Confession 103

The 103rd training precept: Knowingly wandering where there are dangers.

Origin Story

At Rājagaha. Then king Ajātasattu felt great hostility towards Vesālī and wanted to go and attack them. He had the drums beat to announce to the people: “If someone inside my kingdom goes to Vesālī, their head will be cut off.” He set up defense posts along the main roads, to catch people and treat them according to the law. Then a group of bhikkhunīs wanted to go from Rājagaha to Vesālī. On the road, they encountered criminals. They were all afraid and screamed loudly. The guards heard them and came to investigate the sound. When the criminals saw the king’s soldiers, they scattered in all directions and rushed away. (The soldiers) asked the bhikkhunīs: “Noble ones, how could you not have heard the king’s proclamation to cut off the heads of people who go to Vesālī? And he also made us go on patrol inside the kingdom. If we hadn’t been there, wouldn’t the noble ones have been captured by the criminals?” 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 there are criminals in a dangerous place between kingdoms, and wanders there, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

“A bhikkhunī” is as above.

“Knowing that there are criminals in a dangerous place between kingdoms” means two countries have hostilities.

“Wandering” means going to the other country.

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