Bi Pc 5959. Not seeking the instruction
Pāli / Sanskrit:Ovādūpasaṅkamana
A nun who does not ask the Order of monks every half-month about the observance day and the going for instruction must confess the offense.
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Theravāda Collection on Monastic Law The Nuns’ Analysis
The chapter on offenses entailing confession The subchapter on monasteries 59. Not seeking the instruction
Origin story
At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery. At that time the nuns did not enquire about the observance day nor ask for the instruction. The monks complained and criticized them, “How can the nuns not enquire about the observance day nor ask for the instruction?” … “Is it true, monks, that the nuns don’t do this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked them … “How can the nuns not do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule like this:
Final ruling
‘Every half-month a nun should seek two things from the Sangha of monks: asking it about the observance day and going to it for the instruction. If she lets the half-month pass, she commits an offense entailing confession.’”
Definitions
Every half-month: every observance day. The observance day: there are two observance days: the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the lunar half-month. The instruction: the eight important principles. If she thinks, “I won’t enquire about the observance day, nor ask for the instruction,” then by the mere fact of abandoning her duty, she commits an offense entailing confession.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if there is an obstacle; if she searches for a companion nun, but does not find one; if she is sick; if there is an emergency; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The ninth 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.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.