Mpt Pc 27Travelling on a Boat With a Nun
Pāli / Sanskrit:Nāvābhiruhana
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Explanation of the Nāvābhiruhana Sutta (Boats and Bhikkhunīs)
Background
The Nāvābhiruhana Sutta belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda tradition, specifically the Pātimokkha section, the code of 227 rules for male bhikkhus and 311 rules for female bhikkhunīs. These are regulations concerning proper conduct within the Sangha community, established by the Buddha Gotama to protect the quality of the fourfold assembly.
The background for the arising of this discourse records an incident in the early Buddhist community. When bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs traveled together on the same boat, intimate situations could occur, creating a risk to the purity of the discipline and the honor of the monastic community. This event reminds us that the Buddha did not prohibit things in an irritable manner, but established rules based on actual incidents in order to protect the nature of practice.
Main Content
In this discourse, the Buddha stipulates that a bhikkhu may not sit on the same boat with a bhikkhunī, or conversely, under specified conditions, except where there is a valid reason such as rescue or unavoidable necessity. This rule is called Nāvābhiruhanasikkhāpada, the training rule concerning boarding a boat together.
This regulation is not based on unfair suspicion or discrimination, but on a practical principle: avoiding circumstances that may lead to actions violating the discipline, and avoiding situations that may cause misunderstanding among the wider community. This is the true spirit of sīla (virtue): not only avoiding doing what is bad, but also avoiding conditions favorable to what is bad.
This rule is one of the Saṅghādisesa offenses, which require declaration before the Sangha, or Pācittiya offenses, lighter faults requiring confession, depending on the manner of violation. The Buddha’s purpose is to preserve the purity of the Sangha community and protect the honor of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs in the eyes of society in the East.
Practical Meaning
The Nāvābhiruhana Sutta teaches us the importance of caution in practice.
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