Confession 98

Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikkhunī vinaya, fascicle 18.

Respectfully translated by the Tipiṭaka master Yìjìng.

The 98th training precept: Knowing that a bhikkhunī has been staying at a lay house first, and later making her leave.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then a group of bhikkhunīs was wandering among the people, came to a village, and asked for a place to stay overnight. There was a householder who allowed bhikkhunīs to stay. Then Thullā bhikkhunī who came following behind, also asked to stay overnight. The villagers said: “The other bhikkhunīs as a group are staying in that house. It’s appropriate for the noble one to go there and ask to stay.” The bhikkhunī then went ahead, entered and told the bhikkhunīs: “Can you fit me in for the night?” The bhikkhunīs replied: “This place is narrow. We can’t fit you in.” Thullā bhikkhunī said: “If you did what was proper, you could.” When the bhikkhunīs heard this, they squatted and knelt to fit her in. Then Thullā bhikkhunī pushed and shoved the old bhikkhunīs with her hands and feet. The bhikkhunīs said: “Noble one, why are you pushing us like this?” She replied: “If you’re unable to stay, you can leave at will.” The bhikkhunīs said: “This Thullā bhikkhunī is vigorous and has much strength. It’s bitter to see the oppression, and hard to live with her.” The bhikkhunīs then got up and left at the same time. The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha asked and criticized, as explained in detail, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī knows that another bhikkhunī has been staying at a lay house first, and later makes her leave, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

“A bhikkhunī” is as above.

“Staying at a lay house first” means arriving first at a worldly house.

“Making her leave” means the one who arrived later makes (the first one) go out.

The explanations of the rule factors etc. are as explained in detail before.