Dhamma Principles › What Rules Are For: Ten Pairs of Purposes
What Rules Are For: Ten Pairs of Purposes
Everyday life

What Rules Are For: Ten Pairs of Purposes

Dve atthavase paṭicca

The Parivāra lists the reasons training rules were laid down, in pairs: for the comfort of the community, to restrain those without shame, to prevent trouble now and in future, and for the confidence of outsiders and the endurance of the teaching.

8 points

In the Parivāra of the Vinaya Piṭaka, in the Pañcavagga, Atthavasavagga, the reasons for laying down training rules are listed in pairs, each introduced with the same formula: the Tathāgata laid down a training rule for his disciples for two purposes.

The pairs are: for the excellence of the Saṅgha and for the comfort of the Saṅgha; for the restraint of shameless people and for the ease of well-behaved monks; for the restraint of taints, enmities, faults, dangers and unwholesome states in this present life and for warding off those that would arise in future; out of compassion for householders and to cut off the faction of those with evil desires; for the confidence of those without confidence and for the increase of those who have it; and for the endurance of the true Dhamma and the support of the Vinaya.

The following chapter, the Paññattivagga, states that the same set of reasons applies to everything else laid down as well, not only to training rules: the Pātimokkha, the invitation ceremony, each kind of disciplinary act, the granting of probation, ordination, and every method of settling a dispute.

  1. 1

    For the community to accept it and live at ease Saṅghasuṭṭhutāya saṅghaphāsutāya

    The first pair is for the excellence of the Saṅgha and for the comfort of the Saṅgha. A rule has to be something the community genuinely accepts, and its result should be that the community lives more easily, not more anxiously.

    Applying it in daily life

    Before introducing a new rule at work or at home, ask whether the people who must live with it agree, and whether their lives will be easier or harder.

  2. 2

    Restraining the shameless so the conscientious can live at ease Dummaṅkūnaṃ puggalānaṃ niggahāya

    The second pair is for the restraint of those who are shameless — people who do wrong without being troubled by it — and for the ease of monks who love virtue. The two are the same reason seen from opposite sides.

    Applying it in daily life

    When one person breaks the rules repeatedly, not acting is not kindness: the burden simply falls on everyone who is doing the right thing.

  3. 3

    Closing off trouble today and tomorrow Diṭṭhadhammikānaṃ āsavānaṃ saṃvarāya

    Several pairs share one form: for the restraint of what would arise in this present life, and for warding off what would arise in future, with the middle term changing each time. It begins with the taints, the things that accumulate in the mind.

    Applying it in daily life

    When you set a rule, write down what it prevents. Later readers can then tell whether it should be kept or can be changed.

  4. 4

    Preventing enmity, fault and danger Diṭṭhadhammikānaṃ verānaṃ saṃvarāya

    The next pairs run through enmity, meaning grudges held between people; faults, meaning damage done; dangers; and unwholesome states. Each uses the same form: guard against it now, and cut off its root for later.

    Applying it in daily life

    Settle the rules about money and shared property while there is still no problem. Once something goes wrong, it has already become a grievance that is hard to undo.

  5. 5

    Compassion for outsiders, and cutting off opportunists Gihīnaṃ anukampāya pāpicchānaṃ pakkhupacchedāya

    Another pair is out of compassion for householders and to cut off the faction of monks with evil desires. Rules exist both so that people outside the community are not harmed by it and so that those seeking personal advantage cannot form a bloc.

    Applying it in daily life

    Check how your group's rules affect neighbours, customers or others nearby, rather than looking only at the convenience of insiders.

  6. 6

    Confidence for those who lack it, more for those who have it Appasannānaṃ pasādāya pasannānaṃ bhiyyobhāvāya

    This pair is about the effect of conduct on people outside: bringing confidence to those who have none, and increasing it in those who already have it.

    Applying it in daily life

    An organisation's credibility comes from what its members do daily, not from the values statement on the wall.

  7. 7

    So the teaching endures Saddhammaṭṭhitiyā vinayānuggahāya

    The final pair is for the endurance of the true Dhamma and for the support of the Vinaya, saying that rules are not only for the generation that makes them but so that what is good can be passed on.

    Applying it in daily life

    Treat your family's or organisation's rules as something handed on rather than as immediate constraints, and you will write them differently.

  8. 8

    The same reasons apply to every procedure Tathāgatena sāvakānaṃ pātimokkhaṃ paññattaṃ

    The Paññattivagga that follows states that all these reasons apply to everything laid down: the Pātimokkha and its suspension, the invitation ceremony, each kind of disciplinary act, the granting of probation and penance, ordination, and all the ways of settling disputes.

    Applying it in daily life

    Apply the same questions to every one of your group's procedures — how people are admitted, how they are corrected, how matters are closed — asking what each is for.

Try it in daily life

Many people feel that rules are about control. Reading this list, you see that most of the reasons are about looking after people: those inside the group who are trying to do the right thing, those outside looking in, and the group itself over time.

The most striking pair is "to restrain shameless people" together with "for the ease of the well-behaved". These two always come together, because a rule that is not enforced against someone with no shame ends up as a burden on everyone trying to do the right thing.

Another immediately useful pair is preventing what would arise now and warding off what would arise later. Good rules are not for punishing the past but for stopping the same thing happening again. Before adding a rule at home or at work, be able to say what it prevents. If you can't, it may not be needed yet.

Sign in to keep track of what you have read

Sources in the Tipiṭaka

Tap to read the actual passage on the page cited.

Other principles worth reading

Log in to earn 40 merit points for reading this page