Confession 129

The 129th training precept: Not doing the invitation ceremony with both sanghas regarding the three things.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then the bhikkhunīs had finished the rains retreat and wanted to carry out the invitation ceremony on the 15th day. The other bhikkhunīs said to Thullanandā: “Noble one, please come, and go with us to the bhikkhu monastery to carry out the invitation ceremony.” She answered: “Just do it here. Why bother going there?” The bhikkhunīs said: “As the World-honored One has said: ‘A bhikkhunī should carry out the invitation ceremony with both sanghas regarding the three things, namely the seen, the heard, and the suspected.’” Thullā bhikkhunī said: “I can fully answer questions regarding the three baskets. How could I not know how to carry out the invitation ceremony and still go to both sanghas?” 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, when the rains retreat is finished, doesn’t carry out the invitation ceremony with both sanghas regarding the three things, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

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

“When the rains retreat is finished” means when the three months of the rains retreat are over.

“Not with both sanghas” means not carrying out the invitation ceremony in the assembly of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs, regarding the three things, the seen, the heard, and the suspected.

The rest is as explained before.