Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Sk 94Nokkhittakāyassa

EXPLANATION OF THE NOKKHITTAKĀYASSA SUTTA

Background

Nokkhittakāyassa is a Dharma discourse recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Early Buddhist Dharma tradition, within the Pāli Canon, the most revered canon of Theravāda. This title is translated as “discarded bodies,” pointing to a special event connected with the teaching and discipline of the community of monks and nuns.

The Vinaya Piṭaka in general is not a set of philosophical sermons, but rules of practice and explanatory stories about the origins of disciplinary provisions (sutta-vibhaṅga), helping monks and nuns understand the Buddha’s intention when he issued the regulations. Nokkhittakāyassa appears in the context of building and maintaining the Sangha, the community practicing according to the Buddha’s teaching.

This discourse concerns actions that violate principles or special disciplinary cases in the community of monks and nuns, when a member may be “cast out” from the community because of violating grave rules (pārājika) or other serious offenses.

Main Content

In the Vinaya Piṭaka, Nokkhittakāyassa is an explanatory section related to conduct that causes a monastic to be removed from the group. These are not arbitrary regulations, but principles based on basic ethics: not killing living beings, not stealing, not violating purity, and not lying about superhuman attainments.

The pārājika rules, offenses of defeat, are faults that cause a practitioner to lose monastic status if they do not sincerely repent and undertake the process of correction. When a monastic seriously violates these rules, the community has the responsibility to carry out disciplinary measures, which may ultimately lead to “casting out” or removing that person, in order to protect the purity and wholesome development of the Sangha.

However, the Vinaya Piṭaka always emphasizes humility and loving-kindness. Even in cases of strict discipline, the goal is education and the opportunity to turn back, not unconditional punishment.