Confession 88

The 88th training precept: Whispering into a bhikkhu’s ear.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then Guttā bhikkhunī, like Thullā bhikkhunī, went on almsround in the city, and whispered into the ear of a bhikkhu. When people without faith had seen them, they slandered her: “Now look at this bhikkhunī. She hasn’t gone forth for extinguishment. She’s on a date for the sake of ‘the private thing’ i.e. sex.*.” 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 whispers into a bhikkhu’s ear, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

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

“Whispering into a bhikkhu’s ear” is as explained above.

… they all incur a pācittiya offense.