Confession 74

Origin Stories

At that time, the bhikkhunīs shaved the hair in two places: under the armpits, and in the hidden place, and sexual desire arose in their minds. Thereupon they returned to lay life, or became non-Buddhist renunciates.

Then Thullanandā also shaved the hair in the hidden place. The women in her supporter’s house wanted to see it and sent a message to summon her. The bhikkhunī then went there. The the household prepared a bath for the women, and one woman said: “Let’s first have the bhikkhunī bathe.” Then they summoned her to make her bathe. She answered: “I don’t need to bathe.” The women then removed her robes by force to make her bathe, and therefore they saw that she had shaved the hair in the hidden place. Then they asked: “Venerable, why did you shave this?” She asked back: “Why do you shave there?” The women said: “We do it for a man.” The bhikkhunī said: “I also do it for that.” The women criticized her: “They always speak ill of desire, and now, she does such things and doesn’t practise celibacy! Why doesn’t she return to lay life and indulge in the five pleasures? This isn’t the practice of renunciates. She has broken the rules of renunciates.” When the senior bhikkhunīs heard it, they criticized her in all kinds of ways, … “I now lay down a precept for the bhikkhunīs, as explained above. From now on, this precept should be recited thus:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī shaves the hair under the armpits and in the hidden place, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

If she shaves, each stroke with the blade is a pācittiya.

For a sikkhamānā and a sāmaṇerī, it’s a dukkaṭa.

If she need to shave because an abscess is growing there, or if someone holds her by force and shaves her, in both cases the offense isn’t committed.