Vinaya (3): The Cullavagga
by T. W. Rhys Davids | 1881 | 137,074 words
The Cullavagga (part of the Vinaya collection) includes accounts of the First and Second Buddhist Councils as well as the establishment of the community of Buddhist nuns. The Cullavagga also elaborates on the etiquette and duties of Bhikkhus....
Cullavagga, Khandaka 5, Chapter 2
1. Now at that time the Chabbaggiya Bhikkhus used to wear ear-rings[1], and ear-drops[2], and strings of beads for the throat, and girdles of beads[3], and bangles[4], and necklaces[5], and bracelets, and rings.
The people murmured, &c. . . . . The Bhikkhus heard, &c. . . . . They told the, Blessed One (&c., as in II, 1, 1, down to) he addressed the Bhikkhus, and said:
'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to wear any of these things. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa.'
2. [A similar paragraph concluding]
'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to wear long hair. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa. I allow you, O Bhikkhus, hair that is two months old, or two inches long.'
3. [Similar paragraph concluding]
'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to smooth[6] the hair with a comb, or with a smoothing instrument shaped like a snake's hood[7], or with the hand used as such an instrument[8], or with pomade[9], or with hair-oil of beeswax[9]. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa.'
4. [Similar paragraph concluding]
'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to look at the image of your faces in a looking-glass, or a bowl of water[10]. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa.'
Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu had a sore in his face. He asked the Bhikkhus what kind of a sore he had. 'Such and such a kind of sore,' replied they. He did not believe what they said. They told this matter to the Blessed One.
'I allow you, O Bhikkhus, on account of a disease, to look at your faces in a looking-glass, or in a bowl of water.'
5. Now at that time the Chabbaggiya Bhikkhus (&c., down to)
'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to anoint your faces, nor to rub (ointment, &c.) into your faces, nor to put chunam on your faces, nor to smear red arsenic on your faces, nor to paint your bodies, nor to paint your faces[11].'
Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu had disease in his eyes. They told the matter to the Blessed One.
'I allow you, O Bhikkhus, on account of disease, to anoint your faces.'
6[12]. Now at that time there was a festival on the mountain-top[13] at Rājagaha; and the Chabbaggiya Bhikkhus went to see it.
The people murmured, were annoyed, and became indignant, saying, 'How can the Sakyaputtiya Samaṇas go to see dancing, and singing, and music, like those who are still enjoying the pleasures of the world?' And they told this matter to the Blessed One.
'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to go to see dancing, or singing, or music. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa.'
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Vallikā ti kaṇṇato nikkhanta-mutt-olambakādīnaṃ etaṃ adhivacanaṃ. Na kevalañ ca vallikā eva, yaṃ kiñci kaṇṇa-pilandhanaṃ antamaso tāla-pannaṃ pi na vaṭṭati (B.). Compare satavallikaṃ at V, 29, 4.
[2]:
Pāmaṅga. The meaning of which is not clear from Buddhaghosa's note loc. cit. It occurs also at Dīpavaṃsa XII, 1, and below in Buddhaghosa's note on maddaviṇa at V, 29, 2 (twice).
[3]:
Kaṭi-suttakaṃ. This is not mentioned in the similar paragraph at V, 29, 2, where all special kinds of girdles are enumerated. It is forbidden below to the Bhikkhunīs at X, 16.
[4]:
Ovaṭṭika. This word is explained by Buddhaghosa as the same as valayaṃ. Ovaṭṭiya occurs, apparently in a different sense, at Mahāvagga VII, 1, 5, and the present word in Buddhaghosa on sata-vallikaṃ at V, 29, 4.
[5]:
Kāyura, on which Buddhaghosa, loc. cit., merely says that the meaning of this, and of the following words, is evident. But the Jātaka commentary (Fausböll III, 437, 14) says kāyūan ti gīvāya pilandhana-pasādhanaṃ.
[6]:
Osaṇheti. Compare the Sanskrit ślakṣṇayati. The art of hair-dressing had, at the time when the Cullavagga was composed, been already carried to a high state of efficiency in the valley of the Ganges, as may reasonably be concluded from the numerous kinds of headdresses figured in bas-relief on some of the oldest Buddhist sculptures.
[7]:
Phaṇakenā ti dantamayādisu yena kenaci (B.).
[8]:
Hattha-phaṇakenā ti hatthen’ eva phaṇaka-kiccaṃ karonti, aṅgulīhi osaṇhenti (B.). It is clear from this last explanation that the phaṇaka was a kind of very primitive brush, but without bristles. In passing the fingers through the hair the fingers are naturally held separate, slightly forward, and stiff--precisely as one would hold them if one wished to imitate the hood of a cobra. To make a real brush with bristles was evidently beyond the mechanical appliances of those times, or such an article would certainly have been mentioned in this connection.
[9]:
On the use of Telaka, compare Mahāvagga VI, 13, I, and Sittha-telaka at Cullavagga IV, 3, 1.
[10]:
Compare Cullavagga X, 10, 4.
[11]:
All these practices are seriatim forbidden to the Bhikkhunīs also in Cullavagga X, 10, 3.
[12]:
The following section recurs, almost word for word, of the Bhikkhunīs, in the Bhikkhunī-vibhaṅga, Pācittiya X (Sutta-vibhaṅga, vol. ii, p. 267).
[13]:
Giragga-samajja. Compare Dīpavaṃsa XXI, 32, and Mahāvaṃsa, p. 214, line 2. It occurs also in the Introductory Story in the Sutta-vibhaṅga on the 37th Pācittiya, and Buddhaghosa there explains it as follows: Giragga-samajjo ti girimhi agga-samajjo girissa vā agga-dese samajjo. He is evidently in doubt about the word, which is probably connected with ancient local worship or custom, a worship in high-places, as little allied to Vedic Brahmanism as it was to Buddhism.