamma. Maria Heim also notes that some scholars hold that Buddhaghosa was the head of a team of scholars and translators, and that this is not an unlikely scenario. In the 12th century, the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) monk Sāriputta Thera became the leading scholar of

3120-609: The historical shortage of temples in East Asia able to provide higher ordination according to the Vinaya . This Buddhism -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vinaya The Vinaya texts ( Pali and Sanskrit : विनय) are texts of the Buddhist canon ( Tripitaka ) that also contain the rules and precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of Buddhist Sanghas (community of like-minded sramanas ). The precepts were initially developed thirteen years after

3185-473: The lifetime of the Buddha, all of the existing manuscript traditions are from significantly later- most around the 5th century CE. While the early Buddhist community seems to have lived primarily as wandering monks who begged for alms, many Vinaya rules in every tradition assume settled monasticism to be the norm, along with regular collective meals organized by lay donors or funded by monastic wealth. The earliest dates that can be established for most Vinaya texts

3250-459: The monastic vows and rules of the early Buddhist traditions: From the disciplinary point of view, the Mahāyāna is not autonomous. The adherents of the Mahāyāna are monks of the Mahāsāṃghika, Dharmaguptaka, Sarvāstivādin and other traditions, who undertake the vows and rules of the bodhisattvas without abandoning the monastic vows and rules fixed by the tradition with which they are associated on

3315-508: The most important philosopher and commentator of the Theravada, but is also criticised for his departures from the canonical texts . The name Buddhaghosa means "Voice of the Buddha" ( Buddha + ghosa ) in Pali , the language in which Buddhaghosa composed. In Sanskrit, the name would be spelled Buddhaghoṣa (Devanagari बुद्धघोष), but there is no retroflex ṣ sound in Pali, and the name is not found in Sanskrit works. Limited reliable information

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3380-414: The nature of consciousness and attention. Ganeri calls Buddhaghosa's approach a kind of "attentionalism", which places primacy on the faculty of attention in explaining activities of thought and mind and is against representationalism . Ganeri also states that Buddhaghosa's treatment of cognition "anticipates the concept of working memory , the idea of mind as a global workplace, subliminal orienting, and

3445-512: The practice set forth in the Visuddhimagga will really lead him to Nirvana, basing himself on the postscript ( colophon ) to the text which states the author hopes to be reborn in heaven and wait until Metteyya ( Maitreya ) appears to teach the Dharma. However, according to the Burmese scholar Venerable Pandita, the colophon to the Visuddhimagga is not by Buddhaghosa. According to Sarah Shaw, "it

3510-577: The procurement and distribution of robes. The final segment of this division, the Ksudrakavastu ("Minor division") contains miscellanea that does not belong to other sections, and in some traditions is so large that it is treated as a separate work. Strong agreement between multiple different recensions of the Skandhaka across different traditions and language with respect to the number of chapters (generally 20) and their topics and contents has led scholars to

3575-981: The remaining versions survive in various languages. The first three listed below are still in use. Buddhism in Myanmar , Cambodia , Laos , Sri Lanka , and Thailand followed the Theravadin Vinaya, which has 227 rules for bhikkhus and 311 for bhikkhunis . As the nun's lineage died out in all areas of the Theravada school, traditionally women's roles as renunciates were limited to taking eight or ten Precepts : see women in Buddhism . Such women appears as maechi in Thai Buddhism, dasa sil mata in Sri Lanka, thilashin in Burma and siladharas at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England. More recently, women have been undergoing upasampada as full ordination as bhikkhuni , although this

3640-445: The rule, as well as exceptions that account for situations that are not to be regarded as violations of a more general rule. The third division of the Vinaya is known as the Vinayavastu, Skandhaka, or Khandhaka, meaning 'divisions' or 'chapters'. Each section of these texts deals with a specific aspect of monastic life, containing, for instance, procedures and regulations related to ordination, obtaining and storing medical supplies, and

3705-399: The second part(often called Culavamsa) of that historical poem is attributed to Dhammakitti, who lived in or about the thirteenth century records that Buddhaghosa was born into a Brahmin family in the kingdom of Magadha . He is said to have been born near Bodh Gaya , and to have been a master of the Vedas , traveling through India engaging in philosophical debates. Only upon encountering

3770-413: The thesis that visual processing occurs at three levels." Ganeri also states: Buddhaghosa is unlike nearly every other Buddhist philosopher in that he discusses episodic memory and knows it as a reliving of experience from one’s personal past; but he blocks any reduction of the phenomenology of temporal experience to the representation of oneself as in the past. The alternative claim that episodic memory

3835-401: The time of his actual composition. Largely identical in form, these short excerpts describe Buddhaghosa as having come to Sri Lanka from India and settled in Anuradhapura . Besides this information, they provide only short lists of teachers, supporters, and associates of Buddhaghosa, whose names are not generally to be found elsewhere for comparison. In the Mahavamsa a composition of

3900-435: The time — provided a significant boost to the revitalization of the Pali language and the Theravada intellectual tradition, possibly aiding the Theravada school in surviving the challenge to its position posed by emerging Buddhist schools of mainland India. According to Maria Heim, he is "one of the greatest minds in the history of Buddhism" and British philosopher Jonardon Ganeri considers Buddhaghosa "a true innovator,

3965-540: Was influenced by Mahayana-thought, which were subtly mixed with Theravada orthodoxy to introduce new ideas. According to Kalupahana, this eventually led to the flowering of metaphysical tendencies, in contrast to the original stress on anattā in early Buddhism. According to Jonardon Ganeri, though Buddhaghosa may have been influenced by Yogacara Vijñānavāda, "the influence consists not in endorsement but in creative engagement and refutation." The philosopher Jonardon Ganeri has called attention to Buddhaghosa's theory of

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4030-401: Was recorded, in an expanded and likely exaggerated form, in a Pali chronicle known as the Buddhaghosuppatti , or "The Development of the Career of Buddhaghosa". Despite the general belief that he was Indian by birth, he later may have been claimed by the Mon people of Burma as an attempt to assert primacy over Sri Lanka in the development of Theravada tradition. Other scholars believe that

4095-452: Was relocated in later biographies to give him closer ties to the region of the Buddha. The Buddhaghosuppatti , a later biographical text, is generally regarded by Western scholars as being legend rather than history. It adds to the Mahavamsa tale certain details, such as the identity of Buddhaghosa's parents and his village, as well as several dramatic episodes, such as the conversion of Buddhaghosa's father and Buddhaghosa's role in deciding

4160-416: Was the spread of the teachings of the Mahavihara tradition — and thus Buddhaghosa — throughout the Theravada world. Buddhaghosa's commentaries thereby became the standard method by which the Theravada scriptures were understood, establishing Buddhaghosa as the definitive interpreter of Theravada doctrine. In later years, Buddhaghosa's fame and influence inspired various accolades. His life story

4225-419: Was translated into Chinese by the 8th century. Earlier Sanskrit manuscripts exist from the 5th to the 7th century. Scholarly consensus places the composition of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya in the early centuries of the first millennium, though all the manuscripts and translations are relatively late. The core of the Vinaya is a set of rules known as Patimokkha in Pāli and Prātimokṣa in Sanskrit. This

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