Confession 85

The 85th training precept: Staying alone in a room.

Origin Story

Location as before. Sundarīnandā bhikkhunī put on an excellent robe, and went on almsround with dignified conduct and a beautiful manner of walking. A male perfume vendor saw the bhikkhunī’s deportment, and defiled attachment arose in him. Lust was blazing in his mind and he no longer felt shame, so he strolled over to her and whispered: “Noble one, please have sex with me.” The bhikkhunī said: “I’ve gone forth. How could I do this vulgar thing with you?” She became angry and said: “You’re such a scoundrel. How come your father hasn’t killed you? Now you’ve spoken these coarse words to me. Why don’t you play with such bad things as elephants, tigers, lions, and poisonous snakes?” The man said: “Noble one, what’s strange about this? All men speak in this way.” The bhikkhunī thought: “This is an unvirtuous man. He’ll make trouble for me. I’ll make trouble for him by setting a date with him.” Having thought this, she said: “Respected one, my room is in such-and-such a place. You yourself should know the time. Please come so we can amuse ourselves together.”

After dusk, all the bhikkhunīs paid respect at the stupa. At that time, the man came and entered her room. The bhikkhunī recited the suttas together with the others, and when the night was already advanced, she entered her room and sat on the bed. The man then came and held her hand, and the bhikkhunī screamed loudly: “A criminal has entered my room.” The man became afraid, quickly left the room, and said: “This bhikkhunī is so deceitful. She makes a date with me, and when I come here, she screams that there’s a criminal.” The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha asked and criticized, as explained in detail above, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī stays alone in a room, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

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

“Staying alone in a room” means there’s no second bhikkhunī who spends the night there.

“Pācittiya” is as before.

… if they stay overnight, they all incur a pācittiya offense.

There’s no offense if the companion bhikkhunī dies, is permanently expelled, or disrobes.