Bu Pc 5454. Disrespect
Pāli / Sanskrit:Anādariya
A monk who is disrespectful when rightly corrected about a breach of the monastic code 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 drinking alcohol 54. Disrespect
Origin story
At one time when the Buddha was staying at Kosambī in Ghosita’s Monastery, Venerable Channa was misbehaving. The monks would tell him, “Channa, don’t do that; it’s not allowable,” and he just did it again out of disrespect.
The monks of few desires complained and criticized him, “How can Venerable Channa act disrespectfully?” … “Is it true, Channa, that you do this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked him … “Foolish man, how can you do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, this training rule should be recited like this:
Final ruling
‘If a monk is disrespectful, he commits an offense entailing confession.’”
Definitions
Disrespectful: there are two kinds of disrespect: disrespect for the person and disrespect for the rule. Disrespect for the person: if, when corrected by one who is fully ordained about a rule that has been laid down, he thinks, “They’ve been ejected,” “They’ve been reproved,” or “They’ve been censured,” and then, “I won’t do what they say,” and he acts disrespectfully, then he commits an offense entailing confession. Disrespect for the rule: if, when corrected by one who is fully ordained about a rule that has been laid down, he thinks, “What can be done so that this rule is lost?” “What can be done so that it perishes?” or “What can be done so that it disappears?” or he does not want to train in that rule, and he acts disrespectfully, then he commits an offense entailing confession.
Permutations
If the other person is fully ordained, and he perceives them as such, and he acts disrespectfully, he commits an offense entailing confession. If the other person is fully ordained, but he is unsure of it, and he acts disrespectfully, he commits an offense entailing confession. If the other person is fully ordained, but he does not perceive them as such, and he acts disrespectfully, he commits an offense entailing confession.
If, when corrected about something that has not been laid down, he thinks, “This isn’t conducive to self-effacement,” “This isn’t conducive to ascetic practices,” “This isn’t conducive to being inspiring,” “This isn’t conducive to a reduction in things,” or “This isn’t conducive to being energetic,” and he acts disrespectfully, he commits an offense of wrong conduct. If, when corrected by one who is not fully ordained, whether or not it has been laid down, he thinks, “This isn’t conducive to self-effacement,” “This isn’t conducive to ascetic practices,” “This isn’t conducive to being inspiring,” “This isn’t conducive to a reduction in things,” or “This isn’t conducive to being energetic,” and he acts disrespectfully, he commits an offense of wrong conduct.
If the other person is not fully ordained, but he perceives them as such, he commits an offense of wrong conduct. If the other person is not fully ordained, but he is unsure of it, he commits an offense of wrong conduct. If the other person is not fully ordained, and he does not perceive them as such, he commits an offense of wrong conduct.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if he says, “This is how we were taught and tested by our teachers;” if he is insane; if he is the first offender.
The training rule on disrespect, the fourth, 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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