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Early Schools · Comparative Canon · Comparative Vinaya — Chinese

Lzh Mi Bu Vb Ss 2Physical Contact

Pāli / Sanskrit:Kāyasaṁsagga

📖297 words · ~1 min read
2

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Interpreted by Inti AI (English)
🪷 AI interpretation

The Kāyasaṁsagga Sutta (Physical Contact)

Background

The Kāyasaṁsagga section belongs to the Bhikkhunī Vibhaṅga, the analysis of monastic discipline for nuns, in the Vinaya Piṭaka, where rules concerning permissible conduct and violations related to Buddhist nuns are prescribed. This material reflects a fundamental distinction in the practice of celibacy between nuns and male monastics (bhikkhus) in the Theravāda tradition.

For nuns, physical contact with men is regarded as an ethically sensitive matter, because it has the potential to arouse sensual desire and create opportunities for inappropriate activity. Therefore, the Buddha established detailed rules to protect celibacy (brahmacarya) and maintain the respect of the Buddhist community.

This text belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka rather than the Sutta Piṭaka, and therefore it has an administrative and practical character, guiding nuns in pursuing pure conduct.

Main Content

Kāyasaṁsagga (kāya = body; saṁsagga = contact, involvement) is part of the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha, the list of ethical matters for nuns. This rule concerns forms of physical contact between nuns and men, especially male monastics (bhikkhus) and laymen.

According to the Theravāda tradition, physical contact is classified according to degrees of seriousness. The rule does not allow a nun to actively seek or accept forms of apparently unnecessary physical contact with men. These rules aim to protect the deportment of the practitioner and maintain the highest standard of pure conduct.

Specifically, the sutta states that a nun should not allow her hand, arm, or other parts of the body to come into direct contact with the body of a man unless there is a valid reason related to medicine or illness. Even when helping or guiding, a nun must act with the utmost caution to avoid any form of unnecessary contact.

This rule is applied flexibly depending on the context.

🌏Why is this sūtra summarized by Inti AI?

🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.

Translation source: Interpreted by AILicense: CC0-1.0 (Sujato) · personal-use (Minh Châu) · EN: AI translation from Vietnamese source, awaiting source English

Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.

🔗Parallel editions
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