A Theravada code of conduct for good Buddhists: the Upasakamanussavinaya.

• Author: Crosby, Kate
• Position: Critical essay

The purpose of this article is to provide a description of the Upasakamanussavinaya, a Pali text noted with interest by several scholars but not yet described in any detail in the secondary literature. (1) On the basis of this, I shall also make some observations on the issue of upasaka versus monastic practice in Theravada literature, a topic currently under reconsideration in Buddhist studies.

Theravada texts dedicated to lay practice have received relatively little attention in Buddhist studies, although that situation is changing. (2) Stephan Hillyer Levitt ascribed that lack of attention to the paucity of material composed specifically for the laity, and assessed the value of the Upasakamanussavinaya accordingly when cataloguing the copy held in the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania (1975: iii): "In the context of recent discussions, such as that of James P. McDermott, 'Nibbana as a Reward for Kamma,' in Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 93 (1973), pp. 344-47, which describe the absence of material in Buddhism on the laity, and in the context of recent discussions in Buddhist countries themselves, this text takes on importance."

Levitt's understanding that this is a text on lay practice comes from the title on his copy of the text, Upasakamanussavinaya, which is found on some manuscripts, while others bear similar titles. (3) Upasakamanussavinaya, which will be used here, means "a code of conduct (vinaya) for people (manussa) who are lay Buddhist practitioners (upasaka)" or "for people and lay Buddhist practitioners." The term upasaka is defined in the twelfth-century Upasakajanalamkara, the most detailed Theravada treatise dedicated to expounding the religious path for upasaka, as vatthuttayam ye samupasamana upasakattam abhisambhunanti (vs. 2, Saddhatissa 1965: 123). Saddhatissa translates this as "Those who closely associate with these three jewels obtain the status of Buddhist householdership" (1965: 2). The term he translates as "Buddhist householdership" is upasakattam, literally 'the state of being an upasaka'. Saddhatissa is careful here in his selection of a phrasal translation for the troublesome verb upasati, since choosing any of the range of translations that denote 'serve' might misrepresent the scope of the upasaka's religious activities, which, in the Upasakajanalamkara, include practicing austerities and meditation. The potential degree of involvement of an upasaka renders the translation of upasaka as "lay person" or "lay devotee" too weak. I shall use the term "lay practitioner" to translate upasaka. In canonical texts the term gihi 'householder' refers to any householder, irrespective of Buddhist affiliation, and the term upasaka only applies after an expression of faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. (4) However, where adherence to Buddhism is assumed, the two terms do seem to be used as virtual synonyms within the tradition. (5) In practice, the term upasaka seems to be applied in Theravada contexts only when the practitioner is engaged in relevant activities, such as attending a temple on a holy day, and does not refer to a Buddhist more generally, as can be seen from its use as a term of address in folk tales. (6)

The people for whom the Buddha teaches the Upasakamanussavinaya are listed in the opening phrases of his address to Ananda at the start of the text: those who commit evil deeds, "be they a man or woman of the warrior caste, a male or female renouncer, a brahmin man or woman, any other woman or man, a minister or the commander of an army, a viceroy, town-watchman, or merchant, a poor man or poor woman or someone of great wealth, be they a Vaisya or Sudra or a beggar." While most of the people mentioned are lay people, the list mentions "a male or female renouncer" (samano va samani va), a phrase used to include, and often as a synonym for, Buddhist monks and nuns. This, along with the fact that the Upasakamanussavinaya also contains reference to what monks (bhikkhu) and novices (samanera) should do, raises the question of whether the term upasaka can be taken as inclusive of monastics also. Since there appears to be no evidence for such an inclusive use of the term upasaka, perhaps the phrase upasakamanussa in the title should be read as a dvanda, i.e., a vinaya for upasaka 'lay practitioners' and manussa 'people'. (7) We should bear in mind, however, that the Upasakamanussavinaya uses the parallel term jana as a collective noun to include both male upasaka and female upasika: evam saranagatehi pana upasakopasikajanehi (e.g., 175, cf. 245), later shortening this phrase to upasakajana (e.g., 294). Furthermore, the term upasakamanussa occurs elsewhere, to contrast with monks and deities. (8) While we can discern this use of jana in the Updsakajanalamkara because it is sufficiently discursive, the Upasakamanussavinaya is too concise to draw a firm conclusion regarding the correct analysis of this compound. Even if it is to be taken as a dvandva, the term manussa is likely to refer to other non-monastics, since there is a range of more specific terms for monastics. Though the text refers to general duties of monks, it does not go into details of how to carry out these duties or monastic rules. The inclusion of what one may generally expect of monastics may be appropriate in a text that is aimed overall at an audience of lay practitioners.

A shorter title, Manussavinaya, is found in the text's introductory verse, with the alternative reading Manussavineyya 'instruction for man' recorded by Oskar von Hinuber from a Lanna manuscript (1996: 196 [section]424). This title, without the term upasaka, reflects the inclusive nature of the text and may therefore be an earlier title rather than a shortened form. The addition of upasaka in the longer title may have been meant to distinguish this text clearly from the patimokkha rules.

Another version of the title for the text is the Upasakamanussavinayavannana. (9) The addition of vannana, in the sense of 'rendering/telling', rather than in the sense of 'explanation/commentary', does not appear to add meaning to a title, although it may confirm a Southeast Asian rather than Sri Lankan source for this text (on which see below), in spite of the fact that there appear to be more extant copies among Sinhalese manuscript collections. (10) One other title found in association with a manuscript of this text, Bhikkhu Dussila, is a cataloguing error. (11)

The inclusion of the word vinaya in the title suggests that this text may be a set of regulations for lay practitioners/people and the penalties to be imposed on them for breaking those regulations, on a par with the vinaya for monks and nuns, an issue to which we shall return below. However, the alternative reading Manussavineyya, while possibly a simple variant for Manussavinaya, may derive from the opening phrase of the text after the introductory verse, which reads sammdsambuddho ... dibbacakkhund veneyyabandhave oloketva anandam amantesi "The fully perfectly awakened one, having observed the kinsmen in need of training with his divine eye, addressed Ananda." (12) Moreover, the term vinaya frequently applies to training or correct practice more generally. For example, in the Singalovadasutta (Digha Nikaya sutta 31)--the locus classicus on lay practice--the householder Singala is advised to desist from his literal interpretation of the sacrifice of the six directions because it is not ariyavinaya 'the correct practice of the noble'. The Singalovadasutta itself had acquired the epithet gihivinaya 'code of conduct for householders' by the time of the commentaries, in contrast with the code of conduct for monks, bhikkhuvinaya or bhikkhupatimokkha. The latter terms apply in this context not to the patimokkha rules of the Vinaya Pitaka, but to the Anumanusutta (Majjhima Nikaya sutta 15), with reference to unskillful states of mind of which a monk should rid himself in order to ensure appropriate interactions within the Sangha. (13) So while the use of the term vinaya need not imply regulations, the title (Upasaka)manussavinaya/vineyya should indicate a text offering guidance for lay Buddhist training. Nevertheless, as noted above, the text does also include some advice on how monks should practice. Because of these ambiguities and the inclusion of some regulations pertaining to monks, I render the title of the text in translation as "A Code of Conduct for Good Buddhists."

Before looking more closely at use of the term vinaya here, I shall turn to the question of the division between Buddhist lay and monastic practice. Work in recent decades has begun to reconsider earlier simplistic statements on the issue of the lay/monastic divide, which attribute the role of donor and merit-maker to the former, and preservation of the Dharma and nibbanic practices to the latter, especially in Theravada Buddhism. Samuels' reconsideration of the situation in Theravada (1999), explicitly inspired by Schopen's interpretations of donative inscriptions from mainland South Asia, notes that teachings and practices for upasaka can be the same as those for monastics, i.e., include...