Lzh Mg Bi Vb Sk 17Lowered Eyes
Pāli / Sanskrit:Okkhittacakkhu
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Okkhittacakkhu Sutta (Lowered Eyes)
Background
The Okkhittacakkhu Sutta is found within the Vinaya Mahāvagga of the Vinaya Piṭaka, an important division of the Pāli Canon. These are the disciplinary regulations (Vinaya) prescribed for the Bhikkhunī Saṅgha — the community of female monastics — within the Buddhist Order during the lifetime of the Blessed One Śākyamuni. The sutta has its origins in the assemblies of the Fourfold Community (comprising bhikkhus, bhikkhunīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās) convened to establish rules of conduct, with the aim of protecting the Order and preserving moral purity.
The content of the sutta centers on events from the early period of the Bhikkhunī Saṅgha. At that time, certain bhikkhunīs had not maintained sufficiently proper standards of bodily conduct, particularly with regard to the deportment of the eyes. In particular, some were not restraining their gaze, allowing their eyes to wander and look about in a distracted manner, indicating a mind not yet settled in composure. This gave rise to misunderstandings and eroded the confidence of the lay Buddhist community. The Buddha took this occasion to establish a clear rule regarding the restraint of the sense faculties, with special emphasis on the eyes.
Principal Content
The sutta stipulates that bhikkhunīs should keep their eyes cast downward (okkhittacakkhu) — that is, they should restrain their gaze within the range directly before them, covering a distance sufficient to walk without obstruction. This is not an absolute prohibition against looking up, but rather an ethical and meditative guideline for the proper use of the sense faculties.
The specific purpose is to avoid three problems: first, to prevent wandering thoughts (yathāruci vitakka) that arise easily when the eyes are stimulated by visible forms (rūpa), whether beautiful or unpleasant; second, to preserve the pure and dignified appearance of the bhikkhunī in the eyes of the community; and third, to cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi) by restraining at least one of the principal "gateways" of the mind — namely, the eye faculty (cakkhu-indriya).
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