Relinquishment With Confession 27

The 27th training precept: Supplementing one’s food with offerings intended for bedding.

Origin Story

Location as before. Thullanandā bhikkhunī was staying inside a monastery. Then householders came with their wives to see her. The bhikkhunī spoke on the dhamma, pure faith arose in them all, and their minds rejoiced. They said: “Noble one, if anything is needed, please tell us and we’ll donate it.” The bhikkhunī said: “I need bedding.” When they heard these words, they took bedding and donated it to the bhikkhunī. When the bhikkhunī had obtained it, she traded it and used it to supplement her food. She again went to the houses of the brahmin householders. They asked: “Noble one, with the funds for bedding that we previously donated, have you prepared everything now?” The bhikkhunī then said: “This body is foul and dirty. (Your funds) have been used in a suitable way. Why would I need to prepare excellent bedding?” When the lay people heard this, they were all upset: “How can a bhikkhunī use offerings intended for bedding to supplement her food and edibles?” The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha gathered the bhikkhunīs for this reason as before, asked if it was true, and criticized her, as explained in detail, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī obtains offerings intended for bedding and uses them to supplement her food, it’s a nissaggiya pācittiya.’”

Explanations

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

“Obtaining offerings intended for bedding” means such money and goods.

The rest of the explanations are all as explained above.