Bi Pc 4242. Using luxurious furniture
Pāli / Sanskrit:Āsandiparibhuñjana
A nun who uses a large or luxurious seat 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 galleries 42. Using luxurious furniture
Origin story
At one time when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery, the nuns were using high and luxurious couches. When people walking about the dwellings saw this, they complained and criticized them, “How can nuns use high and luxurious couches? They’re just like householders who indulge in worldly pleasures!”
The nuns heard the complaints of those people, and the nuns of few desires complained and criticized them, “How can nuns do this?” … “Is it true, monks, that nuns do this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked them … “How can nuns do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule like this:
Final ruling
‘If a nun uses a high or luxurious couch, 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. A high couch: one that is oversize is what is meant. A luxurious couch: one decorated with images of predatory animals. Uses: if she sits down or lies down on it, she commits an offense entailing confession.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if she uses a high couch after cutting off the legs; if she uses a luxurious couch after removing the decorations with images of predatory animals; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The second 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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