| Summary: | 碩士 === 華梵大學 === 東方人文思想研究所 === 96 === The title of my thesis is: An initial investigation into the vinaya of primitive Buddhism--Focused on the concept of "Disposing of minor precepts". In the age of primitive Buddhism, "vinaya" is not just a theory for studying, but also a way of practice to realize and embody the truth. To practice Buddhism is to "exhaust all outflows," (that is, to rid of all vexations and confusions), its goal being the liberation in nirvana. The key to exhaust all outflows lies in wisdom—without it, the ultimate liberation is not possible. However, the development of wisdom is derived from samādhi. When the mind is in chaos, wisdom will not develop. And yet, the rising of Samadhi and Wisdom begins from observing precepts. In other words, without abiding by the precepts, there will be no samādhi or wisdom, not to mention the ultimate liberation. This is basically the theory of Buddhist practice in primitive Buddhism.
According to this, if one wants to attain some achievement in Buddhist practice, none of the three studies—vinaya, samādhi, and wisdom—is dispensable. This has been affirmed by the Lord Buddha to his bhiksu. He repeatedly advised his disciples to renounce desires, exhaust all outflows, guard the six sense organs, in a word, to follow the precepts. For those who are not firm in their will of practice, they can study vinaya to tame their mind, and clarify all sense organs. Therefore, our achievement in Buddhist practices comes from vinaya study, which results in the state of samādhi and the gaining of wisdom. Thus we say that the study of vinaya is indispensable in the practice of Buddhism. However, before the Lord Buddha entered into Nirvana, he left with us his will as to "let the bhiksu dispose of minor precepts." Is this a contradiction to the lifetime teachings of the Buddha?
The purpose of this thesis is to study Vinaya as a whole, and then interpret the question of "discarding the minor precepts." There are three major problems to be solved: 1) the meaning of precepts; 2) the purpose for the Buddha to set up all the precepts and the principles under which a precept is made; 3) the investigation of the problem of "discarding the minor precepts" based on the previous two discoveries.
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