Lzh Mu Bu Pm Sk 54Swaying (2nd)

An Explanation of the Dutiyakāyappacālaka Sutta

Rules Concerning Bodily Swaying (Second)

Background

The Dutiyakāyappacālaka Sutta is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. It is a continuation of the discourse on the same subject given the first time (Paṭhamakāyappacālaka), continuing to address rules on how to control and govern the body within the community of monks and nuns.

The Buddha set forth these rules to protect the purity of the Sangha and to maintain the discipline of practitioners. Bodily "swayings" (cālaka, or restless movements) are unsuitable actions that can affect the dignity (sīla) and modesty (hiri) of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. This background reflects a situation requiring additional attention to conduct, because earlier issues had not been fully resolved.

Main Content

In this second statement of the rule, the Buddha continues to define actions that bhikkhus must avoid in relation to the body. These are not only crude or undignified actions, but also gestures and ways of moving that may easily be misinterpreted or cause misunderstanding within the community and among laypeople.

These rules include the way of holding the body when walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, as well as in daily activities such as eating, washing, and wearing robes. The purpose is for practitioners to maintain a quality of dignity, not allowing the body to sway in a way that diminishes decorum (śīlatā). This is directly related to the concepts of "indriya-samvara" (restraint of the faculties) and "ājīva-parisuddhi" (purity of livelihood), two core factors in the discipline.

Every detail mentioned has a specific cause, often because certain bhikkhus had violated it, or because those actions were easily misunderstood as unsuitable to the status of one who has gone forth.