Bu As 77. Covering over as if with Grass
Pāli / Sanskrit:Tiṇavatthāraka
If a dispute involves a number of offenses on both sides, and the Order considers that dealing with all the offenses in the usual manner is likely to lead to harshness or schism, then the Order may decide to do a procedure whereby all the offenses are cleared. Offenses that cannot be cleared in this way are those entailing expulsion and suspension, as well as any offenses that involve lay people.
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TIṆAVATTHĀRAKA (COVERING OVER AS IF WITH GRASS)
Background
The Tiṇavatthāraka belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, a pivotal component of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. Within the Vinaya Piṭaka, procedures for handling disputes and offences within the Saṅgha are set forth in detail in order to maintain harmony and discipline. This text addresses a particular procedure known as "Tiṇavatthāraka" (covering over as if with grass), which is applied when a complex dispute involves numerous offences on both sides, and resolving each offence through ordinary procedure risks giving rise to harshness or causing division within the Saṅgha.
The name "covering over as if with grass" conveys that this procedure temporarily "covers over" or nullifies the lesser offences, just as grass grows and covers the ground after a flood. It is a reconciliatory procedure aimed at preserving the Saṅgha, applied in particular circumstances where strict discipline might cause greater harm than benefit.
Main Content
The Tiṇavatthāraka procedure is applied when the Saṅgha determines that a dispute involves numerous offences on both sides, and that ordinary resolution—requiring each party to acknowledge its own wrongdoing—would lead to excessively harsh action or create the risk of splitting the Saṅgha (saṅgha-bhedaka).
This procedure allows the Saṅgha to pass a collective resolution (ñatti) nullifying all the offences involved without entering into the detailed handling of each individual offence. However, the Vinaya Piṭaka clearly delimits the scope of this procedure: offences entailing expulsion (pārājika) and suspension (nissaggiya-pācittiya) cannot be nullified in this manner. Furthermore, this procedure may not be applied to any offence involving a layperson (upāsaka), since the Vinaya Piṭaka holds jurisdiction only over members of the monastic Saṅgha.
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