Cullavagga, Khandaka 10, Chapter 25

1. Now at that time a certain woman who had already conceived, but did not know it, was received into the Order among the Bhikkhunīs. Afterwards her womb moved within her^[1]. Then that Bhikkhunī thought: 'How shall I now conduct myself towards this child?'

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

'I allow her, O Bhikkhus, to bring it up till it have attained to years of discretion^[2].'

Then the Bhikkhunī thought: 'It is not permissible for me to live alone, nor for any other Bhikkhunī to live with a male child. What course ought I to pursue?'

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

'I allow the Bhikkhunīs, O Bhikkhus, to depute any one Bhikkhunī, and give her as a companion to that (first-mentioned) Bhikkhunī.'

'And thus, O Bhikkhus, is she ṭo be appointed: First that Bhikkhunī ought to be asked (whether she be willing to undertake the duty). After she has been asked, a learned and competent Bhikkhunī ought to lay the motion before the Saṃgha, saying:

'"Let the Saṃgha, venerable Ladies, hear me. If it seem meet to the Saṃgha, let the Saṃgha depute N. N. as a companion to M. M. That is the motion.

'"Let the Saṃgha,"' [&c., as usual, to the end of the Kammavācā.]

2. Then that companion Bhikkhunī thought: 'Now how should I conduct myself towards this child?'

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

'I prescribe that the Bhikkhunīs, O Bhikkhus, conduct themselves towards that child precisely as they would towards other men, save only as regards the sleeping under the same roof^[3].'

3. Now at that time a certain Bhikkhunī, who had been guilty of a grievous offence, was living subject to the Mānatta penance^[4]. Then that Bhikkhunī thought: 'It is not permissible for me to live alone, and it is not permissible for any other Bhikkhunī to live with me. What now ought I to do?'

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

I allow the Bhikkhunīs, O Bhikkhus, to depute any one Bhikkhunī, and to give her as a companion to that Bhikkhunī. And thus, O Bhikkhus, ought she to be deputed [&c., as in last section but one, down to the end of the Kammavācā].'

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

There is a touching story founded on a similar incident which is given as the Introductory Story to No. 12 of the Jātakas, translated in Rh. D.'s 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 199-205. By the 61st Bhikkhunī Pācittiya it is lawful or unlawful to initiate a pregnant woman according as she is unconscious or conscious of the fact of her conception.

[2]:

Viññutam pāpuṇāti. That is, no doubt, to puberty. Compare the opening phrases of the Introductory Story referred to in the last note (Jātaka I, 231) and also Jātaka III, 437.

[3]:

Sāgāraṃ; on which Buddhaghosa has no note.

[4]:

For what this implied, see Cullavagga II, 1, 2, and II, 6, 1, and compare the 5th Garudhamma above, X, 1, 4.