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Dharmaguptaka Vinaya


The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit; Chinese: 法藏部; pinyin: Fǎzàng bù) are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism, and their Prātimokṣa (monastic rules for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs) are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day, including China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the Theravāda and the Mūlasarvāstivāda.

Guptaka means preserver and dharma, law, justice, morality and most likely, the set of laws of Northern Buddhism.

The Dharmaguptaka doctrine is characterized by an understanding of the Buddha as separate from the Sangha so that his teaching is superior to the one given by arhats. They also emphasise the merit of devotion to stūpas, which often had pictorial representation of the stories Buddha's previous lives as bodhisattvas as portrayed in the Jataka tales. The Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a śrāvaka (śrāvakayāna) and the path of a bodhisattva (bodhisattvayāna) to be separate. A translation and commentary on the Samayabhedoparacanacakra reads:


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