Confession 169

Origin Story

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

Then the group-of-six bhikkhunīs studied magic arts to make a living. “Magic arts” means the magic of parts of the body, the magic of governing, the magic of raising zombies and ghosts, and they trained in the knowledge of the characteristics of death, the knowledge of divination by turning the zodiac, and the knowledge of the sounds of birds.

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 the group-of-six bhikkhunīs: “Why did you study magic arts such as … the knowledge of the sounds of birds?” Then they 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 the group-of-six 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, bhikkhunīs, did you learn skills such as … the knowledge of the sounds of birds?” 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 learns worldly skills to make a living, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanation

The meaning of “bhikkhunī” is as above.

“Skills” is as explained above.

If a bhikkhunī learns skills … the knowledge of the sounds of birds, and if she speaks and others understand, it’s a pācittiya. If others don’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 learns a spell against an illness of bugs inside the stomach, or a spell so that food stored overnight doesn’t go bad, if she learns to write or to recite, if she learns worldly theories to defeat non-Buddhist renunciates, or if she learns magic against poison to protect herself, and she doesn’t make a living with it, 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 169th rule.)