Bi Pc 91–9391–93. Getting a massage from a trainee nun … from a novice nun … from a female householder
Pāli / Sanskrit:Sikkhamānā-sāmaṇerī-gihinī-ummaddāpana
A nun who makes a trainee nun, a novice nun, or a laywoman rub her 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 sunshades and sandals 91–93. Getting a massage from a trainee nun … from a novice nun … from a female householder
Origin story
At one time when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery, the nuns were having a trainee nun …
… a novice nun …
… a female householder massage and rub them.
When people walking about the dwellings saw this, they complained and criticized them, “How can the nuns get a female householder to massage and rub them? They’re just like householders who indulge in worldly pleasures!”
The nuns heard the complaints of those people.
The nuns of few desires complained and criticized them, “How can nuns get a female householder to massage and rub them?”
“Is it true, monks, that the 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 has (a trainee nun … a novice nun …) a female householder massage her or rub 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. A trainee nun: a female who is training for two years in the six rules. A novice nun: a female training in the ten training rules. A female householder: a female who lives in a house is what is meant. If she has her massage her: if she gets her to massage her, she commits an offense entailing confession. If she has her rub her: if she gets her to rub her, she commits an offense entailing confession.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if she is sick; if there is an emergency; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The tenth 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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