Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pc 176Walking Sensuously

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

RULE 176

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Bhagavā was dwelling in the garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the Jeta Grove, at the city of Śrāvastī. At that time, the group of six bhikkhunīs dressed in their robes and walked while swaying their bodies, in order to make themselves attractive. Lay people saw this and criticized them: "These bhikkhunīs have no sense of shame; they violate the holy life. They outwardly declare, 'I know the true Dharma.' But what kind of true Dharma is this? Desiring to make themselves attractive, they walk while swaying their bodies just like prostitutes and wanton women!"

The bhikkhunīs heard this, and among them those who were of few desires, who were content, who practiced the dhūta qualities, who delighted in training in the precepts, and who had a sense of shame, reproached the group of six bhikkhunīs: "Why do you, desiring to make yourselves attractive, walk while swaying your bodies, just like prostitutes and wanton women?"

The bhikkhunīs reported the matter to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus went and reported it to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, on account of this matter, convened the assembly of bhikkhus and reproached 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 suitable behavior — it is something that should not be done. Why do you bhikkhunīs, desiring to make yourselves attractive, walk while swaying your bodies?"

Having reproached them with numerous means, the Buddha said to the bhikkhus:

"These bhikkhunīs are a field that cultivates many seeds of defilement; they are the first to commit this offense. From now on, 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 proclaimed as follows:

Whatever bhikkhunī, desiring to make herself attractive, walks while swaying her body — pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE PRECEPT

Bhikkhunī: the meaning is as above.

Whatever bhikkhunī, desiring to make herself attractive, walks while swaying her body — pācittiya.

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

Non-offense: If one is afflicted by some illness; or if one must dodge because one is being struck by someone; or if a wild elephant charges; or if one encounters bandits; or if one encounters wild animals; or if thorns and brambles compel one to shield oneself with one's hands; or if one is wading through river water, ditches, or muddy pools; or if one wishes to keep one's robes neat and even, so they do not hang unevenly like an elephant's trunk or the leaves of a tāla tree, or fold into small creases and wrinkles, and so one must turn and look to the left and right — in all such cases, there is no offense.

Those who do not commit an offense: one who commits an offense for the first time before the precept has been established; one who is insane, mentally disturbed, or racked 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.

Revised and annotated: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Publication Committee, 2002