Bi Pc 3434. Not nursing a disciple
Pāli / Sanskrit:Naupaṭṭhāpana
A nun who does not attend on a sick monastic disciple must confess the offense.
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Theravāda Collection on Monastic Law The Nuns’ Analysis
The chapter on offenses entailing confession The subchapter on lying down 34. Not nursing a disciple
Origin story
At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery. At that time a disciple of the nun Thullanandā was suffering, but Thullanandā neither nursed her nor made any effort to have someone else nurse her.
The nuns of few desires complained and criticized her, “How could Venerable Thullanandā not nurse a suffering disciple, nor make any effort to have someone else nurse her?” … “Is it true, monks, that the nun Thullanandā didn’t do this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked her … “How could the nun Thullanandā not do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule like this:
Final ruling
‘If a nun neither nurses a suffering disciple, nor makes any effort to have someone else nurse her, she commits an offense entailing confession.’”
Definitions
A: whoever … Nun: … The nun who has been given the full ordination in unanimity by both Sanghas through a legal procedure consisting of one motion and three announcements that is irreversible and fit to stand—this sort of nun is meant in this case. Suffering: sick is what is meant. Disciple: a student is what is meant. Neither nurses: does not herself nurse her. Nor makes any effort to have someone else nurse her: she does not ask anyone else.
If she thinks, “I will neither nurse her nor make any effort to have someone else nurse her,” then by the mere fact of abandoning her duty, she commits an offense entailing confession. If she neither nurses nor makes any effort to have someone else nurse a pupil or one who is not fully ordained, she commits an offense of wrong conduct.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if there is an obstacle; if she searches but does not find a nurse; if she is sick; if there is an emergency; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The fourth training rule is finished.
The “…” is an abbreviation carried over from the Pāli original itself, called peyyāla. The early canon was memorized and recited, so passages repeated verbatim from a preceding discourse were commonly contracted to an elision mark rather than written out in full. Venerable Thích Minh Châu's translation preserves this convention. Some texts therefore look short — but that is the canonical form, not missing content or a truncated translation. The elided passages can be read in full in the preceding discourses of the same chapter.
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