There's another really excellent benefit of the vinaya. In MN, the Buddha
says the difference in the length of each of the Buddha sassanas can be
accounted for by the thoroughness and strictness of the vinaya. For example,
some of the previous Buddhas before Shakyamuni Buddha had a much shorter
dispensation due to a more lax vinaya.

I frequently marvel how the proper dhamma continues to survive in this day
and age when you consider all of the enormous obstacles that threaten its
survival. How can a religion that emphasizes impermanence, dukkha, anatta,
survive in a world where the average worldling wants the EXACT OPPOSITE?!
They want worldly pleasure, they want that pleasure to persist, they cherish
the notion of self beyond all else. It's really amazing that Buddhism did
not die out long ago. Why would Buddhism appeal? My only explanation is that
the efficacy of the Buddhist practice in the past 2500 years produced a
prolific number of exemplary Buddhists that inspired worldlings to consider,
"How is this person so serene, so happy, so free of suffering? Whatever
they're doing, I need to try that..." It's that personal living example
that is the best sales pitch of all.

I read in Ajahn Mun's biography that even after attaining [some ariya
status, perhaps arahantship], he had the desire to spend the rest of his
life just making prostrations to the triple gem. I wonder what the meaning
of that is? Neither Ajahn Mun nor the author of the biography offered any
explanation of that desire.

-fk

-----Original Message-----

<Nina: We read in the Gradual Sayings, Book of the Tens, Ch IV, § 1 (X,31)
that Upali asked the Buddha what the aim was of the Patimokkha:

<It was done with ten objects in view, Upali. What ten?
For the excellence of the Order, for the wellbeing of the Order; for the
controll of ill-conditioned monks and the comfort of well-behaved monks; for
the restraint of the cankers in the same visible state; for protection
against the cankers in a future life; to give confidence to those of little
faith; for the betterment of the faithful; to establish true dhamma, and to
support the discipline.>