Confession 200

Origin Story

At that time, the bhikkhunīs adorned women. Then unhappiness about the path arose in their minds. Thereupon, they returned to lay life, or became non-Buddhist renunciates. The lay people criticized them: “Why do the bhikkhunīs adorn women, like beauticians? What’s the difference to adorning themselves? They don’t think about practising the path, they just make wrong ornaments. This isn’t the practice of renunciates. They’ve broken the rules of renunciates.” When the senior bhikkhunīs heard it, they criticized them 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 adorns a woman, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

“Adorning” means combing her hair, or even just sticking in one flower, or putting on one bracelet. Each is a pācittiya.

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