Relinquishment With Confession 20

The 20th training precept: Keeping a spare bowl.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then the group-of-twelve bhikkhunīs just knew how to stock up spare bowls they had obtained, and didn’t use them or give them to others. The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha gathered the sangha for this reason as before, asked if it was true, and criticized them, as explained in detail, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī keeps a spare bowl, she may do so for one night. If she exceeds that, it’s a nissaggiya pācittiya.’”

Explanations

A bhikkhunī may keep a spare bowl just for one night.

“Exceeding one night” means exceeding one night.

“A spare bowl” means except for the determined bowl, others are called “spare”.

“Keeping” means creating the notion of possession. If she keeps it longer, she incurs a nissaggiya pācittiya offense. The procedure for relinquishment is as above.

Herein, what are the factors for committing this offense? If a bhikkhunī obtains a bowl on the first day of the month, she should determine it witin one day, share it vikappana*, relinquish it, or give it to others. Questions arising from this sequence have been explained in detail in the first rule about robes. These matters, down to the procedure for relinquishment, are all as before. If it’s small, if it’s white, or if she intends to give it to a candidate for ordination, there’s no offense.

Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikkhunī vinaya, fascicle 10.

Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikkhunī vinaya, fascicle 11.

Respectfully translated by the Tipiṭaka master Yìjìng.

Recite the third summary verse:

Not looking after, relinquishing, not relinquishing,

Asking for gold and silver, a dyeing fund,

Five rules about obtaining a fund,

Buying medicines, two rules about prices for robes.