Aspects of Sīla

Abstract

Our enquiry into sīla begins in one of the oldest sections of the Pali Canon with the group of thirteen discourses (suttas) known as the Collection on Moral Practices (Sīlakkhandhavagga).¹ This is the first of the three divisions of the thirty-four suttas of the Long Discourses (Dīgha Nikāya), and includes suttas one to thirteen.² These thirteen suttas are known as the Collection on Moral Practices no doubt in part because they each contain a stereotyped tract enumerating moral precepts or observances. Of the thirteen suttas of the Collection, eleven describe the progress of a monk (bhikkhu) to Arahatship via the cultivation of morality (sīla), proficiency in the trances (jhānas) and the development of knowledge or insight (paññā). The ninth sutta, the Discourse to Poṭṭhapāda follows this scheme only as far as proficiency in the trances, while the thirteenth, the Discourse on Vedic Knowledge (Tevijjasutta), records the progress of a monk as far as the four Divine Abidings (brahmavihāra) and stops short of Arahatship. The first of these thirteen suttas is the Discourse on Brahma’s Net (Brahmajālasutta) and for convenience we will take this text as the basis for our discussion of the sīlas. In this chapter we consider (1) the sīlas of Brahma’s Net; (2) the preceptual formulae derived from them; (3) the soteriological scheme of the Collection on Moral Practices; and (4) the benefits of sīla. In (5) we consider the imagery used in respect of sīla in sources from both the Small and Large Vehicles.