Bi Pc 77. Asking for raw grain
Pāli / Sanskrit:Āmakadhañña
A nun who asks for raw grain and then prepares and eats it 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 garlic 7. Asking for raw grain
Origin story
At one time when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery, it was the harvest season. At that time the nuns had asked for raw grain, which they then carried to town. At the town gate they were detained and told, “Venerables, give a share.”
After being released, they went to the nunnery and told the nuns what had happened. The nuns of few desires complained and criticized them, “How could nuns ask for raw grain?” … “Is it true, monks, that nuns did this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked them, “How could 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 asks for or has someone else ask for raw grain, or she roasts it or has it roasted, or she pounds it or has it pounded, or she cooks it or has it cooked, and she then eats it, 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. Raw grain: rice, barley, wheat, millet, wild gram, kodo millet. Asks for: she asks herself. Has someone ask for: she gets someone else to ask. Roasts: she roasts it herself. Has it roasted: she gets someone else to roast it. Pounds: she pounds it herself. Has it pounded: she gets someone else to pound it. Cooks: she cooks it herself. Has it cooked: she gets someone else to cook it.
If she receives it with the intention of eating it, she commits an offense of wrong conduct. For every mouthful swallowed, she commits an offense entailing confession.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if she does it because she is sick; if she asks for vegetables; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The seventh 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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