Bu Pc 8484. Picking up precious things
Pāli / Sanskrit:Ratana
A monk who picks up anything considered valuable must confess the offense.
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Commentary on the Ratana Rule (Bu Pc 84)
On the Matter of Picking Up Precious Things
Background
This rule is recorded in the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha, wherein the Buddha established regulations governing the monastic community. It forms part of the Vinaya Piṭaka, the ethical and disciplinary foundation of Theravāda Buddhism. The Ratana rule (Ratana = precious thing, jewel) reflects a specific situation in which bhikkhunīs within the community come upon objects of value. This context arose from the need to protect integrity and to guard against material acquisitiveness within the Sangha.
The establishment of this rule was not intended to burden monastics, but rather to maintain inner purity and to ensure that the training life proceeds in peace. In the world of spiritual practice, any attachment to or appropriation of precious objects can disturb the mind and become an obstacle to the Dhamma path.
Principal Content
According to this rule, if a bhikkhunī picks up any object regarded as precious (ratana) whose ownership is not clearly established, or picks up something that plainly does not belong to her, she must acknowledge the transgression. The rule stipulates that when objects such as gold, silver, gems, or other articles of value are found, the monastic may not keep them privately for personal benefit.
Instead, the proper course of action is to inform one's fellow monastics or the leaders of the Sangha immediately, and to seek to return the object to its owner if that owner can be identified. If no owner can be found, the object may be applied to communal purposes or to the monastery's fund. Any action that contains an element of personal appropriation constitutes an offence requiring confession before the monastic community (sammodhana).
This offence is classified among the training rules aimed at developing the virtue of non-acquisitiveness (apariggaha — non-grasping, non-accumulation).
Practical Significance
The Ratana rule is not merely a formal legal prescription. It reflects a profound truth in Buddhism: the desire to possess is the root of suffering.
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