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Tripitaka - Southern Transmission 28 B
The Vinaya Pitaka of the Tamrashatiya school is divided into five major parts. The first part is Pārājika, meaning Defeat, to be discarded, no longer of use. Bhikshus have four precepts, and Bhikshunis have eight precepts. The four Pārājika precepts include: first, sexual intercourse; second, stealing; third, killing a human being; and fourth, lying that one has attained the Way. Violating these leads to automatic expulsion from the Sangha. Next are the 13 Sanghādisesa precepts, translated as Sangha-remainder; these offenses can be transformed with the support of the Sangha through the practice of repentance, a period of probation (parivāsa), and six days of mānatta.
The structure of the Pratimoksha continues with 2 indefinite rules (aniyata), 30 rules of forfeiture and confession (nissaggiya pācittiya), 92 rules of expiation (Tamrashatiya) or 90 rules (Dharmaguptaka), 4 rules of confession (pāṭidesanīya), 75 training rules (sekhiya), and 7 rules for settling disputes (adhikaraṇasamatha). In total, the Tamrashatiya school has 227 precepts for monks and 311 for nuns; the Dharmaguptaka school has 250 precepts for monks and 348 for nuns. The Uposatha ceremony to recite the precepts is held twice a month within the sīmā boundary. Those absent due to illness must send their consent (chandam dātum) and send their purity (pārisuddhi dātum).
The Sangha consists of the sevenfold community: first, the community of Bhikshus; second, the community of Bhikshunis; third, the community of Shikshamanas; fourth, the community of Shramaneras (novice monks); fifth, the community of Shramanerikas (novice nuns); sixth, the community of Upasakas (laymen); and seventh, the community of Upasikas (laywomen). The practice of the precepts has two aspects: Stopping (refraining) and Acting (doing), expressed through the Three Sets of Pure Precepts:
- The Precepts of Restraint.
- The Precepts of Good Dharmas.
- The Precepts of Benefiting Sentient Beings.
The essence of the practice is Precepts, Concentration, and Insight, in which mindfulness is the substance of the Precepts.