Mahavagga, Khandaka 2, Chapter 22

1. Then the Blessed One thus addressed the Bhikkhus: 'Assemble, O Bhikkhus, the Saṃgha will hold Uposatha.' When he had spoken thus, a certain Bhikkhu said to the Blessed One: 'There is a sick Bhikkhu, Lord, who is not present.'

'I prescribe, O Bhikkhus, that a sick Bhikkhu is to declare (lit. to give) his pārisuddhi^[1]. And let it be declared, O Bhikkhus, in this way: Let that sick Bhikkhu go to one Bhikkhu, adjust his upper robe so as to cover one shoulder, sit down squatting, raise his joined hands, and say: "I declare my pārisuddhi, take my pārisuddhi, proclaim my pārisuddhi (before the fraternity)." Whether he express this by gesture (lit. by his body), or by word or by gesture and word, the pārisuddhi has been declared. If he does not express this by gesture, &c., the pārisuddhi has not been declared.

2. 'If (the sick Bhikkhu) succeeds in doing so, well and good. If he does not succeed, let them take that sick Bhikkhu, O Bhikkhus, on his bed or his chair to the assembly, and (then) let them hold Uposatha. If, O Bhikkhus, the Bhikkhus who are nursing the sick, think: "If we move this sick person from his place, the sickness will increase, or he will die," let them not move the sick, O Bhikkhus, from his place; let the Saṃgha go there and hold there Uposatha. But in no case are they to hold Uposatha with an incomplete congregation. If (a Bhikkhu) does so, he commits a dukkaṭa offence.

3. 'If he who has been charged with the pārisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, leaves the place at once^[2], after the pārisuddhi has been entrusted (to him), the pārisuddhi ought to be declared to another. If he who has been charged with the pārisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pārisuddhi has been entrusted to him, returns to the world^[3] at once^[2]; or dies; or admits that he is a sāmaṇera; or that he has abandoned the precepts^[4]; or that he has become guilty of an extreme offence^[5]; or that he is mad; or thit his mind is unhinged; or that he suffers (bodily) pain; or that expulsion has been pronounced against him for his refusal to see an offence (committed by himself); or to atone for such an offence; or to renounce a false doctrine; or that he is a eunuch; or that he has furtively attached himself (to the Saṃgha); or that he is gone over to the Titthiyas; or that he is an animal^[6]; or that he is guilty of matricide; or that he is guilty of parricide; or that he has murdered an Arahat; or that he has violated a Bhikkhunī; or that he has caused a schism among the Saṃgha; or that he has shed (a Buddha's) blood; or that he is a hermaphrodite: (in these cases) the pārisuddhi ought to be entrusted to another one.

4. 'If he who has been chùrged with the pārisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pārisuddhi has been entrusted to him, and whilst he is on his way (to the assembly), leaves the place, or returns to the world, or dies, or admits that he is a sāmaṇera, &c., or admits that he is a hermaphrodite, the pārisuddhi has not been conveyed (to the Saṃgha). If he who has been charged with the pārisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pārisuddhi has been entrusted to him, having arrived with the fraternity, leaves the place, or dies, &c., the pārisuddhi has been conveyed. If he who has been charged with the pārisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pārisuddhi has been entrusted to him, though he reaches the assembly, does not proclaim (the pārisuddhi he is charged with) because he falls asleep, or by carelessness, or because he attains (meditation), the pārisuddhi has been conveyed, and there is no offence on the part of him who has been charged with the pārisuddhi. If he who has been charged, &c., intentionally omits to proclaim (the pārisuddhi), the pārisuddhi has been conveyed, but he who has been charged with the pārisuddhi is guilty of a dukkaṭa offence.'

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Pārisuddhi, literally, means purity. He declares that he is pure from the offences specified in the Pātimokkha, and charges another Bhikkhu with proclaiming his declaration before the assembled chapter.

[2]:

Literally, on the spot, i.e. without setting out on his way to the assembly.

[3]:

We have no doubt that this is the correct translation or vibbhamati (see I, 39, 5). The difference between vibbhamati (he returns to the world) and sikkhaṃ paccakkhāti (he abandons the precepts) seems to be that the former is an informal, and the latter a formal, renunciation or the Order.

[4]:

The precepts are abandoned (sikkhā paccakkhitā hoti) by declaring that one abandons the Buddha, or the Dhamma, or the Saṃgha, or the Vinaya, &c. By such a declaration a Bhikkhu who wishes to return to a layman's life, or to go over to a Titthiya sect, gives up his character as a member of the Buddhist fraternity, The rules about the sikkhāpaccakkhāna are given in the Vibhaṅga, in the explanation of the first pārājika rule (chap. 8, § 2).

[5]:

Most probably antimavatthu refers to the pārājika offences which require excommunication.

[6]:

See the story given in I, 63.