Lzh Sarv Bu Vb Sk 96Na vikṣiptikākṛtasya

Exposition of the Na vikṣiptikākṛtasya Sutta

Background

The Na vikṣiptikākṛtasya Sutta is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the early Buddhist tradition, in the Saṅghabhedavastu (Matters Concerning Divisions in the Sangha) or related sections on monastic discipline. The context of this sutta is connected with practical situations in Sangha life, when monks failed to keep the mind properly collected, allowed the mind to be loose or distracted, or performed impermissible actions in an unmindful way.

The Vinaya Piṭaka is a collection of ethical rules and guidelines established by the Buddha Śākyamuni so that monks and nuns might maintain integrity, thereby protecting the monastic community and helping practitioners progress on the path to liberation. The rules in the Vinaya Piṭaka are not irrational punishments, but skillful means for training mind and conduct.

Main Content

The Na vikṣiptikākṛtasya Sutta (Pāli: Na vikkhittikakataṃ) concerns the principle that actions performed in a state of scattered mind, without awareness, or absentmindedly are not regarded as having the full nature of an offense or fault to the complete degree.

Specifically, the sutta establishes that when a bhikkhu performs an action while his consciousness is loose or distracted (vikkhitta citta), not focused on the present act, the ethical result (karma) of that action differs from an action performed with a clear, mindful, and deliberate mind. This reflects a profound Buddhist principle: the importance of intention (cetanā) in determining the moral quality of an action.

This Vinaya rule emphasizes that actions performed without full mental attention, or performed mechanically and unconsciously, do not bear the same heavy ethical consequence as actions performed with clear and deliberate intention. However, this does not mean that such actions are entirely irrelevant; they still have certain effects on the development of the mind.