What are the Dve Mātikā?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I came across this term and understand that it means “Two Tables of Contents” but what does that mean in reference to the Vinaya?

He performed all the major and minor incumbent duties for his preceptor (upajjhāya) and learnt thoroughly the two codes (dve mātikā) of the Pāṭimokkha discipline for bhikkhus.

Two codes? I find one quite enough to handle. Does this perhaps mean he mastered the Bhikkhuni Pāṭomokkha as well?

[santa100]

The 2 footnotes for the term in the Vism:

page 19: 11. The Suttavibhanga, the first book of the Vinaya Piþaka, contains in its two parts
the 227 rules for bhikkhus and the rules for bhikkhunìs, who have received the admission
(upasampadā), together with accounts of the incidents that led to the announcement of
the rules, the modification of the rules and the explanations of them. The bare rules
themselves form the Pātimokkha for bhikkhus and that for bhikkhunìs. They are also
known as the “two codes” (dve mātikā). The Pātimokkha is recited by bhikkhus on the
Uposatha days of the full moon and new moon.

page 87: Dve mātikā—the “two codes”: see Ch. I, n. 11. But Vism-mhþ says here: “‘Observers
of the codes’ are observers of the codes (summaries) of the Dhamma and
Vinaya” (Vism-mhþ 117).

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Thank you for that. I will take a look at the Visuddhimagga tomorrow. It's getting late here.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Sorry for the long delay in getting back to you. I finally got to the end of the book, and started going through again, indexing, and checking the notes.

Since the Mahāsi Sayādaw's discourse refers to the Pāṭimokkha, I will take it to be the rules of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, rather than the Dhamma/Vinaya suggested by the Great Subcommentary.

[gavesako]

The term "mātikā" (summary, list) seems to have been used first to refer to the bare list of rules in the bhikkhu-pātimokkha and bhikkhuni-pātimokkha. There appear to have been monks and nuns who specialized in memorizing and reciting them. Then there were the detailed explanations and elaborations of those lists, called the sutta-vibhanga ("sutta" also had a somewhat different meaning than what we understand by it today, it meant something like "rule"). Only later on, as the Abhidhamma was gradually developed along similar lines, "mātikā" also refers to the various lists of dhammas enumerated therein.