This dissertation is a study of the rules of customary behaviour (āsamudācārika-dharmas) found in a North Indian Buddhist monastic law code, the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya. Other than Gregory Schopen, few scholars have noted the significance of these rules. Schopen points out that according to this vinaya, adherence to rules of customary behaviour is foundational for achieving nirvāṇa. Yet, these rules have been practically ignored in contemporary scholarship. Building on Schopen’s work, I approach this material with two main questions: 1) What are rules of customary behaviour? and 2) How do rules of customary behaviour function in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya? In an attempt to answer these questions, I explore passages from the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya in which the Buddha prescribes rules of customary behaviour for specific monastics in response to a variety of narrative situations. I organize this material into three thematic chapters. First, I discuss rules of customary behaviour related to the administration of the monastic community (saṃgha). Next, I explore rules of customary behaviour relevant only in specific environments. Finally, I investigate rules of customary behaviour prescribed in response to illnesses in the saṃgha. Through the above exploration, I demonstrate three main points: 1) that there are three ways that rules of customary behaviour appear in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya; 2) the adoption of rules of customary behaviour prescribed in narratives in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya does not necessarily signal the creation of a new monastic office or official duty; and 3) In the vast majority of cases, these rules seem to be designed to protect the integrity of the saṃgha and accommodate monks or nuns who are experiencing temporary challenges to their ecclesiastical status. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Buddhist monastic law usually divides infractions of precepts into either five or seven groups—the most serious offence of which is known as a pārājika. These are offences of non-celibacy, murder, theft and lying about spiritual attainments. It is generally accepted in the West, where the focus lies on Mainstream or Theravāda Buddhism, that these offences entail permanent expulsion from the monastic order. The present thesis sets out to show that not only do pārājika offences not necessarily entail expulsion, but a monk or nun who transgresses against a pārājika dharma may in fact remain within the saṃgha if his/her transgression was not concealed and if he/she was truly repentant. This procedure is known as pārājika penance. Evidence for this is provided by means of a systematic survey of texts ascribed to five Vinaya traditions, viz. Mahīśāsaka, Sarvāstivāda, Mahāsāṃghika, Dharmaguptaka and Mūlasarvāstivāda. The Vinaya of each of these traditions has been examined and the results produced here in order to shed light on their respective stance with regard to pārājika penance.

Scholars, including Peter Harvey, Robert Florida and David Stott, assume that the authors/redactors of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya—the monastic code of the Mūlasarvāstivāda school—agreed with those from the Theravāda school on the topic of abortion. This assumption appears to be primarily based on one prātimokṣa rule as it is found in two locations in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. Moreover, a longstanding scholarly preference for sources extant in Pāli, such as the Theravāda Vinaya, and the preconceived notion that all Indian Buddhists were anti-abortion, impact contemporary studies of Buddhist attitudes towards abortion in Vinaya. The primary goal of this thesis is to offer an extensive comparison of passages related to abortion recorded in a number of locations in Buddhist monastic literature. I examine three main pieces of evidence: 1) the third pārājika rule addressing monastic involvement in homicide; 2) word-commentary and cases illustrating this rule; and 3) stories that do not illustrate a pārājika offence but include abortion in the narrative. Although Mūlasarvāstivādin authors/redactors, like their Theravādin counterparts, include anti-abortion attitudes in their monastic literature, I uncover a number of discrepancies in comparable passages related to abortion in the Vinaya of these two schools. To give but one example, Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravādin and Mūlasarvāstivādin authors/redactors appear hesitant to include in their Vinayas narratives that portray monks assisting laywomen in procuring abortions: something the Theravādins record in a number of locations. While the ramifications of such differences are not immediately clear, we can at least conclude, in contrast to what previous studies imply, that Buddhist attitudes toward abortion are not recorded in a simple one-to-one correlation across extant Indian Vinayas. / Thesis / Master of Arts in Religion (MAR)

In this Master’s thesis, I attempt to illuminate the historical relationship between Classical Indian medical practice and Buddhist monastic law codes, vinaya, in India around the turn of the Common Era. Popular scholarly conceptions of this relationship contend that the adoption of the Indian medical tradition into the Buddhist monastic institution is directly traceable to the Pāli canon. The Mūlasarvastivāda-vinaya (MSV) does not appear to take issue with physicians or medical knowledge, yet the condemnation of physicians in ancient Indian literature strongly suggests that the relationship between monks and medicine is more complex than the Pāli canon illustrates. Similar to other vinaya traditions, the MSV includes detailed information about permitted medicaments, as well as allowances for monastics to provide medical care to other monastics and even, in particular cases, the laity. I argue that the incentives for monastics to maintain a positive relationship with the medical world were driven by the economic benefits of monastic medical knowledge, as well as associations with wealthy physicians. Using a variety of extant Sanskrit materials, as well as epigraphic evidence, I aim to present a nuanced picture of the history of the relationship between Indian Buddhist monasticism and medicine around the turn of the Common Era. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Maintaining a balanced approach to music is a shared challenge in all religions. Depending on the context in which music is used in religious activities, it is either praised as a powerful medium to please the divine or condemned as a sensual allurement that hinders spiritual advancement. This study discusses the treatment of vocal and instrumental music as well as the allied category of dance in Buddhism. Specifically, it analyzes the regulations of different forms of musical activities in Buddhist canon law and their subsequent interpretation in Tibet and China.