Expulsion 6

Origin Stories

At that time, the bhikkhunīs let men hold their hands, and their robes, made appointments, walked with them alone, stood with them alone, talked with them alone, sat with them alone on one seat, and brought their bodies close to the men. From this, desire defiled their minds, and they were no longer happy on the path. There were some who returned to lay life, and some became non-Buddhist renunciates.

Then Thullanandā bhikkhunī put on a newly dyed robe, rubbed her body, put makeup on her eyebrows and eyes, and went to a crowded place. There were men who held her hands and robes and said: “Your hands are soft and nice, your robes are fine and smooth.” When the senior bhikkhunīs saw it, they criticized her in all kinds of ways, and told the Buddha of this matter. The Buddha gathered both sanghas because of this matter and asked the bhikkhunīs: “Did you really do these above eight things?” They answered: “We really did them, World-honored One.” When the Buddha had criticized them in all kinds of ways, he told the bhikkhus: “I now lay down a precept for the bhikkhunīs. From now on, this precept should be recited thus:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī, in a mindstate altered by abundant desire, lets a man hold her hand, hold her robe, makes an appointment with him, walks with him alone, stands with him alone, talks with him alone, sits with him alone on one seat, or brings her body close to the man, completing these eight things, that bhikkhunī incurs a pārājika, and doesn’t live in community.’”

Explanations

“Holding her hand” means before the elbow.

“Holding her robe” means the robes she wears on her body.

“Makes an appointment with him” means setting a time to go to a certain place to engage in sexual intercourse, or to rub and touch their bodies, and then going there.

“Walking with him alone” means walking on a path alone with a man.

“Standing with him alone” means standing in a place alone with a man.

“Talking with him alone” means talking in a place alone with a man.

“Sitting with him alone on one seat” means sitting on one bench alone with a man.

“Bringing her body close to the man” means when they’re sitting together on one seat, her body turns and comes close to the man’s.

If she commits the hand-holding, … the body coming close to the man’s, each is a thullaccaya. If she commits seven things, even if she has already confessed them, and later commits the one thing that completes the eight, she fulfills the pārājika.

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