Suppose a man was to put on a black cloth, mess up his hair, and put a club on his shoulder. Then he approaches a large crowd and says: ‘Sirs, I’ve done a bad and reprehensible deed, deserving of clubbing. I submit to your pleasure.’ Then a bystander might think: ‘This man must have done a truly bad and reprehensible deed, deserving of clubbing. … There’s no way I’d ever do such a bad and reprehensible deed, deserving of clubbing.’ In the same way, take any monk or nun who has set up such an acute perception of peril regarding suspension offenses. It can be expected that if they haven’t committed a suspension offense they won’t, and if they committed one they will deal with it properly.

Suppose a man was to put on a black cloth, mess up his hair, and put a sack of ashes on his shoulder. Then he approaches a large crowd and says: ‘Sirs, I’ve done a bad and reprehensible deed, deserving of a sack of ashes. I submit to your pleasure.’ Then a bystander might think: ‘This man must have done a truly bad and reprehensible deed, deserving of a sack of ashes. … There’s no way I’d ever do such a bad and reprehensible deed, deserving of a sack of ashes.’ In the same way, take any monk or nun who has set up such an acute perception of peril regarding confessable offenses. It can be expected that if they haven’t committed a confessable offense they won’t, and if they committed one they will deal with it properly.