Vinaya: letting go of all kinds of unwholesome behavior

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(Excerpt from the Dhamma discussion with Ajahn Sujin on Zoom on Sat Nov 5th 2022.)

[A. Sujin] I think that we'd better understand what vinaya means, what is vinaya? Without any understanding of the danger of akusala, to live a more pure life than the lay life, can there be a monk, the follower of the Buddha?

That's why those who have confidence in the truth of the Teachings about reality understand their own accumulations, how much ignorance, attachment and all kinds of akusala have been accumulated on and on and more and more and more when there is no understanding. So vinaya is for those who understand the truth: that is so very very difficult to live the lay life, to understand that there can be the way to live like the Buddha, away from lay people's life.

That's why those who have confidence in the Teachings can be monk or lay people, not only monks because pañña, right understanding, can be developed at any time or in any place, everywhere. That's why when there's no understanding of the danger of living the lay people's life, that person cannot be a monk at all. Would anyone like to be a monk? And why does one become a monk? There must be reasons, not just wanting to live that way of life without any understanding of the point, or the goal or what for, living like that.

That's why understanding that the Buddha taught about the truth of danger of akusala, no matter it's so very subtle as asavas, or samyojanas or whatever, so very dangerous and all come from ignorance. That's why monks leave home, to study the Teachings and understand the danger of all kinds of akusala, by way of leaving the lay people's life. That's why monks observe the precepts with understanding, otherwise they could not live happily at all: against the current of attachment, like lay people wanting to have anything, just buying and so on. That's why there must be differences between monks' life and lay people's life, according to accumulation, not just one wanting to be a monk, but one still wants to have money, see, or just trying so hard to become a sotapanna without any understanding at all.

So, monks have to follow the Buddha's path to understand that what is suitable for monks life, not as lay people life anymore. Otherwise that monk is not a monk, he's just a lay person who wears the yellow robe, that's all. That's why to be truthful, to be a monk not just by wanting to be a monk, but to understand that, in order to have a more pure life, away from lay people's life as usual, just live very easily, that is the way to train as you say. But it is the development of understanding because monks have to study the truth, and when there are conditions enough the patipatti is there, not by forcing or trying to have two hours for this and two hours for that and follow this and that at all. That's why even vinaya has to be learned, the benefit of just not doing such and such thing when being a monk: it's not suitable, even for the worldly praise or honor or anything, but the truth is that it's just dangerous to follow the way [they] used to follow as lay people.

That's why monks are not lay people, why? Because they have intention to develop right understanding in that life, being a monk instead of a lay person as usual. That's why any monk who acts or behaves like a lay person is not a monk, as the Buddha's son or, in Pali terms, putta. That's why we have to understand what is a monk, who is a monk and what is meant by being a monk. If a monk does not study or does not understand anything at all in life, no hearing, no considering about the truth, is that monk, is that the purpose of becoming a monk?

And when one reads vinaya, even one is a lay person, lay man, lay woman, what is true is true, what is beneficial is beneficial, what is wholesome is wholesome, what is not wholesome is not wholesome. That's why right understanding can condition the behavior even of lay people better than before, when there was no understanding at all. That's why even lay people can follow the monks rules, not necessary to tell anyone at all, but the way is so very very refined or very very useful or very very wholesome, it's there, to [be] followed at will with understanding, not [necessary] being a monk. That's why the benefit or the usefulness of understanding vinaya, it's so helpful, even for lay people's lives. Reading it and seeing and then one can follow it, not just only five or eight or ten, more than that, without telling anyone that now I'm observing such and such more precepts.

He explained what is meant by the word vinaya in Pali: to let go of ignorance, akusala and all kinds of unwholesome behavior. Not receiving money, no wrong understanding of what the Buddha taught, and doing something not according to Dhamma and Vinaya at all. It's not the rule but it's the understanding of one's own accumulation, to live more virtuously, not as before as a lay person, buying anything at will, eating any time and so on.

So it's not just to follow, like a rule, but it's with understanding, to see the benefit of living such life away from lay people's life. Not limiting attachment at all, to what degree, just live as one can live, to study, to develop understanding, to have less and less ignorance and attachment and unwholesomeness. And lay people can have more wholesome manners according to [their] understanding of the value of vinaya, the way, the path to have less and less attachment and more and more understanding because only understanding can let go of ignorance and attachments.

So, even lay people can read vinaya and follow [its precepts] as much as one has accumulation [for], more than five... not as a rule because one [may] not be in the life to have the intention to do such and such living.