Bi Pc 112112. Encroaching on a nun
Pāli / Sanskrit:Anupakhajja
A nun who lies down in a dwelling belonging to the Order, encroaching on another nun and aiming to make her depart, must confess the offense.
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Exposition of the Bhikkhunī Pācittiya 112: Anupakhajja
Background
The Anupakhajja (Encroaching) rule belongs to the Pācittiya section — offenses requiring confession — within the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda tradition. In the early period of Buddhism, as the community of monks and nuns grew, the matter of sharing communal dwelling spaces among the nuns within the monastery came to require clear arrangement. This rule arose from situations in which nuns might deliberately occupy one another's living space, particularly with the aim of compelling another nun to vacate that dwelling.
The historical context shows that the Buddha and the Elders established this regulation in order to maintain harmony and mutual respect within the monastic community. It was not merely a material matter of living space, but a manifestation of an unwholesome mental state — disrespect and the deliberate causing of disturbance to another. The Vinaya Piṭaka regards such actions as violations of basic ethical conduct, although the gravity of the offense (pācittiya) is lesser than that of offenses involving sensual misconduct or false speech.
Main Content
According to the Anupakhajja rule, when a nun lies down in a dwelling belonging to the communal property of the Saṅgha and deliberately encroaches upon the space of another nun — with the intention or expectation that the other nun will depart — this action is considered a Pācittiya offense. The Pāli term anupakhajja (anu = along/following, upakhajja = encroaching) precisely designates this action.
The determining factors of this offense comprise three points: first, the space must belong to the communal property of the Saṅgha, not to a private individual; second, the action must constitute a deliberate encroachment upon space already occupied by another nun; third, there must be the intention or purpose of compelling the other nun to leave that place. If any one of these three factors is absent, the offense may not be fully constituted, or may differ in degree.
The consequence of this offense is pācittiya — confession before the Saṅgha or before fellow nuns.
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