Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline, the Buddha’s Collected Teachings

This sutra, Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline, the Buddha’s Collected Teachings (Skt. Buddhapiṭakaduḥśīlanigraha; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་འཆལ་པ་ཚར་གཅོད་པ།, Wyl. sangs rgyas kyi sde snod tshul khrims ’chal pa tshar gcod pa) tells of how in the Deer Park in Varanasi, Shariputra, with growing admiration, has become aware of the paradox that the Buddha, despite the inexpressible nature of the profound truth he had awakened to, skilfully teaches about it using words and ideas that his followers can understand. The Buddha reinforces Shariputra’s sense of this paradox by describing the Dharma in terms of its emptiness of everything one might think that it could comprise. He places great emphasis on realizing the view of the empty nature of things without apprehending or dwelling on any phenomenon, and uses this perspective to delineate what is meant by the application of mindfulness, what distinguishes a true spiritual friend from a false one, and in particular what constitutes a violation of discipline. Those who do not accept and understand that profound view are committing the greatest violation of discipline, which underlies all others. The Buddha even excludes such people from being considered as his followers or as having his lineage. His dialogue with Shariputra continues on the consequences of monks’ violating their discipline more broadly, and he gives several prophecies about the future decline of the Dharma caused by the misbehaviour of monks, and how the lineage that leads those who possess it to their awakening may be lost.

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The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 220

• English translation: Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline, the Buddha’s Collected Teachings