Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya

Bhikkhunī Pakiṇṇaka

Pakiṇṇaka 3

The Buddha was staying in Sāvatthī. At that time, Thullanandā went to the river Aciravatī with a large group of women. They removed their clothes and bathed. The bhikkhunī was the first to come out, and she picked up a woman’s hip ornament. Having bound it around her hips, she said to the women: “Look, do I look good?” The women said: “We’re lustful people. We bind our hips to look delicate, and because we want to make our husbands think about love. Venerable, what do you use this for?” When the bhikkhunīs heard this, they fully informed Mahāpajāpatī about this matter. … She answered: “I really did this, World-honored One.” The Buddha said: “This is an unwholesome thing. From now on, it’s no longer allowed for a bhikkhunī to bind her hips. If she uses an item that women bind around the hips, and binds it around her hips, she breaks a minor vinaya rule. If she has an abscess and bandages her hips, there’s no offense.”