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Early Schools · Comparative Canon · Comparative Vinaya — Chinese

Lzh Dg Bi Pm Np 26Niḥśṛjāti

Pāli / Sanskrit:Niḥśṛjāti

📖294 words · ~1 min read
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Interpreted by Inti AI (English)
🪷 AI interpretation

An Explanation of the Niḥśṛjāti Rule (Nirvṛtti)

Background

The Niḥśṛjāti rule is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, specifically in the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha, an important section that regulates offenses concerning liberation from the imposed secondary matters placed upon female monastics. This is one of the very core rules connected with the principles of discipline and the legal force of the Buddha’s path.

The title Niḥśṛjāti, with variant forms such as Nirvṛtti or Visajjana, means “release,” “letting go,” or “renunciation,” referring to the abandoning of bonds and fetters of consciousness. In the context of the Vinaya Piṭaka, this is an approach to law not from the standpoint of punishment, but from the standpoint of spiritual liberation.

Main Content

The Niḥśṛjāti rule teaches that practice according to the Vinaya is not meant to cause suffering or impose rigid rules, but to create conditions for monastics to let go of mental bonds (pāsaṇḍa), the burdens of greed, anger, and delusion. The law is a tool, a skillful means (upāya), to help monastics, especially female monastics, move toward 涅槃 (Nirvana).

The rule emphasizes that when a monastic preserves the precepts (sīla), the mind is gradually purified. Obedience to the Vinaya is not coercion, but an active commitment to renouncing actions, words, and thoughts that harm oneself and others. Through this, one attains true inner freedom; this is precisely nirvana or niśrjati, liberation.

An important aspect is that this rule reminds us that Buddhism is not a religion that imposes blind obedience. Instead, it is a path of clear awareness (sampajañña) of the causes and results of action. One abandons fetters not out of fear or punishment from above, but because one clearly understands the limiting nature (svabhāva) and suffering of unwholesome actions.

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Translation source: Interpreted by AILicense: CC0-1.0 (Sujato) · personal-use (Minh Châu) · EN: AI translation from Vietnamese source, awaiting source English

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