Bu Pc 4949. Staying more than three days with an army
Pāli / Sanskrit:Senāvāsa
A monk who stays with an army for more than three nights must confess the offense.
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Theravāda Collection on Monastic Law The Great Analysis
The chapter on offenses entailing confession The subchapter on naked ascetics 49. Staying more than three days with an army
Origin story
On one occasion when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery, the monks from the group of six went to the army on some business, and they stayed there for more than three nights. People complained and criticized them, “How can the Sakyan monastics stay with the army? It’s our misfortune that we must stay with the army for the sake of our livelihoods and because of our wives and children.”
The monks heard the complaints of those people, and the monks of few desires complained and criticized those monks, “How could the monks from the group of six stay with the army for more than three nights?” … “Is it true, monks, that you did this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked them … “Foolish men, how could you do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, this training rule should be recited like this:
Final ruling
‘If that monk has a reason for going to the army, he may stay with the army for two or three nights. If he stays longer than that, he commits an offense entailing confession.’”
Definitions
If that monk has a reason for going to the army: if he has a reason, if he has something to do. He may stay with the army for two or three nights: he may stay for two or for three nights. If he stays longer than that: if he is staying with the army at sunset on the fourth day, he commits an offense entailing confession.
Permutations
If it is more than three nights, and he perceives it as more, and he is staying with the army, he commits an offense entailing confession. If it is more than three nights, but he is unsure of it, and he is staying with the army, he commits an offense entailing confession. If it is more than three nights, but he perceives it as less, and he is staying with the army, he commits an offense entailing confession.
If it is less than three nights, but he perceives it as more, he commits an offense of wrong conduct. If it is less than three nights, but he is unsure of it, he commits an offense of wrong conduct. If it is less than three nights, and he perceives it as less, there is no offense.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if he stays for two or three nights; if he stays for less than two or three nights; if he stays for two nights, then leaves before dawn on the third night, and then stays again; if he stays because he is sick; if he stays because he has to take care of someone who is sick; if the army is obstructed by an enemy army; if he is obstructed from leaving; if there is an emergency; if he is insane; if he is the first offender.
The training rule on staying more than three days with an army, the ninth, 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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