Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pc 156Hip Ornaments

– DHARMAGUPTAKA VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

RULE 156

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Blessed One was residing in the garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the Jeta Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā had the idea of wearing a padded undergarment to make herself appear fuller in form. The lay people who saw this all criticized her, saying: "These bhikkhunīs have no sense of shame or modesty; they engage in impure conduct. They claim to know the true Dharma, yet what kind of Dharma is this? Wearing padded undergarments to make themselves appear full in form—just like prostitutes and dissolute women!"

The bhikkhunīs heard this, and among them were those of few desires and contentment, who practiced the ascetic way, who delighted in training in the precepts and who had a sense of shame and modesty. They rebuked Sthūlanandā, saying: "Why did you have the idea of wearing a padded garment to make yourself appear fuller in form?"

The bhikkhunīs then reported the matter to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus went and reported it to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, using this occasion, assembled the Sangha of bhikkhus and rebuked Sthūlanandā:

"What you have done is wrong. It is not proper conduct, not the way of a śramaṇa, not pure practice, not befitting behavior, and it is something that should not be done. Why did a bhikkhunī have the idea of wearing a padded undergarment to make herself appear fuller in form?"

Having rebuked her with numerous means, the Buddha said to the bhikkhus:

"This bhikkhunī is a field in which many seeds of the defiled are planted; she is the first to commit this offense. From this day forward, I shall lay down a precept for the bhikkhunīs, comprising ten principles of meaning, up to and including the phrase 'for the long endurance of the true Dharma.'"

The precept should be stated as follows:

Whatever bhikkhunī wears a padded undergarment—pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE RULE

Bhikkhunī: as explained above.

Padded undergarment: made of fine wool, or cotton cloth, or kucara fabric, or rushes/sedge grass, or śoma fiber, or silk—all are pācittiya.

For a bhikkhu, duṣkṛta. For a śikṣamāṇā, śrāmaṇera, or śrāmaṇerikā, duṣkṛta. These are called offenses.

Non-offense: if due to some illness, one wears a medicinal inner garment, and over that the nivāsana, and then the kāṣāya robe; or if compelled by force. In all such cases, there is no offense.

Those who are not offenders: one who commits the act for the first time before the rule has been laid down; one who is insane, mentally disturbed, or afflicted and tormented by severe pain.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhú Fóniàn.

Revised and annotated by: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Publication Committee, 2002