Xct Mu Bi Pm Pc 35Concealing a Grave Offense

The Sutta on Concealing a Grave Fault (Duṭṭhulla Pācittiya)

Background

This text belongs to the Pācittiya rules, one of the most important sections of the Bhikkhunī discipline in the traditional Pāli Vinaya Piṭaka. Duṭṭhulla means “grave wrongs,” and this rule was established to protect the purity and responsibility of the Sangha.

According to the context of the Pāli Canon, these regulations arose from specific situations during the lifetime of the Buddha Siddhartha Gotama. When bhikkhus or bhikkhunīs committed faults and concealed them from the Sangha, this not only violated the spirit of practice but also damaged the trust of the community. Therefore the Buddha established rules with a clear purpose: to cultivate honesty, transparency, and self-mastery in the religious life.

Main Content

The Duṭṭhulla rule states that a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī must not conceal or suppress information about grave offenses. If a monastic commits an act violating one of the important rules, such as offenses related to celibacy, material possessions, or other moral wrongs, and then deliberately conceals this truth from the Sangha, that monastic commits a Pācittiya offense.

Concealment here is not simply silence, but also includes using appearances, false speech, or actions to distort the truth. The core principle is honesty and transparency: if a monastic has committed a fault, the proper course is to acknowledge it before the Sangha, not to cover it up. This reflects a profound Buddhist principle: the coarseness of the mind is a cause of suffering, and concealing faults only increases scheming and anger.

Commentarial versions of the Vinaya Piṭaka, especially the Samantapāsādikā, emphasize that the degree of the violation depends on the nature of the original fault and the mental state of the one who conceals it (cetanā).