Gunaprabha as an epitomizer and commentator on the monastic law code of the Mulasarvastivada school of Indian Buddhism

By studying 22 folios of a unique Sanskrit manuscript, this project analyses how Guṇaprabha (6th c.

CE), one of northern India´s most esteemed experts of Buddhist monastic law, composed his influential digest and commentary on the monastic rules and regulations of the Mūlasarvāstivāda school of Indian Buddhism.Guṇaprabha´s digest—the Vinayasūtra—as well as his commentary on this text were very influential in North India, and remain part of the core curricula of Tibetan monastic education.

Still, very little is known about how Guṇaprabha composed these texts.

Examining what choices he made, not only regarding how the various rules are presented, but also with regard to which canonical text he chose to use and which he disregarded, will provide new insights into the development of Buddhist monastic legal thought and monastic law in 6th c.

India.There are, moreover, indications in Guṇaprabha´s commentary that the canonical texts he knew and worked with were not only in some respects different from those available to us, but that he also did not consider the Mūlasarvāstivāda school´s canonical law code to consist of one uniform set of scriptures.

This challenges not only the common scholarly understanding of what constitutes a Buddhist school´s canonical law code, but even of what constitutes an Indian Buddhist school.

The study will thus provide new insights into the nature and variety of both canonical monastic law codes and Indian Buddhist schools.