Bu Pc 5353. Playing in water
Pāli / Sanskrit:Hasadhamma
A monk who plays in water must confess the offense.
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Theravāda Collection on Monastic Law The Great Analysis
The chapter on offenses entailing confession The subchapter on drinking alcohol 53. Playing in water
Origin story
On one occasion when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery, the monks from the group of seventeen were playing in the water of the river Aciravatī. Just then, while King Pasenadi of Kosala was up in his finest stilt house with Queen Mallikā, he saw the monks from the group of seventeen playing in the river. He said to Queen Mallikā, “Mallikā, these perfected ones are playing in the water.”
“Great king, no doubt the Buddha hasn’t laid down a rule. Either that, or these monks are ignorant.”
King Pasenadi thought, “How can the Buddha find out about these monks playing in the water without me telling him?”
Having sent for those monks, King Pasenadi gave them a large lump of sugar, saying, “Sirs, please give this lump of sugar to the Buddha.”
The monks took the lump of sugar, went to the Buddha, and said, “Sir, this lump of sugar is a gift from King Pasenadi.”
“But, monks, where did you see the king?”
“From the river Aciravatī, while playing in the water.”
The Buddha rebuked them … “Foolish men, how can you play in water? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, this training rule should be recited like this:
Final ruling
‘If a monk plays in water, he commits an offense entailing confession.’”
Definitions
Plays in water: if, aiming to have fun, he immerses himself or emerges on the surface or swims in water that is more than ankle deep, he commits an offense entailing confession.
Permutations
If he is playing in water, and he perceives that he is, he commits an offense entailing confession. If he is playing in water, but he is unsure of it, he commits an offense entailing confession. If he is playing in water, but he does not perceive that he is, he commits an offense entailing confession.
If he is playing in water less than ankle deep, he commits an offense of wrong conduct.
If he is playing in a boat in water, he commits an offense of wrong conduct.
If he strikes the water with his hand, with his foot, with a stick, or with a stone, he commits an offense of wrong conduct.
If he plays with water in a vessel, or with congee, milk, buttermilk, dye, urine, or mud in a vessel, he commits an offense of wrong conduct.
If he is not playing in water, but he perceives that he is, he commits an offense of wrong conduct. If he is not playing in water, but he is unsure of it, he commits an offense of wrong conduct. If he is not playing in water, and he does not perceive that he is, there is no offense.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if he is not aiming to have fun; if, when there is something to be done, he enters the water and then immerses himself or emerges on the surface or swims; if, while crossing a body of water, he immerses himself or emerges on the surface or swims; if there is an emergency; if he is insane; if he is the first offender.
The training rule on playing in water, the third, 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.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.