Lzh Dg Bu Vb Pc 30Travelling by Arrangement

– DHARMAGUPTAKA VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

30. TRAVELLING THE ROAD TOGETHER WITH A WOMAN

A. ORIGIN OF THE RULE

At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the Anāthapiṇḍika Garden, the Jeta Forest, in the city of Śrāvastī. At that time, a man from Vaiśālī had given his daughter in marriage to a man from Śrāvastī. Afterward, the daughter-in-law quarreled with her mother-in-law, and so she returned to her home country.

At that very time, the Venerable Aniruddha also wished to travel from Śrāvastī to Vaiśālī. The woman asked the Venerable Aniruddha:

"Where does the Venerable one wish to go?"

The Venerable one replied:

"I wish to go to Vaiśālī."

The woman then said:

"May I travel along with you?"

The Venerable one consented.

At that time, the Venerable Aniruddha traveled the road together with this woman.

When the woman had departed, her husband had not been at home. Returning home the following day and not finding his wife anywhere, he asked his mother:

"What has become of my wife? Where is she?"

His mother replied:

"She quarreled with me and ran away from home. I do not know where she is now!"

The husband then hastily set out in pursuit. Along the road he caught up with his wife. The husband went up to the Venerable Aniruddha and asked:

"Why have you taken my wife and helped her to run away?"

Aniruddha then said:

"Stop! Stop! Do not speak like that. It was not like that at all!"

The householder said:

"How can you say it was not so? Right now you are traveling the road together with my wife!"

The wife said to her husband:

"I am traveling with this Venerable one just as a brother and sister travel together. There is nothing improper in it."

The husband said:

"Today this person led you away in flight, and that is why you speak as you do."

Having said these words, the man beat the Venerable Aniruddha nearly to death.

At that time, the Venerable Aniruddha stepped down from the road and went to a secluded place, where he sat with legs crossed, straightened his body, composed his mind, fixed his mindfulness before him, and entered into the fire-light samādhi. Seeing this, the householder gave rise to a wholesome mind and thought: "If the Venerable Aniruddha emerges from this samādhi, I will bow down before him and confess my offense."

When the Venerable Aniruddha emerged from samādhi, the householder addressed him in confession:

"I humbly beseech the Venerable one to accept my confession."

The Venerable Aniruddha accepted his confession. The householder then respectfully paid homage at the Venerable one's feet and sat to one side. The Venerable one spoke to the householder on the wonderful teachings of the Dharma, causing him to give rise to a mind of joy. Having spoken the Dharma, the Venerable one rose from his seat and departed.

At that time, after the Venerable Aniruddha had finished his meal, he went to the monastery and recounted this entire matter to the bhikkhus.

Among the bhikkhus who heard this, those who were of few desires and contentment, who practised the ascetic practices, who delighted in learning the precepts, and who possessed a sense of shame and remorse, reproached Aniruddha: "How could the Venerable Aniruddha travel the road alone together with a woman?"

At that time, the bhikkhus went to where the Blessed One was, paid homage at the Buddha's feet, and sat to one side. They reported this entire matter in full to the Blessed One. The Blessed One then, on account of this matter, convened the assembly of bhikkhus, and knowing already, he nonetheless asked Aniruddha:

"Is it true that you traveled the road together with a woman?"

The Venerable one replied:

"Blessed One, it is indeed true."

The Blessed One rebuked Aniruddha with numerous expedient means, saying:

"What you have done is wrong, unbecoming, not in accordance with the conduct of a śramaṇa, not pure conduct, not proper behavior; it is something that should not be done. How could you travel the road together with a woman?"

Having rebuked Aniruddha with numerous expedient means, the Blessed One said to the bhikkhus:

"Aniruddha is one who has planted many seeds of the defiled, he is the first to transgress this rule. From this time forward I shall establish a rule for the bhikkhus, comprising ten principles of meaning, up to and including the principle of causing the true Dharma to endure long."

The rule should be stated as follows:

Whatever bhikkhu travels the road together with a woman, even between two villages, commits a pācittiya.

The Blessed One having thus established the rule for the bhikkhus, at that time some bhikkhus, without having made an arrangement, happened to meet a woman along the road and, out of fear, did not dare to travel together.

The Buddha instructed: "If there was no prior arrangement, there is no offense."

From this time forward the rule should be stated as follows:

Whatever bhikkhu, having made an arrangement, travels the road together with a woman, even between two villages, commits a pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE RULE

Bhikkhu: as explained above.

Woman: as stated above.

Having made an arrangement: as stated above.

Road: as explained previously.

If a bhikkhu makes an arrangement and travels the road together with a woman, even to the extent of the distance between two villages, for each stretch of road traveled, whether more or less, he commits a pācittiya for each instance. If in an open field where there are no villages and he travels ten leagues, he commits a pācittiya. If he has not yet reached one village, or has not yet traveled ten leagues, he commits a duṣkṛta. If he travels together within the boundary of a village, he commits a duṣkṛta. If he intends to travel but does not go, or if he makes an arrangement and prepares but does not go, in all such cases he commits a duṣkṛta.

A bhikkhunī: duṣkṛta. A śikṣamāṇā, a śrāmaṇera, a śrāmaṇerī: duṣkṛta. These are called offenses.

Non-offense: if there was no prior arrangement; or if one's purpose in going there was safely accomplished; or if seized by force; or if bound; or if there is danger to life, danger to the holy life — in all such cases there is no offense.

Those who do not offend: one who commits the act for the first time before the rule has been established, one who is mentally deranged, one whose mind is disturbed, one who is afflicted with severe pain and distress.

Vietnamese translation: Bhikkhu Thích Đỗng Minh and Thích Đức Thắng. DHARMAGUPTAKA 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, 2)

Buddhist Studies Editorial Board, 2002.