Confession 111

Text of the six rules ceremony.

Origin Story

The Buddha was in Sāvatthī. At that time, there was a female householder in Sāvatthī called Heluohe, who was very rich with much wealth, fields and land, and all kinds of riches and attributes of success. Because of the impermanence of conditions, this female householder lost her wealth and her family members dispersed. She alone remained. This female householder was pregnant, and because of her sorrow of having lost her relatives, her wealth, and her husband, her body became emaciated, and the fetus in her womb shrunk. Then she thought: “The baby in my womb might have died, and be rotting there.” She also thought: “Among the meritorious, virtuous, and happy people, nobody surpasses the renunciates that are Sakyan children. I’ll go forth among them and become a bhikkhunī.” Then she went to the monastery in the king’s park and became a bhikkhunī. She enjoyed the going forth, but because she was pregnant, her belly grew bigger and bigger. The bhikkhunīs expelled her from the monastery: “You engaged in sex, don’t live here.” She answered: “I haven’t had sexual desire since I went forth. Previously, when I was at home, I became pregnant.” The bhikkhunīs explained this matter to the Buddha in detail. The Buddha told the bhikkhunīs: “Don’t say such things about this bhikkhunī. This bhikkhunī hasn’t broken celibacy. Previously, when she was a lay person, she became pregnant. From now on, I allow that a sāmaṇerī trains for two years in the six rules, so you can know whether someone is pregnant or not.

Saṅghakamma

‘Receiving the six rules’ means when a sāmaṇerī first arrives, she should be instructed to pay respect with her head at each sangha member’s feet in order. Having paid respect, she should next ask for a preceptor. The precepts master should instruct her to say: ‘I, sāmaṇerī So-and-so, ask the venerable to be my preceptor. Dependent upon the venerable as my preceptor, the sangha should give me the training precepts for two years.’ A second time, she should say again: ‘I, sāmaṇerī So-and-so, ask the venerable to be my preceptor. Dependent upon the venerable as my preceptor, the sangha should give me the training precepts for two years.’ A third time, she should say again: ‘I, sāmaṇerī So-and-so, ask the venerable to be my preceptor. Dependent upon the venerable as my preceptor, the sangha should give me the training precepts for two years.’ One bhikkhunī should ask the preceptor: ‘Can you act as So-and-so’s preceptor?’ If she says: ‘I can’, then (the sāmaṇerī) should be taken into the territory and left in a place within sight and out of earshot. Then they should ask: ‘Is the sangha harmonious?’ ‘The sangha, unanimously and harmoniously, will carry out sangha matters, and the sangha will give the training precepts for two years to sāmaṇerī So-and-so, with So-and-so as her preceptor.’ A second time, they should say again: ‘The sangha, unanimously and harmoniously, will carry out sangha matters, and the sangha will give the training precepts for two years to sāmaṇerī So-and-so, with So-and-so as her preceptor.’

A third time, they should say again: ‘The sangha, unanimously and harmoniously, will carry out sangha matters, and the sangha will give the training precepts for two years to sāmaṇerī So-and-so, with So-and-so as her preceptor.’ If the sangha is unanimous and harmonious, they should call the sāmaṇerī to come, instruct her to pay respect at each member of the bhikkhunī sangha’s feet. Having paid respect with her head at their feet, she should next be instructed to ask the sangha for the training precepts for two years by saying: ‘I, sāmaṇerī So-and-so, in dependence on my preceptor So-and-so, ask the sangha for the training precepts for two years. In dependence on my preceptor So-and-so, the sangha should give me the training precepts for two years, with So-and-so as my preceptor, out of compassion.’ A second time, she should say again: ‘I, sāmaṇerī So-and-so, in dependence on my preceptor So-and-so, ask the sangha for the training precepts for two years. In dependence on my preceptor So-and-so, the sangha should give me the training precepts for two years, with So-and-so as my preceptor, out of compassion.’ A third time, she should say again: ‘I, sāmaṇerī So-and-so, in dependence on my preceptor So-and-so, ask the sangha for the training precepts for two years. In dependence on my preceptor So-and-so, the sangha should give me the training precepts for two years, with So-and-so as my preceptor, out of compassion.’

Then the precepts master should announce in the sangha: ‘Venerable bhikkhunīs, may the sangha listen. This sāmaṇerī So-and-so, in dependence on her preceptor So-and-so, asks the sangha for the training precepts for two years. Her preceptor is called So-and-so. If the right time has come for the sangha, may the sangha approve that the sangha gives sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years with So-and-so as her preceptor. This is the motion.’ ‘Venerable bhikkhunīs, may the sangha listen. This sāmaṇerī So-and-so asks the sangha for the training precepts for two years with So-and-so as her preceptor. The sangha now gives sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years with So-and-so as her preceptor. Those of the bhikkhunī sangha who accept to give sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years, with So-and-so as her preceptor, should remain silent. Those who don’t accept this should speak. This is called the first announcement.’ A second time, she should say again: ‘Venerable bhikkhunīs, may the sangha listen. This sāmaṇerī So-and-so asks the sangha for the training precepts for two years with So-and-so as her preceptor. The sangha now gives sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years with So-and-so as her preceptor. Those of the bhikkhunī sangha who accept to give sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years, with So-and-so as her preceptor, should remain silent. Those who don’t accept this should speak. This is called the second announcement.’

A third time, she should say again: ‘Venerable bhikkhunīs, may the sangha listen. This sāmaṇerī So-and-so asks the sangha for the training precepts for two years with So-and-so as her preceptor. The sangha now gives sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years with So-and-so as her preceptor. Those of the bhikkhunī sangha who accept to give sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years, with So-and-so as her preceptor, should remain silent. Those who don’t accept this should speak. This is called the third announcement.’ ‘The sangha has accepted to give sāmaṇerī So-and-so the training precepts for two years, with So-and-so as her preceptor. The sangha accepts this, therefore you’re silent. This matter is remembered thus.’

Then they should tell her the six sikkhamānā rules: ‘Sikkhamānā, listen. The Buddha, the World-honored One, the Tathāgata, accomplished, and rightly and fully awakened, the one who knows, the one who sees, has spoken six rules for sikkhamānās. You, sikkhamānā, should practise them for your whole life. The Buddha, the World-honored One, has with all kinds of reasons criticized desire, thoughts of desire, desire for desire, sensations of desire, and the heat of desire. The Buddha has taught to eliminate desire, to remove thoughts of desire, and to cut off the heat of desire. If a sikkhamānā undertakes the sikkhamānā rules, doesn’t give up the precepts, doesn’t disclose her weakness in the precepts, follows such thoughts, and accepts sexual intercourse, even with an animal, she’s not a sikkhamānā, not a sāmaṇerī, not a Sakyan daughter, and she has lost her status as a sikkhamānā. You shouldn’t do this for your whole life. If you can keep it, you should say: “I can.”

The Buddha, the World-honored One, has with all kinds of reasons criticized stealing and praised not stealing, even just one strand of thread, one inch of patchwork robes, or one drop of oil. Whatever isn’t given, you shouldn’t take. Herein, the Buddha’s rules cover even very small things down to five coins, or things worth five coins. If a sikkhamānā engages in this action of stealing, so that a king would arrest, beat, bind, or exile her, and say to her: “You criminal, you child, you fool, you’ve fallen into a judicable crime,” if a sikkhamānā steals in this way, she’s not a sikkhamānā, not a sāmaṇerī, not a Sakyan daughter, and she has lost her status as a sikkhamānā. You shouldn’t do this for your whole life. If you can keep it, you should say: “I can.”

The Buddha, the World-honored One, has with all kinds of reasons criticized killing living beings and praised abstaining from killing. Even from ants, you shouldn’t intentionally take a life, let alone from humans. If a sikkhamānā intentionally and with her own hands takes the life of a human, or if she gives someone a knife, or if she instructs about death, praises death, and says: “Hey, you, what use is this bad life? Death is better than living,” and goes along with that person’s thoughts (about dying), if with all kinds of reasons she teaches death, praises death, if she makes a covered fire pit to kill, if she kills by trapping and then trampling someone, if she makes a net, if she makes a snare, if she kills someone with arrows, if she raises a zombie to kill, if she does something resembling raising a zombie to kill, if she cuts off someone’s breath to kill, if she causes an abortion, if she presses on the belly to kill, if she pushes someone into a fire, if she pushes someone into water, if she pushes someone down from a high place, if she sends a messenger to kill someone on the road, or if when in a mother’s womb first arise two faculties, the body faculty and the mind faculty, at the embryonic stage, an evil thought arises to plan to take that life, and someone dies for these reasons, she’s not a sikkhamānā, not a sāmaṇerī, not a Sakyan daughter, and she has lost her status as a sikkhamānā. You shouldn’t do this for your whole life. If you can keep it, you should say: “I can.”

The Buddha has with all kinds of reasons criticized lying and praised not lying. Even as a joke you shouldn’t lie, let alone lying intentionally. If a sikkhamānā who doesn’t know and doesn’t see a superhuman state, says of herself: “I know in this way, I see in this way, I’m an arahant, on the path to arahantship, a non-returner, on the path to non-return, a once-returner, on the path to once-return, a stream-enterer, on the path to stream-entry, I attain the first, second, third, fourth jhāna, I attain the immeasurable mind of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity, I attain the formless concentration of infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither-perception-nor-non-perception, I attain the contemplation of impurity, mindfulness of breathing, the gods came to me, the nāgas (dragons), yakkhas (spirits), ghosts, pisācas (goblins), supaṇṇas (phoenixes), and rakkhasas (demons) came to me, and they asked me and I answered them, I asked them and they answered me”; if a sikkhamānā lies in this way, she’s not a sikkhamānā, not a sāmaṇerī, not a Sakyan daughter, and she has lost her status as a sikkhamānā. You shouldn’t do this for your whole life. If you can keep it, you should say: “I can.”

The Buddha has with all kinds of reasons criticized desire, thoughts of desire, desire for desire, sensations of desire, and the heat of desire. The Buddha has taught to eliminate desire, to remove thoughts of desire, and to cut off the heat of desire. If a sikkhamānā with a defiled mind allows a man with a defiled mind, while feeling sexual attraction, to rub her naked body up and down below the hairline and above the wrists and knees, to push her, pull her, to lift her up, set her down, or to dress a wound, she’s not a sikkhamānā, not a sāmaṇerī, not a Sakyan daughter, and she has lost her status as a sikkhamānā. If you commit this offense, you can be ordained again. Therefore, you shouldn’t do this for your whole life. Can you keep it? If you can keep it, you should say: “I can.”

The Buddha has with all kinds of reasons criticized desire, thoughts of desire, desire for desire, sensations of desire, and the heat of desire. He has praised eliminating desire, removing thoughts of desire, and cutting off the heat of desire. If a sikkhamānā with a defiled mind allows a man with a defiled mind to hold her hand, hold her robes, stands together, talks together, makes an appointment, enters a secluded place, waits for him, or gives her body, like a lay woman; if she makes herself available in these eight ways, she’s not a sikkhamānā, not a sāmaṇerī, not a Sakyan daughter, and she has lost her status as a sikkhamānā. If you commit this offense, you can be ordained again. Therefore, you shouldn’t do this for your whole life. Can you keep it? If you can, you should say: “I can.”’

‘So-and-so, listen. The sangha has given you the training rules. A sikkhamānā who has received and keeps the six rules is called “sikkhamānā”. You’ve obtained a preceptor, a teacher, and a bhikkhunī sangha. You’ve obtained a place to practise, you’ve obtained a (good) country, you’ve obtained what a wheel-turning king wishes for. Now that you’ve fulfilled this, you should venerate the three jewels: the Buddha jewel, the dhamma jewel, and the sangha jewel, your preceptor, your teacher, and the senior, middling, and junior nuns. You should undertake the three trainings: the training in right virtue, the training in right concentration, and the training in right wisdom. You should cultivate the three doors to liberation: the empty, the signless, and the uncreated. You should undertake the three activities: sitting in meditation, reciting suttas, and encouraging people to do meritorious acts. These states open the doors to nibbāna, to attain the fruits of stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and arahantship. Like a lotus flower in the water grows and opens up every day, so you’ll also grow on the path of dhamma. Later you’ll receive the full ordination.

In the dhamma of the Sakyan lion,

You’ve received the precepts hard to obtain.

A time without obstructions is hard to obtain,

You’ve obtained it, so don’t let it be in vain.

Pay respect with your head at the sangha’s feet,

Circumambulate them on the right, and leave in happiness.’

Origin Story (continued)

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 takes on a student who hasn’t trained in the six rules for two years, 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 takes on a student who hasn’t trained in the six rules for two years, it’s a pācittiya. Whenever she takes one on, she incurs a pācittiya. (End of rule 111.)