Confession 175

The 175th training precept: Defecating and urinating alone in an empty dwelling.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then Sundarīnandā bhikkhunī left the monastery alone, and defecated and urinated in a remote place. Men “who indulged in beauty” saw the bhikkhunī enter there. Then they came, took hold of the bhikkhunī, and wanted to rape her. The bhikkhunī said: “Let me go. This place is unclean. Let’s go to another place.” The men then took the bhikkhunī and walked around searching for a clean place. They came to an open space, and the bhikkhunī screamed loudly. Frightened, the men let her go and said: “This bald renunciate has a lot of falsehood and little truth. She called us to come, but then turned around and screamed.” Lay people saw it and were upset. The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha asked Sundarīnandā: “Did you really leave the monastery alone, and defecate and urinate in a remote place 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 leaves the monastery alone and defecates and urinates in an empty dwelling, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

“A bhikkhunī” means Sundarīnandā etc.

“Leaving the monastery alone” means without a second bhikkhunī.

“In an empty dwelling” means inside the walls of a house where nobody lives.

“Defecating and urinating” means relieving oneself.

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