Xct Mu Bi Pm Pc 169Letting the Time Expire

Explanation of the Kālaatikkamana Sutta (Letting the Time Pass)

Background

The Kālaatikkamana Sutta is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically in the Sutta Vibhaṅga of the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha, a collection of ascetic training rules for female monastics. The Vinaya Piṭaka is the foundation for governing the community of monks and nuns in Theravāda Buddhism, established by the Buddha Gotama to maintain order, diligence, and purity of practice.

This text arose from a specific situation in the monastic community: when a bhikkhunī committed minor faults but did not promptly confess or acknowledge her wrongdoing, allowing the prescribed period to pass. The Buddha addressed this matter with clear guidance on how it should be handled, from which a detailed set of rules was formed.

Main Content

Kālaatikkamana, translated as “letting the time pass,” refers to the condition in which a bhikkhunī commits a Pācittiya offense, one of the faults lighter than Saṅghādisesa, but deliberately does not confess or acknowledge the fault within the prescribed time.

According to the Vinaya Piṭaka, when a bhikkhunī commits a Pācittiya offense, she must confess it before another bhikkhunī; or, if that is not possible, she must seek an opportunity to confess within a definite period. If she allows this time to pass without making confession, that is an act of disobedience to the Vinaya established by the Buddha.

This text concerns not a separate accidental fault, but an ethical violation connected with actively avoiding responsibility in practice. It reflects the principle that in Buddhism, practice is not a set of meaningless rigid rules, but a set of guidelines for nurturing the spiritual life and maintaining the purity of the community.

Practical Meaning

In the context of modern practice, Kālaatikkamana teaches us that time is a living factor in cultivation. No one can postpone responsibility to moral law indefinitely.