Confession 104

Origin Story

The Buddha was in Sāvatthī. At that time, the venerable Kāḷudāyī often went in and out of a house. Before midday, he put on his robes, took his bowl, and went to that house. There was a bhikkhunī called Kisāgotamī who was at that house first. She saw Kāḷudāyī coming from a distance. Then she got up, came out to welcome him, entered, and showed him a place to sit. They greeted each other, she paid respect with her head at his feet, and stood in front with her hands together. Kāḷudāyī spoke about dhamma for a long time, and this bhikkhunī became dizzy, her vision went black, and she fell to the ground. The lady of the house then sprinkled her face with water and returned her to her previous state. The lady of the house said: “From what do you suffer? What worries you?” She answered: “I’m not sick, I don’t have any worries. Just because I stood for a long time, I became dizzy and fell to the ground.”

The bhikkhunīs spoke with the Buddha about this matter and he therefore gathered both sanghas. In all kinds of ways, he praised the precepts and praised keeping precepts. Having praised the precepts and praised keeping precepts, he said to the bhikkhus: “For 10 benefits, I’ll lay down a precept for the bhikkhunīs. From now on, this precept should be recited thus:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī just sits down without asking a bhikkhu, it’s a pācittiya.’”

Explanations

“Pācittiya” means burn, cook, cover, obstruct. If she doesn’t confess the offense, it can obstruct the path.

Herein, this is an offense: If a bhikkhunī just sits down without asking a bhikkhu, it’s a pācittiya. Whenever she sits down without asking, she incurs a pācittiya. (End of rule 104.)