Cullavagga, Khandaka 1, Chapter 15

1. So the Bhikkhu-Saṃgha, with Sāriputta and Moggallāna at their head, proceeded to the Kiṭā Hill, and there carried out the Pabbājaniyakamma against those Bhikkhus who were followers of Assaji and Punabbasu, to the intent that those Bhikkhus should no longer dwell on the Kiṭā Hill. And they, when subjected by the Saṃgha to the Pabbājaniya-kamma, did not conduct themselves aright, they did not become subdued, they did not seek for release, they did not ask the Bhikkhus for forgiveness, they reviled them, they found fault with them^[2], saying that they were offending by acting in partiality, in ill-feeling, in folly, and in fear^[3]; and they not only departed from the place, but also left the Order^[4].

Those Bhikkhus who were moderate were offended, murmured, and became indignant, saying, 'How can those Bhikkhus who are followers of Assaji and Punabbasu, after having been subjected by the Saṃgha to the Pabbājaniya-kamma, refuse to conduct themselves aright (&c., as before, down to) leave the Order?' And those Bhikkhus told the matter to the Blessed One.

Then the Blessed One on that occasion, and in that connection, convened a meeting of the Bhikkhusaṃgha, and asked the Bhikkhus:

'Is it true, O Bhikkhus, as they say, that those Bhikkhus who are followers of Assaji and Punabbasu, after having been subjected by the Saṃgha to the Pabbājaniya-kamma, refuse (&c., as before, down to) leave the Order.?'

'It is true, Lord!'

'How can those Bhikkhus who (&c., as before, down to) leave the Order? This will not conduce, O Bhikkhus, either to the conversion of the un-converted, or to the increase of the converted; but rather to the unconverted being not converted, and to the turning back of those which have been converted.' And when the Blessed One had rebuked those Bhikkhus in various ways, and had delivered a religious discourse, he addressed the Bhikkhus, and said:

'Then, O Bhikkhus, let not the Saṃgha revoke the Pabbājaniya-kamma. There are five things, O Bhikkhus (&c., as before, from chapter 6, § 2, down to the end of chapter 7, reading Pabbājaniya for Tajjaniya):

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Here end the eighteen cases in which there ought to be a revocation (of the Pabbājaniya-kamma).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Corresponding to chapters 6 and 11 above.

[2]:

Compare Saṃghādisesa 13

[3]:

These are the four so-called Agatis, usually occurring as the faults of a judge (Rh. D., 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. xxii, and Dasaratha Jātaka, p. 1), but compare Sigālovāda Sutta, ed. Grimblot, p. 299.

[4]:

Compare Jātaka I, 117, and Mahāvagga I, 39, 5.