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88 The Häthigumpha Inscription and the Bhabru Edict discharged efficiently only if the laity knew the standards by which to judge a monk or nun.
It would thus be wrong to surmise that Asoka was laying down the rules of conduct for monks and nuns alone. It also passes comprehension that Asoka should have ignored the first sermon which forms the very basis of the entire Buddhist philosophy, the sära of the Buddha's teachings in Asokan parlance. The first sermon really deserved the first place and was rightly mentioned first by Aśoka as Vinayasamukase.
Root ni with prefix vi has been used in the meaning of 'to instruct, to educate, to direct in the Mahābhārata, and the word vinaya itself has been used to mean “education, discipline, control, leading, guidance, training (moral)' in the same Epic. 1 In the Pāli canon also ni with prefix vi has been used in the meaning of to teach'.2
Although in the Pāli canon samukkaṁsa does not appear in the meaning of 'teachings of the Buddha', the expression sämukkaṁsika occurs at several places as comprising the Four Noble Truths, namely, Dukkham, Samudayaṁ, Nirodhaṁ and Maggaṁ, expounded in the First Sermon.
In the light of the above discussion it would be only logical to interpret Vinayasamukase (Skt. Vinaya-samut-karśaḥ =the Vinaya par excellence) as the Buddha's teaching par excellence and identify it with the First Sermon or the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta. It is just possible that in the days of Asoka that sermon was actually known as named by him.
1. 2.
Monier-Willams, M., A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 971. For example, Arguttara, IV, Sutta 111, and Majjhima, Suttas 107 and 147, cited by Kosambi, op. cit., p. 7. Ref. the Upāli Sutta in the Majjhima Nikāya and the Ambattha Sutta in the Digha Nikāya. The concluding portion of the Ambattha Sutta: Yadā bhagavā aññāsi brahmanam Pokkharasatim kallacittam muducittam vinivaranacittam udaggacittam pasantacittam atha yā Buddhānam sămukkamsikā dhammadesanā tam pakāsesi dukkham samudayam nirodham maggam.
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