Lzh Sarv Bi Vb Pc 33Hitting

Interpretation of the Pahāra Rule (The Rule on Hitting)

Background

The Pahāra rule belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka in the Pāli Canon of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. The Vinaya Piṭaka is the collection of rules of practice and discipline for the Sangha, the community of monastics, recording the Buddha’s teachings intended to protect purity in the place of practice.

This rule records a specific event that occurred in the community of the Sangha. The Buddha witnessed or came to know of a situation in which bhikkhus, male monastics, or practitioners engaged in hitting, that is, using violence against one another. This conduct is contrary to the spirit of the Buddha-Dharma: nonviolence (ahiṃsā), loving-kindness (mettā), and self-discipline.

This historical context reflects actual conflicts within the early monastic community. The Buddha, with unsurpassed wisdom, did not merely criticize, but established clear rules, the prohibitions of the Pātimokkha, to prevent such conduct and to help monastics cultivate the mind of the path and maintain communal discipline.

Main Content

The Pahāra rule records that the act of hitting (pahāra, striking another person, using violence) is a serious act in the Vinaya Piṭaka. According to the regulation, any bhikkhu who physically attacks another person, whether a fellow practitioner or an outsider, commits a prohibited offense, either pācittiya or another offense depending on the degree of seriousness.

When a monastic strikes another person, the act not only causes physical harm but also breaks fundamental precepts: non-killing (ahiṃsā), non-harming, and observance of proper conduct. The Buddha taught that such actions arise from greed, hatred, and delusion, the three poisons of the mind, and directly contradict the path of practice leading toward nirvana.

The rule carefully specifies the cases: striking with the hand or with an object, striking many times or once, and whether or not blood is drawn.