Vinaya Pitaka (3): Khandhaka

by I. B. Horner | 2014 | 386,194 words | ISBN-13: 9781921842160

The English translation of the Khandhaka: the second book of the Pali Vinaya Pitaka, one of the three major ‘baskets’ of Therevada canonical literature. It is a collection of various narratives. The English translation of the Vinaya-pitaka (third part, khandhaka) contains many Pali original words, but transliterated using a system similar to the I...

The story of one suspended for not seeing an offence

Kd.1.79.1 Now at that time a certain monk, suspended[1] for not seeing an offence, left the Order, (but) having come back again, he BD.4.126 asked the monks for ordination. They told this matter to the Lord. He said:

“This is a case, monks, where a monk, suspended for not seeing an offence, leaves the Order, (but) having come back again, asks the monks for ordination. They should speak thus to him: ‘Will you see this offence?’ If he says: ‘I will see it’, he may be let go forth. If he says: ‘I will not see it’, he should not be let go forth.

Kd.1.79.2 “Having let him go forth they should say (to him): ‘Will you see this offence?’ If he says: ‘I will see it’, he may be ordained. If he says: ‘I will not see it’, he should not be ordained. Having ordained him, they should say: ‘Will you see this offence? ‘If he says: ‘I will see it’, he may be restored.[2] If he says: ‘I will not see it’, he should not be restored. Having restored him, they should say: ‘Do you see this offence?’ If he sees it, that is good; if he does not see it, he may be suspended again if it possible to obtain unanimity[3]; if it is not possible to obtain unanimity there is no offence in eating with, in being in communion with (him).[4]

Kd.1.79.3 “This is a case, monks, where a monk, suspended for not making amends for an offence, leaves the Order (but) having come back again, asks the monks for ordination. They should speak thus to him: ‘Will you make amends for this offence?’ If he says: ‘I will make amends’, Vin.1.98 he may be let go forth … as in Kd.1.79.2 reading make amends for instead of see … in being in communion with (him).

Kd.1.79.4 “This is a case, monks, where a monk, suspended for not giving up a wrong view, leaves the Order (but) having come back again, asks the monks for ordination. They should speak thus to him: ‘Will you give up this wrong view?’ If he says: ‘I will give it up he may be let go forth … as in Kd.1.79.2 reading give up instead of see … in being in communion with (him).

The Great Section[5]: the First

BD.4.127 As to great matters in the Vinaya,
to bringing ease to the well-behaved
both in restraint of evil desires and in strivings for conscientiousness,
And also bearing in mind the instruction
which is within the range of the all-knowing conqueror,
in a realm which has no other,
in peace from bondage,
in what is well laid down,
in that which has no doubt,
In Section in Vinaya, as well as in Parivāra and in Heading(s),
the good follows closely as though imitating.
Who does not understand cattle does not guard the herd,
so not knowing moral habit, how can he guard restraint?
Although the Suttantas and Abhidhamma be forgotten,
for all time Vin.1.99 the teaching persists while Vinaya is not destroyed.
Therefore, because firmly supported,
I will declare the key in regular sequence according to (my) knowledge.
Listen while I speak.
The matter, the provenance[6], the offence, the methods and the abbreviations—
it is not easy not to leave something out;
discern that from the method.
Awakening, and the Rājāyatana, the Goatherds’, Sahampati
Brahmā, Āḷara, Uddaka, and monks, Upaka the seer,
Koṇḍañña, Vappa, Bhaddiya and Mahānāma, Assaji,
Yasa, four, fifty, all, he sent out (on tour), the quarters,
The subject,[7] as to Māra, and the thirty, at Uruvelā, three matted hair ascetics,
fire-room, the Great Kings, Sakka, and Brahmā, the entire (population),
Rag-robe, a tank, and a stone, kakudha-(tree), a stone, a rose-apple, and a mango,
emblic myrobalam, he brought a flower from the Coral Tree, BD.4.128
Kassapa, let them be chopped, let them be kindled, and let them be extinguished’,
they plunged into, fire-vessels, rain, Gayā, and the Palm Grove, (King of) Magadha,
Upatissa, Kolita, and distinguished (young men), the going forth,
wrongly dressed, dismissal, and the lean wretched brahmin,
He indulged in bad habits, the stomach, the brahmin youth, a group,
year’s standing, by the ignorant, going away, ten years’ standing, guidance,
They did not conduct themselves (properly), to dismiss, ignorant, nullification, five, six,
and whoever else, and naked, not with (his hair) cut off, matted hair ascetic, a Sakyan.
Five diseases among the Magadhese, service,[8] a thief (and) fingers,
and (the King of) Magadha decreed, jail, written about, scourged,
Branded, debtor, and a slave, close-shaving, Upāli, snake (-wind disease),[9]
a family with faith, and Kaṇḍaka, and then crowded up,
About how to live,[10] the boy, trainings, and they were,[11] Now how?
entire, by mouth, preceptors, luring away, Kaṇḍaka,
Eunuch, theft,[12] going over to,[13] and a snake, on a mother, a father,
perfected ones, a nun, schismatic, concerning blood,[14] hermaphrodite,[15]
Without a preceptor, through an Order, a group, eunuch,
without a bowl, BD.4.129 without a robe, both these, then those three on what was lent,
Hands, feet, hands and feet, ears, nose, both these,
fingers, nails, tendons, webbed hands, and a hunch-back, dwarf,
Having goitre, and then a branded one, scourged, written about, elephantiasis,
badly (ill), and one who disgraces an assembly, blind,
and just then one with a crooked limb, Vin.1.100
And then a lame one, paralysed down one side,
with a cripple, old age, blind from birth, dumb, deaf, blind and dumb, and what is thereto,
Whatever is called blind and dumb, and then dumb and deaf,
And blind and dumb and deaf,
and guidance to the unconscientious,
And one should (not) live, what is done on a journey,[16] being asked, wishing for,
‘let him come’,[17] they quarrelled,[18] if there is one preceptor, Kassapa,
And ordained (monks) were to be seen pressing about diseases,
the uninstructed were at a loss, instruction just there,
And then in the Order, then an ignorant one, and not agreed upon,
together, the ‘may-it-raise-(me-)up’ ordination, resource, alone, the three.[19]
In this Section are one hundred and seventy-two items.

Told is the First Key, that to the Great Section Vin.1.101

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

ukkhitta. Cf. Vin.4.113, Vin.4.137, Vin.4.218 and see BD.3.28, n.4.

[2]:

On osāreti, to restore after seeing an offence, making amends for it and giving up a false view, see BD.3.28, n.4.

[3]:

I.e. among the monks, for this further suspension.

[4]:

So Buddhaghosa at Vin-a.1034, tena saddhim, and as may be deduced from Bu-Pc.69 and its Old Commentary’s definition of “has not acted according to the rule”.

[5]:

Mahākhandhaka. Called pabbajjākkhandhaka at DN-a.ii.363.

[6]:

nidāna. This usually appears in the Vinaya to mean the place where the Lord was staying when such conduct occurred as led to the framing of a rule or allowance, thus the “provenance” of a rule or allowance. See also KS.iii, Introduction xff.; KS.iv, Introduction xivf.

[7]:

vatthuṃ. Appearing to refer to Kd.1.12.2, Kd.1.12.4, the going forth and ordination formula by the three refuges. Going forth and Ordination form the subject matter of Section i of the Mahāvagga.

[8]:

Text reads eko. Oldenberg, Vin.1.373 thinks we ought to read bhaṭo (for rājabhaṭa in Kd.1.40.3).

[10]:

vatthumhi, i.e. in dependence for five years or for life, Kd.1.53.4. Sinhalese edition vatthusmiṃ.

[11]:

viharanti, as in Kd.1.57.1.

[12]:

I.e. in communion by theft, Kd.1.62.3.

[13]:

I.e. going over to (another) sect, Kd.1.62.3.

[14]:

ruhirena, here replacing lohituppādako of Kd.1.67.1, the shedder of a (tathāgata’s) blood.

[15]:

Here called only vyañjana (accompanying attribute, distinctive characteristic) instead of ubhatovyañjanaka as at Kd.1.68.1.

[16]:

kataddhāna, referring to Kd.1.73.1, Kd.1.73.2. Sinhalese edition reads tathāddhānaṃ.

[17]:

Following āgacchatu of Sinhalese edition = Kd.1.74.1, instead of Text’s āgacchantaṃ.

[18]:

vivadenti (with variant reading vivādenti, Vin.1.373).

[19]:

Doubtless referring to (1) not seeing an offence, (2) not making amends for an offence, (3) not giving up a wrong view (each a ground for a monk’s suspension; and their opposites, each being a ground for his restoration dealt with at Kd.1.79.1, Kd.1.79.4.

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