Confession 145

Origin Story

At that time, the Blessed One was in Sāvatthī in Jeta’s grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s park.

Then the venerable Kapila bhikkhu, when the night had passed, in the morning, put on his robes, took his bowl, and entered Sāvatthī on almsround. When the bhikkhunīs saw Kapila, they abused him: “This wicked, lowly person from the worker class destroyed our stupa and threw it away outside the monastery.”

When the bhikkhunīs heard this, there were among them those with few wishes, who knew moderation, who practised the austerities, who were keen on training in the precepts, and who knew shame. They rebuked them: “Why did you abuse the venerable Kapila?” Having criticized them, they went and told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus went and told the World-honored One. The World-honored One for this reason gathered the bhikkhu sangha and criticized these bhikkhunīs: “What you did is wrong, is improper conduct, against the rules of renunciates, an impure practice, a practice not to be followed, shouldn’t be done. Why did you abuse Kapila?” When he had criticized them in countless ways, he said to the bhikkhus: “These bhikkhunīs have all kinds of taints, and are the first to break this precept. From now on, I’ll lay down a precept for the bhikkhunīs, and state the 10 principles: … So that the true dhamma may last long. Someone wishing to recite the precept should recite like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī abuses a bhikkhu, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanation

The meaning of “bhikkhunī” is as above.

“Abusing” means about being born in a lowly place, being of a lowly caste, having lowly skills, a lowly profession, or saying that someone has committed an offense, or saying: “You’ve such-and-such defilements,” or touching on their sensitive points. If a bhikkhunī in such a way abuses a bhikkhu … touches on his sensitive points, and if she speaks and he understands, it’s a pācittiya. If he doesn’t understand, it’s a dukkaṭa.

For a bhikkhu, it’s a dukkaṭa. For a sikkhamānā, a sāmaṇera, and a sāmaṇerī, it’s a dukkaṭa. This is called “to commit”.

“Not committed” means if she says it jokingly, if she speaks quickly, if she speaks when she’s alone, if she speaks in a dream, or if she wants to say one thing but by mistake says something else, the offense isn’t committed.

“Not committed” means if she’s the first offender when the precept hadn’t yet been laid down, if she’s mad, if she’s distracted, or if she’s overcome with pain. (End of the 145th rule.)