Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Dh Sk 15Nātyavakṛṣṭaṁ prāvariṣyāma

Nātyavakṛṣṭaṁ prāvariṣyāma

AI Commentary — Inti Dharma

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Source Status

This is an AI commentary, not a translation of the original scripture. The full source text for this entry has not yet been directly collated in the current Inti Dharma database. Readers should note that all the presentation below is based solely on the descriptive information provided, including tradition, school, identifier, and Sanskrit title, and not on an authenticated canonical full text. Therefore, no scriptural passage is quoted, no specific saying of the Buddha is reproduced, and no episode, character, or chapter structure is reconstructed in this commentary.

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Background

This entry belongs to the collection Comparative Vinaya — Chinese, within the branch Sectarian Scriptures · Comparative (bo-phai). This is a specialized scholarly category that gathers and compares Vinaya provisions from different Buddhist schools transmitted in Chinese, in order to help researchers recognize similarities, differences, and the historical formation of Vinaya traditions.

The identifier Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Dh Sk 15 indicates that this entry is related to the Sarvāstivāda tradition (Sarv), specifically to the section concerning the discipline of bhikkhunīs (Bi, an abbreviation of Bhikṣuṇī), and belongs to the group Prāyaścitta-dharma (Pm Dh, rules concerning confession and expiation, that is, rules requiring disclosure or repentance when violated), item 15 in that sequence. The abbreviation Sk may refer to Sanskrit, the original language of the source text in the Sarvāstivāda tradition.

The Sarvāstivāda tradition was one of the most important schools of Sectarian Buddhism, especially widespread in northern India and Central Asia and transmitted deeply into China. The Vinaya of this school is regarded as one of the most complete and detailed systems of monastic law preserved through Chinese translation.

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Content Identifiable from the Descriptive Information

The title Nātyavakṛṣṭaṁ prāvariṣyāma is a Sanskrit phrase. Preliminary analysis suggests:

• Nātyavakṛṣṭam (or nāty-avakṛṣṭam): may be understood as "not [to be] drawn too low" or "not to be worn in a way that hangs or drags low," connected with the manner of wearing monastic clothing.
• Prāvariṣyāma: from the root prā-vṛ, meaning "to put on," "to wear," or "to cover oneself"; here it may be a first-person plural future form (we shall put on/wear), or carry a prescriptive sense, "we should wear thus."

The whole phrase may be understood generally as: "We shall wear [the robe] without letting it hang down or drag"; in other words, this is a training rule governing the proper manner of wearing robes for bhikkhunīs according to the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya.

In the context of the Prāyaścitta rules for bhikkhunīs, provisions concerning robes and the manner of using clothing are very specific: the length of the robe, how it is tied, how it is worn, how it is cared for, all reflect a life of mindfulness, deportment, and the expression of liberation through bodily conduct.

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Meaning for Practice

Although the full text has not yet been collated, the direction suggested by the title carries very practical meaning for training. In Sectarian Buddhism, detailed regulations on how to wear robes are not merely formal ritual, but reflect a deep philosophy of practice:

First, the clothing of a renunciant is a symbol of renunciation and purity. Wearing the robe properly, without dragging or looseness, is an expression of mindfulness in daily life (iriyāpatha-sampajañña), clear awareness in every posture: walking, standing, lying down, and sitting.

Second, in the Sangha, the deportment of bhikkhunīs when wearing robes directly affects the image of the Sangha Jewel before laypeople and society. Vinaya is therefore not separate from the responsibility of propagating the Dharma and protecting the true Dharma.

Third, small training rules concerning daily life, including clothing, may appear secondary outwardly, but they are precisely the foundation by which practitioners gradually purify conceit, heedlessness, and coarse habits of the body. Small discipline nourishes great liberation.

For practitioners, this is a reminder that Vinaya is not a rigid legal code, but a path of training body, speech, and mind through every detail of life, so that the mind increasingly abides in serenity and clarity.

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Collation Note

The corresponding Sanskrit or Chinese full text for Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Dh Sk 15 has not yet been entered into the Inti Dharma comparative database at the time this commentary was prepared. Researchers who wish to study further should consult the Chinese translations of the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya directly, as well as scholarly materials comparing Vinaya traditions among the schools, in order to establish a more accurate and complete basis than this AI commentary can provide.