Confession 155

The 155th training precept: Spinning thread with one’s own hands.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then Thullanandā bhikkhunī spun thread with her own hands, and sold it to a weaver. Another weaver saw it and asked: “Where did you get this good thread?” He answered: “I bought it from the renunciates’ place.” At a later time, the weaver saw Mahāpajāpatī bhikkhunī and asked: “Noble one, do you have any spun thread finished? I want to buy it.” The bhikkhunī said: “Where have you seen a bhikkhunī selling spun thread that you now ask me this?” He answered: “Renunciate, everyone knows that Thullanandā often spins herself and sells it. How could you not have heard about it?” Mahāpajāpatī thought: “We’ve now come to this.” For this reason, the bhikkhunīs then told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha asked Thullanandā: “Did you really spin thread with your own hands and sell it to a weaver in this way?” She answered: “I really did.” The World-honored One criticized her, as explained in detail, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī spins thread with her own hands, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

“A bhikkhunī” means Thullanandā etc.

“Spinning thread with one’s own hands” means spinning the seven kinds of thread.

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

There’s no offense: If, for her own use, she spins in a secret place, the offense isn’t committed.