Confession 203

Origin Story

At that time, the bhikkhunīs wrapped bands around their waists wanting to make them thin and beautiful. Sexual desire arose in their minds. The lay people criticized them: “These people bind their waists to make them thin, like prostitutes. They don’t have the intention (to practise) the path, they just do wrong things.” 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 binds her waist to make it thin, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

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

(200.) This is actually the 203rd precept. The numbering is out of alignment.*