Lzh Mu Bi Vb Sk 14Lowered Eyes
Pāli / Sanskrit:Okkhittacakkhu
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
OKKHITTACAKKHU SUTTA (LOWERED EYES)
Background
Okkhittacakkhu, provisionally translated as "Lowered Eyes" or "Downcast Gaze," is a text belonging to the Vinaya Piṭaka in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. The Vinaya Piṭaka records training rules, stories about the origin of each rule, and guidance on discipline (Vinaya) for the community of monks and nuns. This text lies within the Mahāvibhaṅga, the Bhikkhunī discipline, reflecting attention to every detail of bodily, verbal, and mental conduct in the renunciant life.
The title "Lowered Eyes" points to a disciplinary rule or instruction concerning control of the senses, especially sight. In the context of Theravāda Buddhism, lowering the gaze is not simply a physical act, but an expression of carefulness, reverence, and restraint of the senses (indriya-saṃvara).
Main Content
The Vinaya Piṭaka records that the Buddha taught his disciples, especially bhikkhunīs, to practice discipline regarding sight. Specifically, when walking, sitting, or working, practitioners should lower their eyes, not look far ahead, and not let their eyes wander restlessly. This action is intended to prevent mental distraction, conditions that give rise to suffering, and deviations that may arise from lack of restraint.
This text is often connected with specific situations: when walking on the same road with others, when in community, or in environments with many sense-stimuli. Lowering the eyes is not fear or inferiority, but mindfulness: keeping the mind steady and not allowing it to follow images, colors, or objects that may give rise to greed, hatred, or delusion.
In the Vinaya Piṭaka, these instructions are recorded together with specific illustrative stories: when a nun did not observe the discipline of sight, problems arose such as improper attention (ayoniso manasikāra), distracted mind (citta vikkhitta), or even defilements due to the mind turning outward. That is why the Buddha emphasized that "those with lowered eyes" are those who practice the noble Dharma rightly.
🌏 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.
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.