Lzh Mg Bi Vb Pc 133Medical Treament Below the Navel

– MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA VINAYA

– RULES OF DISCIPLINE FOR BHIKKHUNĪS

– EXPLAINING THE FIRST SECTION OF THE 141 PĀCITTIYAS

133. RULE: HAVING A MALE PERSON LANCE AN ABSCESS.

When the Buddha was residing in Rājagṛha, at that time the bhikkhunī Śroḍhī had an abscess growing in her private area. When the other bhikkhunīs had all gone into the village on alms-round, a skilled physician who treated abscesses arrived, and she said to him:

—Sir physician, please lance this abscess for me.

—That can be done.

And so the physician lanced the abscess, applied medicine, and departed. When the bhikkhunīs returned from alms-round, they saw blood and pus on the ground and asked Śroḍhī:

—What is this blood and pus?

—I had an abscess lanced.

—Why did you have an abscess in your private area lanced without first informing a virtuous bhikkhunī?

The bhikkhunīs then reported this to Mahāprajāpatī. Eventually, when the Buddha questioned her, she replied:

—It is indeed so, Blessed One!

—Why did you have an abscess from the knee upward and from the shoulder downward lanced without first requesting permission? Henceforth I do not permit this.

Thereupon the Buddha instructed: Even those who have already heard this must hear it again:

—If a bhikkhunī has an abscess in a private area, from the knee upward and from the shoulder downward, and without first requesting permission allows a male person to lance it and clean it, she commits a pācittiya offense.

EXPLANATION:

From the knee upward: That is, from the thigh upward.

From the shoulder downward: That is, from the breasts downward.

Without first reporting: Without reporting to a virtuous bhikkhunī.

Requesting permission: Performing a karmavācanā to seek consent in the midst of the Saṃgha. When there is an abscess in a private area and one wishes to have it lanced, one should first perform the karmavācanā to seek consent in the midst of the Saṃgha, and then proceed. The one performing the karmavācanā should speak as follows:

—May the noble Saṃgha listen. The bhikkhunī so-and-so has an abscess in her private area. If the time is right for the Saṃgha, the Saṃgha now permits the bhikkhunī so-and-so to come before the Saṃgha to request the karmavācanā for lancing the abscess:

May the noble Saṃgha listen. The bhikkhunī so-and-so wishes to come before the Saṃgha to request the karmavācanā for lancing an abscess. Since the Saṃgha consents, it remains silent. I so record it.

If there is an abscess in a private area, one should instruct a trustworthy person—whether a dependent disciple, or a fellow disciple under the same preceptor or ācārya—to use a needle or fingernail to lance it and then apply medicine. If one instructs a male person to lance the abscess, one commits a pācittiya offense.

Pācittiya: As stated above. If there is an abscess from the shoulder upward or from the knee downward that one wishes to have lanced, or if one wishes to have the head of the abscess opened to allow bleeding, or wishes to have an arm opened, one should have a woman hold the area firmly and then allow a male person to lance it; in such a case there is no offense.

Therefore the Blessed One spoke thus (as above).

End of the thirty-ninth volume.

Vietnamese translation: Thích Phước Sơn. MAHĀSĀṂGHIKA VINAYA

Chinese translation: TRIPIṬAKA BUDDHABHADRA OF INDIA

TOGETHER WITH ŚRAMAṆA FǍXIǍN, TRANSLATED DURING THE EASTERN JIN DYNASTY

Doctrinal verification: Thích Đỗng Minh