Relinquishment With Confession 24

The 24th training precept: Asking for gold.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then there was a goldsmith who had recently gotten married. At a later time, the goldsmith thought: “Can my wife manage the family property and make it grow? Let me try it out now.” Having thought that, he took a gold ring, placed it in front of his wife, and left the house. Then Thullanandā put on her robes, took her bowl, and entered that house on almsround. She told the goldsmith’s wife: “Respected one, please offer me food.” The wife then entered the inner room, brought some flour and offered it. The bhikkhunī saw the gold ring and said: “The flour you gave earlier is inauspicious. Please offer me gold.” (The wife) heard it and was silent. The bhikkhunī said to give gold, and then took the gold ring and left the house. When the goldsmith later returned, he asked his wife: “Where is the gold ring?” The wife said: “A renunciate came, took the gold ring, and left.” The goldsmith chased after her and said: “Noble one, why did you steal my gold and leave?” The bhikkhunī said: “Respected one, if nobody had given it, how could I’ve dared to take it?” The goldsmith replied: “Please return my gold.” The bhikkhunī put the gold ring into her mouth, and the goldsmith severely beat her, split her mouth, snatched the gold, and disparaged her in all kinds of ways. The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha gathered the bhikkhunīs for this reason as before. He asked Thullanandā: “Did you really do this unbecoming thing, against the rule of renunciates?” She said: “I really did.” The World-honored One criticized her, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī asks for gold and silver, it’s a nissaggiya pācittiya.’”

Explanations

“A bhikkhunī” means Thullanandā, or any other bhikkhunī.

“Asking” means walking around among families and seeking it from them.

The rest is as above.