Lzh Dg Bi Pm Pc 139Ekato viśuddhā

Ekato viśuddhā — AI Exposition (Inti Dharma)

Lzh Dg Bi Pm Pc 139 | Comparative Vinaya — Chinese | Sectarian Traditions · Comparative

---

Source Status

The scripture entry numbered Lzh Dg Bi Pm Pc 139 belongs to the Comparative Vinaya — Chinese collection in the system of materials for Comparative Sectarian Traditions. At the time this exposition was compiled, the full source text had not been accessed and directly compared. The presentation below is not a translation of the original scripture, but an academic exposition based entirely on the provided descriptive information, including tradition, collection name, sequence number, and title. Readers should note this in order to avoid confusing a derivative exposition with the original canonical text.

---

Background

This entry belongs to the system of Comparative Vinaya — Chinese, an academic project comparing Vinaya texts from various Buddhist sectarian traditions. The identifier Bi Pm Pc in the reference number suggests that this is a training rule (sikkhāpada) belonging to the Pācittiya group, offenses of disclosure and confession, in the Bhikkhunī section, that is, rules concerning bhikkhunīs, women gone forth in the Buddhist tradition. The abbreviation Pc (Pācittiya) and Bi (Bhikkhunī), together with the sequence number 139, indicate that this is the 139th training rule in the Pācittiya group for bhikkhunīs, according to the classification of the Vinaya text being compared.

In the general structure of the Vinaya, Pācittiya training rules are regulations that, when violated, require the monastic to perform an act of disclosure (āvikaraṇa) before the Sangha or before another monastic in order to become pure again. These are not grave offenses such as Pārājika, which entails permanent expulsion, or Saṅghādisesa, which requires settlement by the Sangha, but lighter offenses that can be confessed and from which the precept-body can be restored.

---

Content Determinable from the Descriptive Information

The title Ekato viśuddhā is a Sanskrit phrase that may be analyzed as follows:

• Ekato (एकतः): meaning "from one side," "in one respect," or "unilaterally."
• viśuddhā (विशुद्धा): meaning "pure," "clean," "purified," the feminine form of the adjective viśuddha (Pāli: visuddha).

Taken together, Ekato viśuddhā may be translated literally as "Pure from One Side" or "Unilaterally Pure." In the context of Vinaya studies, this is often a technical term indicating a state of purity in the precepts established from only one component, for example, an act, declaration, or ritual requiring confirmation from only one side to be effective.

In comparative Vinaya texts, this term appears in connection with situations in which the validity or purity of a juridical act (kammavācā) does not require the agreement or presence of both sides, but only the action or declaration of one side. This is an important category in Buddhist Vinaya theory concerning the legal value of Sangha procedures.

Since the full text has not been accessed, it is not possible to determine precisely what situation, object, or form of offense this training rule governs. However, given its position as number 139 in the bhikkhunī Pācittiya group and its technically framed title, it is very likely a training rule related to confession, formal acts (kamma), or legal procedures in the bhikkhunī Sangha.

---

Meaning for Practice and Study

Although the specific content of this training rule has not yet been determined, the fundamental spirit of the Pācittiya rules in the Vinaya generally carries profound significance for practice and study:

First, discipline is the foundation of purity. Each training rule is not merely an external rule of conduct, but also a means of protecting the mind, preventing actions that easily become obstacles to the life of holy conduct.

Second, purity can be restored. The Pācittiya rules, through the mechanism of confession and disclosure, teach that the practitioner need not carry a prolonged burden of guilt. What matters is recognizing, acknowledging, and restoring the precept-body through the means provided by the Vinaya.

Third, the concept of "purity from one side", if this is indeed the content of the training rule, reminds practitioners of the subtlety of Buddhist Vinaya thought: not every act requires bilateral conditions in order to have validity; sometimes sincerity and right understanding on one's own side are already sufficient to begin the path of restoring purity.

---

Comparative Note

The descriptive information does not provide the translator's name, the specific location in the canon, or comparative materials from other traditions. Researchers who wish to understand this training rule more deeply should consult the Chinese and Sanskrit Vinaya texts of the relevant sectarian traditions directly, while also comparing them with the corresponding Pāli and Tibetan Vinaya systems in order to gain a comprehensive view of the scope and meaning of the term Ekato viśuddhā in the Buddhist sectarian Vinaya tradition.