Bi Np 2525. Storing the five tonics too long
Pāli / Sanskrit:Bhesajja
A nun who keeps tonics for more than seven days must relinquish them and confess the offense.
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Bhesajja Sutta: On Keeping Medicine Too Long
Background
This rule appears in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, specifically in the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha—the code of discipline dedicated to nuns. During the time when the Buddha was still alive, nuns living in monastic communities were required to observe the rules of the Vinaya in order to maintain discipline and mental composure.
The matter of preserving medicine (bhesajja) was no small concern. In ancient Indian society, there was no modern technology for preservation. Medicines—including oil, ghee, honey, and molasses—if kept too long, would spoil, grow moldy, or lose their efficacy. This not only caused waste of the community's resources, but could also harm one's health if deteriorated medicines were used. Moreover, hoarding material goods for too long could lead to personal economic calculation, a behavior contrary to the spirit of the renunciant life of non-possession.
Main Content
According to the Bhesajja rule, nuns are permitted to use medicine in order to maintain their health so that they may continue their practice. However, such medicines may only be kept for a maximum of seven days (satta rattī). This period is counted from the day the medicine is received until the end of the seventh day.
If a nun deliberately keeps medicine beyond seven days without a legitimate reason, she commits an offense of Nissaggiyā Pācittiyā—a category of offense requiring the voluntary relinquishment (nissagga) of the offending article and confession (pāpuṇiya) before the monastic community.
This relinquishment is not simply a matter of discarding the item. The nun must find another person—whether another nun or a layperson—to whom she hands over the offending article. She must then confess her fault before her fellow practitioners or before a senior monastic who is capable of helping her refine her conduct.
This rule also applies to monks (bhikkhu), with the same purpose and similar penalty, as recorded in the Bhikkhū Pātimokkha.
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