The "Four-Part Vinaya" (Sifen lü 四分律), also known as Tanwude lü 曇無德律 or Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, is a collection of rules for Buddhist clerical communities translated in the Later Qin empire 後秦 (384-417) by Buddhayaśas (Ch. Fotuoyeshe 佛陀耶舍) in collaboration with Zhu Fonian 竺佛念). The translation comprises sixty juan. According to tradition, one hundred years after the passing of Śākyamuni (i.e., the Buddha), the Indian monk Dharmagupta (Ch. Tanwude 曇無德) collected the monastic disciplinary teachings transmitted within the Dharmaguptaka lineage of the Theravāda tradition and, after four successive editorial compilations, produced the text. Because the work is divided into four major sections, it came to be known as the Four-Part Vinaya.

The Sifen lü as a whole is divided into three sections: the Prefatory Section (Xu 序), the Main Doctrine Section (Zhengzong 正宗), and the Circulation Section (Liutong 流通). The Main Doctrine Section comprises two sets of precepts and twenty khandhas or components (Ch. jiandu 犍度). The two sets of rules are the bhikṣu precepts for monks (biqiu jie 比丘戒, 250 rules) and the bhikṣuṇī precepts for nuns (biqiuni jie 比丘尼戒, 348 rules). The twenty khandhas are: Ordination (shou jie 受戒), recitation of the precepts (shuo jie 說戒), the rains retreat (anju 安居), pravāraṇā or confession ceremony (zizi 自恣), leather, robes, medicine, the kaṭhina or donation robe (jiaxina yi 迦絺那衣), the Kauśāmbī dispute (Ch. Goushanmi 拘睒彌), observing and caring for each other (zhanbi 瞻彼), admonition (heze 呵責), persons, concealment (fucang 覆藏), obstruction (zhe 遮), schism of the saṅgha or monks' community (poseng 破僧), settlement of disputes (miezheng 滅爭), bhikṣuṇīs or monks, the Dharma or teaching of the Buddha (fa 法), dwellings, and miscellaneous matters.

The Circulation Section includes the Council of Five Hundred (Wubai jiehe 五百結集), the Council of Seven Hundred (Qibai jiehe 七百結集), the Regulatory Section (Tiaobu 調部), and the Vinaya Supplement (Pini zengyi 毗尼增一).

Overall, the Vinaya sets out detailed disciplinary rules governing the cultivation and daily conduct of ordained monks and nuns, covering the three aspects of body (actions), speech (words), and mind (thoughts), including regulations on clothing, food, sitting, and sleeping. It also establishes a system of penalties for violations: serious offences result in expulsion from the monastic community, while lighter offences lead to temporary suspension of monastic status and require the offender to confess and repent before the saṅgha community.

After the Sifen lü was translated, Facong 法聰 (468-559) of the Northern Wei empire 北魏 (386-534) began actively promoting it. Subsequently, figures such as Daofu 道覆 and Huiguang 慧光 (487-556) composed commentaries on the text and classified it as a Mahāyāna Vinaya (dasheng lü 大乘律). By the Tang period 唐 (618-907), Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667) took the Four-Part Vinaya as the fundamental authority and established the Vinaya School (Lüzong 律宗), further asserting that, in terms of its doctrinal content, this Vinaya belongs to the Mahāyāna tradition.

During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong 唐中宗 (r. 683-684, 705-709), the court explicitly prohibited the use of the older Shisong lü 十誦律). As a result, the Sifen lü spread widely throughout both northern and southern China and became the most influential Buddhist monastic code in premodern Chinese history. To the modern era, Buddhist monks and nuns in the Chinese cultural sphere have consistently received ordination and observed monastic discipline in accordance with this Vinaya.

The major extant commentaries and subcommentaries include Fali's 法礪（569-635）Sifen lü shu 四分律疏, Daoxuan's Sifen lü shanfan buque xingshi chao 四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 and Sifen lü hanzhu jieben shu 四分律含注戒本疏, Huaisu's 懷素 (737-799) Sifen lü kaizong ji 四分律開宗記 and Dingbin's 定賓 Sifen lü jieben shu 四分律戒本疏 and Sifen lü shushi zongyi ji 四分律疏飾宗義記. During the Song 宋 (960-1279) and Ming 明 (1368-1644) periods, numerous additional commentaries by various authors were also produced. In addition, some Dunhuang 敦煌 manuscript versions survive, including the Sifen jieben shu 四分戒本疏 and the Lü jieben shu 律戒本疏.

初分 四波罗夷 十三僧残法 二不定法 三十舍堕法 九十单提法 四提舍尼法 式叉迦羅尼法（百众学法） 第二分 尼戒法八波罗夷法 尼戒法十七僧残法 尼戒法三十舍堕法 尼戒法一百七十八单提法 受戒揵度 说戒揵度 安居揵度 自恣揵度之一 第三分 自恣揵度之二 皮革揵度 衣揵度 药揵度 迦𫄨那衣揵度 拘睒弥揵度 瞻波揵度 呵责揵度 人揵度 覆藏揵度 遮揵度 破僧揵度 灭诤揵度 比丘尼揵度 法揵度 第四分 房舍揵度初 杂揵度 集法毘尼五百人 七百集法毘尼 调部 毘尼增一 Karmans for the Creation of Virtue: The Prescriptive Precepts in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya Taschenbuch – Illustriert, 23. April 2015 Englisch Ausgabe von Bhiksuni Thubten Chodron