Vinaya Pitaka (2): Bhikkhuni-vibhanga (the analysis of Nun’ rules)

by I. B. Horner | 2014 | 66,469 words | ISBN-13: 9781921842160

The English translation of the Bhikkhuni-vibhanga: the second part of the Suttavibhanga, which itself is the first book of the Pali Vinaya Pitaka, one of the three major ‘baskets’ of Therevada canonical literature. It is a acollection of rules for Buddhist nuns. The English translation of the Vinaya-pitaka (second part, bhikkhuni-vibhanga) contain...

Nuns’ Expiation (Pācittiya) 32

Bi-Pc.32.1.1 BD.3.305 … at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time two nuns shared one covering-cloth.[1] People, engaged in touring the dwelling-place … see Bi-Pc.31.1. Instead of one couch read one covering-cloth … “… this rule of training:

Whatever two nuns should share one covering-cloth, there is an offence of expiation.


Bi-Pc.32.2.1 Whatever means: … nun is to be understood in this case.

Nuns mean: they are called ordained.

Two should share one covering-cloth means: if having covered themselves with that,[2] they put that[3] on, there is an offence of expiation.


Bi-Pc.32.2.2 If they think that it is one covering-cloth when it is one covering-cloth (and) share it, there is an offence of expiation. If they are in doubt as to whether it is one covering-cloth … If they think they are different covering-cloths when it is one covering-cloth … offence of expiation. If they think that they are different cloths when it is one covering, BD.3.306 there is an offence of wrong-doing. If they think that it is one covering-cloth when they are different coverings, there is an offence of wrong-doing. If they think that it is one covering-cloth when they are different covering-cloths, there is an offence of wrong-doing. If they are in doubt as to whether they are different covering-cloths, there is an offence of wrong-doing. If they think that they are different covering-cloths when they are different covering-cloths, there is no offence.


Bi-Pc.32.2.3 There is no offence if they lie down having pointed out an arrangement[4]; if they are mad, if they are the first wrong-doers. Vin.4.290

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

ekattharaṇapāvuraṇa. Vin-a.932 says that this means one covering as well as a cloth. At Vin.2.10, among the bad habits indulged in by lax monks were that they shared one covering, attharaṇa, that they shared one cloth, pāvuraṇā, and that they shared one covering-cloth, attharaṇapāvuraṇā with women of respectable families. At Vin.2.124 the group of six monks shared these articles, thereby incurring an offence of wrong-doing. The fact that the two words attharaṇa and pāvuraṇā appear both separately and then together (see also below), to my mind shows that, when joined, they stand for one article: a cloth used as a covering, therefore a covering-cloth. There is also the reference to it as taṃ (acc.), “that”; see next note.

[2]:

tañ ñeva … tañ ñeva.

[3]:

tañ ñeva … tañ ñeva.

[4]:

vavatthāna. Vin-a.932 says that for those who lie down having placed the “yellow robes” in the middle or a walking-staff or even a belt, there is no offence.

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