Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pj 7Siding With One Ejected

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀRĀJIKA

7. CONCEALING A GRAVE OFFENSE

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the Anāthapiṇḍika Garden, Jeta's Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, the younger sister of the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā, named Tiṣyanandā, had also gone forth, and she committed an offense of pārājika. The bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā, knowing this, thought: "Tiṣyanandā is my younger sister; she has now committed a pārājika offense. I myself wish to speak of it to others, but I fear that my sister will come to ill repute. If my sister comes to ill repute, what good will that bring to me?" So she remained silent and said nothing.

After some time had passed, the bhikkhunī Tiṣyanandā left the training. When the other bhikkhunīs learned of this, they asked Sthūlanandā:

"Did you know that your younger sister has left the training?"

Sthūlanandā said:

"My younger sister did as was fitting, and not otherwise."

The bhikkhunīs asked:

"What do you mean that she did as was fitting?"

Sthūlanandā replied:

"Previously I knew that my sister had done such and such."

The bhikkhunīs said:

"If you knew previously, why did you not inform the bhikkhunīs?"

Sthūlanandā said:

"Tiṣyā is my younger sister; she committed a pārājika offense. I myself wished to speak of it to others, but I feared that my sister would come to ill repute. If my sister came to ill repute, the disgrace would fall upon me as well. Therefore I said nothing to anyone."

When the bhikkhunīs heard this, those among them who were of few desires, who were content, who practiced the dhūta qualities, who delighted in studying the precepts, and who possessed a sense of shame, reproached Sthūlanandā: "How could you conceal the grave offense of Tiṣyā?"

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 cause and condition, assembled the community of bhikkhus and reproached the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā:

"What you have done is wrong; it is not proper conduct, not the conduct of a renunciant, not pure practice, not appropriate behavior—it is something that should not have been done. Sthūlanandā, how could you conceal the grave offense of the bhikkhunī Tiṣyā?"

After rebuking the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā with countless means, the Blessed One said to the bhikkhus:

"The bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā is a planter of many seeds of the āsavas, and she is the first to commit this transgression. From this day forward, I shall lay down a precept for the bhikkhunīs, comprising ten principles of meaning, up to and including the principle that the true Dharma may long endure."

The precept to be recited is thus:

Whatever bhikkhunī, knowing that another has committed a pārājika offense, does not herself make it known, does not report it to the Saṅgha, and does not inform others—and at a later time that bhikkhunī either leaves the training, or is expelled, or is suspended by the Saṅgha, or follows non-Buddhist teachers—and afterward says: "Previously I knew that she had committed such and such an offense"—that bhikkhunī is one who has committed pārājika and is not to live together with the community. Because she has concealed a grave offense.

The Blessed One thus laid down this precept for the bhikkhunīs. But there were those who committed a pārājika offense within a city and then went to live in a village; there were others who committed a pārājika offense in a village and then came to live within a city. The bhikkhunīs did not know whether they had committed a pārājika offense or not, and only later learned that they had. On this account they said they had committed a pārājika offense, or were doubtful. The Buddha instructed:

"If one did not know, there is no offense."

From this day forward, the precept shall be recited thus:

Whatever bhikkhunī, knowing that a bhikkhunī has committed a pārājika offense, does not herself disclose it, does not inform others, and does not report it to the assembly—and at a later time that bhikkhunī either passes away, or is censured by the community, or leaves the training, or follows non-Buddhist teachers—and afterward says: "Previously I knew that she had committed such and such an offense"—that bhikkhunī is one who has committed pārājika and is not to live together with the community. Because she has concealed a grave offense.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE PRECEPT

Bhikkhunī: as explained above.

Knowing: means saying, "I knew that she had committed such and such an offense."

Saṅgha: sharing the same karmavācanā, sharing the same recitation of the Prātimokṣa.

Assembly: either four persons or more than four persons.

Leaves the training: departs from this Dharma.

Expelled: the Saṅgha has administered the fourfold karmavācanā of expulsion and dismissed her.

Suspended: when the community is adjudicating an offense, she is prevented from entering the assembly.

Non-Buddhist teachers: she has received the teaching of non-Buddhist teachers.

Grave offense: the eight pārājikas. If a bhikkhunī has committed any one of these eight rules—if a bhikkhunī knows that another bhikkhunī has committed a pārājika before the meal and speaks of it only after the meal, she commits a sthūlātyaya; if she knows after the meal and speaks of it only at the beginning of the night, she commits a sthūlātyaya; if she knows at the beginning of the night and speaks of it only in the middle of the night, she commits a sthūlātyaya; if she knows in the middle of the night and speaks of it only at the end of the night, she commits a sthūlātyaya; if she knows at the end of the night and does not speak of it, and dawn appears, she commits a pārājika.

With the exception of the eight pārājikas, concealing other offenses without disclosure is dealt with in accordance with the offense committed. Concealing one's own grave offense constitutes a sthūlātyaya.

Concealing the offense of others—excluding the case of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs—constitutes a duṣkṛta.

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

Non-offense: if one did not know; or if one informed another person; or if there was no one to inform; or if one intended to speak but had not yet spoken when dawn appeared; or if speaking would endanger one's life or endanger one's celibate life and therefore one did not speak—in these cases there is no offense.

Persons without offense: one who commits it for the first time before the precept has been laid down; one who is mentally deranged; one whose mind is disturbed; one who is overwhelmed by acute pain.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng.

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

Buddhist Studies Publication Committee, 2002.