Confession 139-140

Origin Story

The Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī. At that time, bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs were not forbidden from entering king Pasenadi’s eastern park and pond. Then the group-of-six bhikkhunīs went to the park and had worldly conversations. They defecated, urinated, sneezed, and spat on the fresh grass. They also wrapped their impurities in lotus leaves and put them into the water of the pond. The next morning, king Pasenadi and the ladies of the inner palace went together to visit the park and the pond. At that time, the palace ladies had been confined to the inner palace without going out for a long time. So at the beginning, they were happy, thrilled, and excited to go on an outing and have fun. They all stood and looked around at the fresh grass. (They saw the leaf packages in the grass, and thought:) “This is for us,” and when they went and picked them up, their hands were soiled with mud. So they went to the water wanting to wash themselves. Again, they saw that there were packages on the water and they thought: “The young men heard that we’re going out. They must have made these packages of perfume to treat us.” Then they went and picked them up, and soiled their hands. They went and informed the king: “What kind of impure stuff is this?” The king summoned the park keeper and asked: “Who soiled this park?” He answered: “There weren’t any other people, (except) the group-of-six bhikkhunīs who yesterday had worldly conversations, played, and then left.”

For this reason, the bhikkhunīs went and informed … The Buddha said: “This is an unwholesome thing. … Those who have already heard it should listen again:

Final Ruling

If a bhikkhunī defecates or urinates on fresh grass, it’s a pācittiya.

If a bhikkhunī defecates or urinates in water, it’s a pācittiya.”

Explanation

“A bhikkhunī” is as explained above. “Grass” means all kinds of grass. Defecating, urinating, snotting, and spitting is a pācittiya. If during the rainy season fresh grass covers the ground, one should go to a place without grass. If there are no empty places, one should do it on clay tiles, dry vegetation, cow or horse dung, or where people are passing. If there are also no such places, one should even just do it on a wooden branch: One should first let it fall on the wooden branch, and then on the grass. If there’s grass on one’s walking meditation path, one should set up a spittoon at the beginning of the walking path. This is what the World-honored One said.

“A bhikkhunī” is as explained above. “Water” means the 10 kinds as explained above. Defecating, urinating, snotting, and spitting in water is a pācittiya. If during the rainy season, there’s flooding, she should defecate and urinate in a high place. If there aren’t any, she should do it on clay, stone, dry vegetation, or cow or horse dung. If there are also no such places, she should take a grass blade or a wooden branch: She should first let it fall on the wooden branch, and then into the water. If she digs a toilet and water comes out under it, it’s not allowable to defecate and urinate there first. One should first have an attendent go there, and later the bhikkhunī may go. If there’s flowing water under the toilet, she should install a wooden board, to make it first fall on the board and later into the water. If she’s on a boat and has to go, if there’s a toilet place, she should take a wooden board to make it fall on the board and later into the water. If there’s no board, she should take a wooden branch and first let it fall on the branch and later into the water. This is what the World-honored One said.

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