Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pc 114Spinning Yarn

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

RULE 114

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Bhagavān was dwelling in the garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the Jeta Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, the group of six bhikkhunīs were spinning yarn with their own hands. When laypeople saw this, they sneered and laughed, saying, "Just like my wife spinning yarn. The bhikkhunīs are doing the same — what difference is there!" The laypeople gave rise to a mind of contempt and showed no respect.

The bhikkhunīs heard of this, and among them were those of few desires and contentment, who practiced the ascetic way, who delighted in training in the precepts, who knew shame and remorse. They reproached the group of six bhikkhunīs: "Why do you spin yarn with your own hands?"

The bhikkhunīs reported the matter to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus reported it to the Buddha. The Buddha, on account of this cause and condition, assembled the community of bhikkhus and rebuked the group of six bhikkhunīs:

"What you have done is wrong. It is not proper conduct, not the practice of a śramaṇa, not pure conduct, not harmonious behavior — it is something that should not be done. Why do you spin yarn with your own hands, no different from worldly people?"

Having rebuked them with countless skillful means, the Buddha said to the bhikkhus:

"These bhikkhunīs are a field that cultivates many seeds of the āsravas; they are the first to transgress this precept. From this day forward, I shall set forth this precept for the bhikkhunīs in ten meaningful phrases, up to and including the phrase 'for the long endurance of the true Dharma.'"

The precept should be stated as follows:

Whatever bhikkhunī spins yarn with her own hands: pācittiya.

B. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRECEPT

Bhikkhunī: as explained above.

Yarn: there are ten kinds, as above.

Whatever bhikkhunī spins yarn with her own hands — one turn constitutes one pācittiya offense.

For a bhikkhu: duṣkṛta. For a śikṣamāṇā, a śrāmaṇera, or a śrāmaṇerī: duṣkṛta. These are called transgressions.

Non-offense: if one separates the fibers oneself, or twists thread; or if one is compelled by force, there is no offense.

Those who do not offend: the first offender before the precept was established; one who is mad, one whose mind is disturbed, one who is afflicted with pain and distress.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Edited and annotated by: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng.

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

Buddhist Publications Committee, 2002.