Lzh Dg Bi Vb Np 21Exchanging Group Property

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– NISSAGGIYA PĀCITTIYA

RULE 21

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Buddha was staying in the Anāthapiṇḍika Garden, Jeta's Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, the bhikkhunī Anin wished to travel to the country of Śrāvastī. The bhikkhunīs who were resident there heard that bhikkhunī Anin would be coming, and so they went from house to house begging and received a considerable quantity of food provisions and goods.

When the appointed time came, bhikkhunī Anin did not arrive. The resident bhikkhunīs deliberated among themselves: "Bhikkhunī Anin had agreed to come with us to the country of Śrāvastī, yet she has not come. Robes are very difficult for bhikkhunīs to obtain, yet one must have the full set of five robes. We may take these goods and exchange them for robes to share among ourselves." So they exchanged the goods for the five robes and divided them among themselves.

Afterwards, bhikkhunī Anin arrived in the country of Śrāvastī. The following morning, at the proper time, she dressed, took her bowl, and entered the city to beg for food. Some laypeople saw her and asked:

"Venerable Sister, what do you need?"

She replied:

"I am begging for food."

They asked again:

"Does the Saṅgha not have food?"

Anin replied:

"There is none."

Several days later, a layperson went to the resident bhikkhunīs and asked:

"Previously we all contributed goods to provide food for bhikkhunī Anin. Did you make the food?"

They replied:

"No."

They asked again:

"Why did you not do so?"

The bhikkhunīs answered:

"Previously bhikkhunī Anin had agreed to come to the country of Śrāvastī, but then she did not come. Therefore we thought: 'Bhikkhunī Anin agreed to come with us to the country of Śrāvastī, yet she has not come. Robes are very difficult for bhikkhunīs to obtain, yet one must have the full set of five robes. We may take these goods and exchange them for robes to share among ourselves.' So we exchanged them for robes and divided them among ourselves."

All the laypeople were displeased and said:

"These bhikkhunīs have no sense of shame; they receive without knowing satisfaction. They outwardly claim to know the true Dharma. Yet previously we donated goods for bhikkhunī Anin to be used as food, and afterwards they exchanged them for robes to divide among themselves. How is this in accordance with the true Dharma? It is not that we do not know that robes are difficult for bhikkhunīs to obtain in the full set of five. But the reason we made the offering was specifically to provide food for bhikkhunī Anin who had come from afar."

The bhikkhunīs heard of this, and among them those who were of few desires, content, who practiced the ascetic disciplines, who were fond of learning the precepts, who had a sense of shame, rebuked those bhikkhunīs:

"Why did you take goods that laypeople had contributed to provide food for bhikkhunī Anin and exchange them for robes to divide among yourselves?"

The bhikkhunīs came and reported this to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus came and reported it to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, on account of this circumstance, assembled the community of bhikkhus and rebuked those bhikkhunīs:

"What you have done is wrong; it is not proper conduct, not the practice of a śramaṇa, not pure conduct, not conforming behavior — it is something that should not be done.

Bhikkhunīs, why did laypeople contribute goods to provide food for bhikkhunī Anin, yet you exchanged them for robes to divide among yourselves?"

The Blessed One rebuked the bhikkhunīs by means of countless skillful means, and then said to the bhikkhus:

"These bhikkhunīs are a field that cultivates many defiled seeds; they are the first to offend against this precept. From this day forward, I shall set forth a precept for the bhikkhunīs consisting of ten principles, up to and including the phrase 'so that the true Dharma may long endure.'"

The precept should be stated thus:

Whatever bhikkhunī, having solicited on her own behalf goods donated for one purpose, diverts them to another purpose for the Saṅgha — nissaggiya pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE PRECEPT

Bhikkhunī: as defined above.

Goods donated for one purpose: solicited for food but used to make robes; solicited for robes but used as food; or solicited for one purpose but applied to yet another purpose.

Solicited on her own behalf: going to beg in person.

Property of the Saṅgha: as explained above.

A bhikkhunī who herself goes begging on behalf of the Saṅgha and then applies the proceeds to a different purpose commits a nissaggiya pācittiya.

This nissaggiya matter should be forfeited to the Saṅgha, as in the preceding rule, and confession made, also as in the preceding rule.

The Saṅgha should return this forfeited robe to that bhikkhunī by means of the formal act of a single proclamation and single resolution (ñattidutiakamma), also as in the preceding rule. If it is not returned, and it is made into one of the five robes, or even fashioned into something that is not a robe, or worn continuously, all such acts incur a dukkaṭa, as before.

For a bhikkhu: dukkaṭa. For a śikṣamāṇā, a śrāmaṇera, or a śrāmaṇerī: dukkaṭa. This is called an offense.

Non-offense: if one informs the laypeople first and then makes use of the goods; or if when the laypeople provide the goods they say, "Use them as you see fit" — in such cases there is no offense.

Those who do not offend: the first offender before the precept was established; one who is mad, mentally disturbed, or in extreme pain and affliction.

Vietnamese translation: Bhikkhu Thích Đỗng Minh and Thích Đức Thắng. FOUR-PART VINAYA, PART ONE

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated by: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

(Chinese translation, fascicles 1–21; Vietnamese translation, fascicles 1–2)

Buddhist Studies Editorial Committee, 2002