The Nuns' Analysis

ฉบับแปลอังกฤษ · Vinaya Piṭaka — The Basket of Monastic Discipline · Volume 3 · 266 pages

Summarized by AI from the full volume (106 topics) — click to jump to where each topic begins.

Page 1–10 The Builder and the Nun: Sāḷha and Sundarīnandā Sāḷha, a wealthy layman building a dwelling for the nuns, is paired for the project with Sundarīnandā, a talented young nun in charge of the construction. Their frequent meetings turn to mutual infatuation, and after Sāḷha engineers a private encounter under the pretext of a communal meal, the two touch each other's bodies while both are filled with lust. An elderly, infirm nun who witnesses it reports the matter, and the Buddha responds by laying down the first expulsion offense for nuns: a lus
Page 11–14 Thullanandā's Silence When Sundarīnandā secretly disrobes just long enough to give birth to the child she conceived with Sāḷha, the other nuns learn that Thullanandā had known about the pregnancy all along and said nothing. Confronted, Thullanandā explains that she saw her friend's disgrace as her own and preferred to protect her reputation rather than expose the wrongdoing. The Buddha condemns this kind of cover-up as a threat to the integrity of the whole community and establishes a second expulsion offense: a nun
Page 15–18 Standing by a Disgraced Monk The monk Ariṭṭha is formally cast out by a unanimous Sangha for clinging to the view that indulging in sensual pleasure does not actually obstruct the path, yet Thullanandā continues to openly side with him and share his opinion. Even after being warned three separate times to stop, she refuses to back down. The Buddha rules that a nun who takes the side of a legitimately ejected monk, and who does not relent after being formally pressed three times before the Sangha, commits the third expulsion
Page 19–22 Eight Ways Toward Impropriety The unruly "group of six" nuns, acting out of lust and aiming at improper intimacy, are found letting infatuated men hold their hands or the edge of their robe, standing close together, chatting, arranging secret meetings, welcoming men who approach them, slipping into hidden places together, and positioning their bodies for the men's benefit. None of these eight behaviors amounts to outright physical contact, but together they are judged just as damaging to the nuns' integrity. The Buddha combi
Page 23–26 Thullanandā Goes to Court When a deceased lay donor's storehouse becomes the subject of a bitter inheritance dispute between his two sons, Thullanandā takes up the nuns' side of the case, wins it in the courts by exposing a missing witness, and then has the losing brother fined and jailed after he retaliates with insults and harassment. Word spreads that the nuns are vindictive litigants who will escalate any dispute, and the Buddha, hearing of the public backlash, forbids nuns from initiating legal action against househ
Page 26–30 Ordaining a Woman on the Run A Licchavi woman, caught in infidelity and warned that her husband intends to kill her, flees with her valuables and is turned away by other ascetics and nuns until Thullanandā accepts her gifts and ordains her without asking any questions about her background. When the husband tracks her down and complains to King Pasenadi, the king rules that her ordination cannot be undone, but the Buddha still rebukes Thullanandā for her carelessness and rules that a nun who knowingly ordains a woman under s
Page 30–35 Nuns Alone on the Road A cluster of four incidents shapes this rule: a nun stalks off alone to her relatives' village after an argument; two nuns crossing a river are ferried across one at a time and both are raped by the boatman; a nun who quietly moves her sleeping place to avoid a man infatuated with her is wrongly suspected of running off with him; and a nun who falls behind the group with an upset stomach is assaulted by a stranger. Each episode prompts the Buddha to expand the same training rule, until it finall
Page 35–38 Overturning Caṇḍakāḷī's Expulsion While Thullanandā is away on business, the quarrelsome nun Caṇḍakāḷī is formally ejected by the Sangha for refusing to acknowledge an offense. On her return, Thullanandā hears Caṇḍakāḷī's complaint that she had no one to defend her, declares the nuns who judged the case incompetent, and hastily convenes her own gathering to readmit Caṇḍakāḷī without consulting the Sangha that had ejected her. The Buddha rules that readmitting an ejected nun without the permission of the Sangha that carried out t
Page 38–41 Sundarīnandā's Special Portion Because Sundarīnandā is beautiful, admirers in the dining hall single her out with the finest food, and she eats her fill while other nuns go without the same generosity, both she and her donors driven by mutual attraction. Other nuns criticize the arrangement as unseemly, and the Buddha rules that a nun who knowingly eats food handed to her directly by a man who desires her, while she herself is also lustful, commits a suspension offense for every mouthful swallowed.
Page 41–44 "What Harm Could It Do?" Chastened by the previous rule, Sundarīnandā grows wary and starts refusing food from a man she knows is infatuated with her, but a fellow nun talks her out of her caution, arguing that since Sundarīnandā herself feels no desire, the man's feelings are irrelevant and she should simply keep accepting his food. The Buddha rejects this reasoning outright and rules that any nun who encourages another to accept food directly from a lustful man's hand on those grounds commits a suspension offense hers
Page 44–49 Caṇḍakāḷī Renounces the Triple Gem After a heated argument with the other nuns, Caṇḍakāḷī furiously declares that she renounces the Buddha, the Teaching, the Sangha, and the training itself, insisting that other religious teachers are every bit as worthy and that she will practice under them instead. Even after being formally asked three times to retract her outburst, she refuses to back down. The Buddha rules that a nun who makes such an angry renunciation, and does not relent after being pressed three times before the Sangha, c
Page 49–53 Caṇḍakāḷī Cries Foul Still smarting from losing a legal dispute before the Sangha, Caṇḍakāḷī lashes out that the nuns who judged her case were driven by favoritism, hostility, delusion, and fear rather than fairness. Warned three times to withdraw the accusation, she refuses each time. The Buddha institutes a suspension offense for any nun who levels such an accusation against the Sangha's judgment out of anger and will not retract it, safeguarding the community's trust in its own legal process.
Page 53–57 Thullanandā's Inner Circle A tight-knit group of nuns who are Thullanandā's students grow so inseparable that they develop a reputation for bad conduct, harass the wider community of nuns, and shield one another's misdeeds from scrutiny. Other nuns repeatedly urge them to live apart for the sake of communal harmony, but the clique ignores three formal warnings to disperse. The Buddha rules that nuns who persist in this kind of destructive cliquishness after being pressed three times commit a suspension offense.
Page 57–63 Thullanandā Undercuts the Warning After being formally pressed by the Sangha herself, Thullanandā turns around and tells the same nuns not to separate as instructed, claiming other troublemaking cliques get away with the same behavior and that the Sangha is only picking on her students because they are unsupported and easy to blame. The Buddha rebukes her and lays down the tenth and final suspension offense, against undermining a legitimate Sangha warning in this way. The chapter closes with the recitation formula listing all se
Page 64–65 Hoarding Almsbowls The nuns of the group of six accumulated a large stash of almsbowls, prompting onlookers touring the monastery grounds to joke that they must be starting up as bowl merchants or running a pottery shop. After the Buddha rebuked them for damaging public confidence, he laid down a rule against keeping an extra, undesignated bowl. The text then defines exactly what counts as a bowl for the rule's purposes — iron or ceramic, in three graduated sizes from large to small.
Page 66–67 The Ritual of Giving Back a Bowl This section spells out the formal procedure for surrendering a bowl kept too long: the nun bows to the senior nuns, formally relinquishes it before the Sangha (or a smaller group, or a single nun), confesses the offense, and then has it ceremonially handed back to her. A run of edge cases follows — mistaken beliefs about the deadline, a bowl that was lost, broken, or stolen — clarifying exactly when the offense applies. It closes with an addendum: after the group-of-six nuns refused to return b
Page 68–70 Passing Off Out-of-Season Cloth as Kathina Robes A group of nuns arrived back in Sāvatthī so shabbily dressed that sympathetic lay people, assuming they had been robbed, donated robe-cloth to them outside the normal robe season. Thullanandā declared the gift "in-season" kathina cloth so it could be divided up immediately, which meant genuinely needy nuns who asked afterward got nothing — and when the donors found out, they were angry at being misled. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not misrepresent out-of-season cloth as kathina cloth simply t
Page 70–73 Trading a Robe, Then Taking It Back Thullanandā traded robes with another nun, but once she saw how carefully the other nun had kept the robe she received, she wanted her old one back and simply seized it, declaring "what's yours is yours and what's mine is mine." Other nuns and lay people condemned this as a dishonest reversal of a completed deal. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not trade a robe with another nun and later reclaim it, whether by taking it back herself or having someone else do it for her.
Page 73–75 Asking for Ghee, Then Demanding Oil Instead While Thullanandā was sick, a lay supporter asked what she needed; she said ghee, and he bought it for her from a shop — only for her to announce afterward that she wanted oil instead, forcing him back to swap the purchase and putting the shopkeeper out over goods already sold. The Buddha, hearing how this inconvenienced both the donor and the merchant, ruled that a nun may not ask for one thing and then switch her request to something else.
Page 75–78 Sending a Trainee Nun to Swap Oil for Ghee Again while unwell, Thullanandā sent a trainee nun (sikkhamānā) to buy oil with money a donor had set aside for her — but when the oil was delivered, she decided she wanted ghee instead, sending the trainee back to argue with the shopkeeper, who scolded her so harshly that she broke down in tears. Once other nuns learned what had happened, they criticized Thullanandā's conduct. The Buddha ruled that a nun must not send someone to procure one item and then change the order to something else, sinc
Page 78–88 Diverting Funds Donated for a Specific Purpose Five closely related rules cover the same basic scenario: lay donors — sometimes an individual, sometimes a merchants' association — pooled money for a specific purpose (robe-cloth, congee ingredients, or repairs to Thullanandā's dwelling) and left it on account at a shop for the nuns to draw on, but the nuns exchanged the earmarked goods for medicinal tonics instead, using the gift for something the donors never intended. Each version of the rule differs only in whether the gift belonged to the
Page 89–91 Asking King Pasenadi for His Winter Cloak Thullanandā, a respected and eloquent teacher, gave a Dhamma talk to King Pasenadi of Kosala on a cold day; when he offered to give her anything she wanted, she asked outright for the expensive woolen cloak he was wearing, and he handed it over on the spot. The public was scandalized, accusing the nuns of insatiable greed for maneuvering a king out of his own coat. The Buddha responded by capping the value of any heavy cloak a nun may request in an exchange at four kaṁsa coins, making it an offe
Page 91–93 A Second Royal Cloak, and the Close of the Thirty Rules The same scene plays out again in the hot season: King Pasenadi visits Thullanandā wearing a fine linen cloak, and after her teaching she asks for that one too, sparking a second round of public outrage. The Buddha sets a lower ceiling — two-and-a-half kaṁsa coins — for any lightweight cloak a nun may request. The section then closes out the entire thirty-rule chapter on relinquishment and confession with the formal recitation asking the nuns' Sangha to confirm its purity.
Page 94–96 Taking More Than One's Share of Garlic A lay donor had arranged for a few bulbs of garlic to be given to any nun who asked, but during a festival the usual supply ran out and nuns were sent directly to his field — where Thullanandā, showing no restraint, helped herself to a large quantity. The Buddha rebuked her and told a Jātaka story of a golden goose, once a brahmin who fed his family one golden feather at a time, whose greedy wife (a past life of Thullanandā) seized and plucked him bare, after which his feathers grew back merely
Page 97–98 Removing Pubic Hair The nuns of the group of six shaved the hair from their armpits and groin, then bathed naked alongside sex workers at a river crossing. The sex workers themselves mocked them for behaving like lay women still indulging in sensual pleasure, and when other nuns heard of it, they reported the matter up the chain to the Buddha. He ruled that a nun may not remove hair from her private parts, except when illness makes it medically necessary.
Page 98–99 Slapping the Genitals Two nuns overcome by sexual desire shut themselves in a room and began slapping their own genitals with their palms; when the noise brought other nuns running to ask whether they were with a man, the pair denied it but admitted what they had actually been doing. The Buddha ruled that deliberately striking one's genitals for sexual sensation — even with something as innocuous as a lotus leaf — is an offense, with illness as the only excuse.
Page 99–100 Using a Dildo A former palace concubine who had become a nun was asked by another sexually frustrated nun how she used to cope during the king's long absences; she explained she had used a dildo, described it, and the questioner then obtained and used one herself. She was found out only because she left it unwashed somewhere and other nuns discovered it covered in flies. The Buddha ruled that inserting any such object — made of resin, wood, flour, or clay — for sexual purposes is an offense, barring genuine m
Page 100–102 Washing Too Deep When Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī told the Buddha that women's bodies can have an odor, he permitted nuns to clean themselves with water; one nun then rinsed so deeply that she injured herself and caused a sore. The Buddha responded by setting a precise limit — no more than the depth of two finger joints — ruling that going further, even by a hair's breadth, is an offense unless illness makes it necessary. The passage ends by turning to a nun's conduct while attending on a monk during his meal.
Page 102–104 Water, a Fan, and an Ex-Wife's Flirtation A former government official named Ārohanta became a monk while his ex-wife became a nun; one day, as he ate his meal, she hovered over him serving water and fanning him while flirting in a way that recalled their old married life together. When he told her to stop, she angrily poured the water vessel over his head and struck him with the fan. The Buddha ruled that a nun commits an offense if she attends on a monk with drinking water or a fan while he eats, closing off this kind of intimate, wif
Page 104–105 Nuns Foraging for Raw Grain Like Farmers During harvest season, nuns went out begging for raw, unprocessed grain and carried it back toward the nunnery, only to be stopped at the town gate by people demanding a cut of the haul before letting them through. Other nuns felt this looked like nuns behaving as grain merchants or farmers rather than alms-mendicants. The Buddha therefore forbade nuns from asking for, roasting, pounding, or cooking raw grain themselves (or having others do it for them) and then eating it, with an exception made
Page 105–107 An Unlucky Bath and a Bucket of Excrement A brahmin who had just washed his hair on his way to collect wages owed him by the king happened to be walking past the nunnery exactly when a nun tipped a pot of feces over the boundary wall, and it landed squarely on his head. Enraged, he grabbed a firebrand intending to burn the nunnery down, and was only talked out of it by a passing layman who pointed out the mess was actually a good omen for his errand — which proved true when he got his wages plus a bonus. The layman still returned to sco
Page 107–109 Ruining a Neighbor's Barley Field A nunnery stood next to a brahmin's barley field, and the nuns had gotten in the habit of dumping feces, urine, trash, and food scraps straight into his crop, damaging it. The brahmin complained bitterly that the nuns were spoiling his livelihood, and once the Buddha heard of it he laid down a rule barring nuns from disposing of waste on any cultivated plants that people value or rely on, permitting it only at a field's edge or with the owner's consent.
Page 109–111 The Nuns Who Went to the Hilltop Fair During an annual hilltop festival in Rājagaha, a group of nuns known for their poor discipline went along to watch the dancing, singing, and music, prompting onlookers to remark that they were behaving just like ordinary pleasure-seeking householders rather than renunciants. Once word reached the Buddha, he ruled that a nun who goes to watch dancing, singing, or musical performances for entertainment commits an offense, though exceptions were made if the performance simply happens to pass by her
Page 111–118 Alone with a Man: Four Rules on Privacy and Suspicion A nun who was a pupil of the elder Bhaddā Kāpilānī stood talking alone, without a lamp, with a male relative visiting from out of town after dark — and when the Buddha banned that, the same pair simply moved their meetings to a hidden spot, then out in the open, forcing the Buddha to issue a rule closing each loophole in turn. Separately, the nun Thullanandā was found standing and whispering privately with men on streets, in cul-de-sacs, and at intersections, deliberately sending her companion n
Page 118–120 Leaving a House Without Saying Goodbye A nun who regularly received meals from a certain family sat down on a seat in their home and then left without telling anyone she was going; a servant sweeping up later moved the seat and tucked it out of sight, so when it turned up missing the family accused the nun of taking it and cut off her meals in anger. Only after the seat was found tucked among some vessels did they apologize and restore her standing invitation. The Buddha ruled that a nun who visits a family before midday and sits dow
Page 120–122 Sitting Down Uninvited in the Afternoon The nun Thullanandā made a habit of visiting households in the afternoon and simply sitting or lying down on their furniture without asking, leaving the householders too uneasy to use those same seats themselves afterward. Once other nuns criticized her for it, the Buddha laid down a companion rule to the previous one: a nun may not sit or lie down on a seat in someone's home after midday without first asking the owner's permission, exceptions being made for illness, emergencies, or a seat set a
Page 122–125 Turned Out of a House at Night A group of nuns traveling to Sāvatthī stopped for the night at a brahmin's house, and his wife let them wait and even spread out their bedding while the husband was away. When he returned after dark and found shaven-headed women settled in for the night, he assumed the worst, called them foul names, and threw them out of the house. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not arrive at a house after dark, spread out bedding, and sit or lie down on it without getting permission directly from the household
Page 125–126 A Misheard Compliment Turns to Resentment The elder Bhaddā Kāpilānī praised a devoted pupil in front of the other nuns, promising to give her a robe for her attentive care — but the pupil, misunderstanding the situation, later complained to the other nuns that she wasn't being properly looked after and wouldn't get a robe after all, sowing needless suspicion and ill will. The Buddha ruled that a nun commits an offense if she complains about another nun based on a misunderstanding she failed to think through carefully before speaking.
Page 126–128 Caṇḍakāḷī's Curse of Hell When some nuns lost track of their belongings and asked the nun Caṇḍakāḷī whether she had seen them, she took it as an accusation of theft and, deeply stung, swore that if she had really stolen anything she deserved to fall from the spiritual life and be reborn in hell — and in the same breath cursed her accusers with the identical fate if they were lying about her. Other nuns felt invoking hell and expulsion from monastic life was far too extreme a way to respond to a simple question. The Buddh
Page 128–129 Caṇḍakāḷī Weeps After Striking Herself After a quarrel with the other nuns, Caṇḍakāḷī reacted by repeatedly hitting herself and crying loudly, behavior the other nuns felt was unbecoming of a renunciant. The Buddha ruled that a nun who cries after beating herself out of anger or frustration commits an offense, though he carved out an exception for tears shed over the death of a relative, loss of property, or illness, so long as she does not also strike herself.
Page 129–130 Bathing Naked Beside Sex Workers A group of nuns went bathing naked at a river crossing alongside sex workers, who mocked them for choosing celibacy while still young, suggesting they should instead enjoy sensual pleasures first and take up the spiritual life only once they were old, so as to have it both ways. Humiliated, the nuns reported the incident, and the Buddha responded by opening an entirely new section of rules — on nakedness — starting with a ban on bathing without any covering, excusing only cases where a nun's rob
Page 131–132 The Bathing Robe That Dragged on the Ground Once the Buddha had permitted nuns to wear a robe for bathing, a notoriously lax group of six nuns had theirs made oversized, so large that the cloth trailed on the ground in front and behind as they walked. Other nuns found the sight undignified for renunciants, so the Buddha fixed a standard size — four handspans long and two wide — ruling that any bathing robe exceeding those dimensions must be cut down to size before the nun who made or commissioned it can confess the offense.
Page 132–135 The Robe That Was Never Sewn Back A nun's robe had been sewn badly despite being made from fine cloth, and Thullanandā offered to unpick it and sew it back together more skillfully. She took it apart but then kept putting off the actual sewing and never arranged for anyone else to do it either, leaving the owner without a usable robe for a long stretch. The Buddha ruled that a nun who unstitches, or has someone else unstitch, another nun's robe must sew it back herself or see that someone else does, within four or five days unle
Page 135–136 Robes Left to Rot in Storage A group of nuns left one of their robes in the keeping of other nuns while they went off wandering the countryside with just a sarong and upper robe apiece. Because no one ever took the stored robe out to wear or sun it, it grew moldy and was ruined by the time anyone noticed. The Buddha therefore required nuns to wear or air out each of their robes at least once every five days, so unused cloth doesn't spoil from neglect.
Page 136–138 Wearing Another Nun's Robe Without Asking A nun came back from the alms round, spread her damp robe out to dry, and went into her room, whereupon another nun simply put it on and wore it out for alms herself. The owner came out, couldn't find her robe, and was upset to learn it had been taken without her knowledge. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not wear another nun's robe unless it has actually been given to her or she has first asked permission to borrow it.
Page 138–140 Blocking a Gift Out of Self-Interest A family that supported Thullanandā told her they wanted to donate robe-cloth to the Sangha of nuns, but she waved them off, saying they were too busy — talking them out of the gift. Soon afterward the family's house burned down, and they bitterly complained that she had cost them both their possessions and the merit they would have earned. The Buddha made it an offense for a nun to obstruct a donor who wants to give robe-cloth to the community.
Page 140–141 Stalling a Distribution for Her Own Students When the nuns' Sangha gathered to share out a donation of robe-cloth, Thullanandā noticed that her own pupils were away and insisted the distribution wait until they returned, even though nothing required it. Other nuns, tired of waiting, gave up and left, and only once her students came back did she let the sharing proceed. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not block a legitimate, properly agreed distribution of robe-cloth.
Page 141–143 Trading Robes for Public Praise Thullanandā gave monastic robes to entertainers — actors, dancers, acrobats, magicians, and musicians — in exchange for them publicly praising her before crowds as a learned and skillful teacher, which drew people to her at other nuns' expense. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not give a monastic robe to a householder or to a non-Buddhist male or female wanderer, allowing exceptions only for her own mother and father or for lending a robe temporarily.
Page 143–145 Waiting on a Promise That Never Firmed Up A family told Thullanandā only that they would give robe-cloth to the Sangha "if we're able" — a vague, conditional offer, not a real commitment. When the time came for the nuns to distribute the robe-cloth gathered from the rains residence, she made everyone wait on this uncertain promise, and by the time she checked back and learned the family could not give after all, the proper robe season had already passed. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not let the robe season lapse by holding out for a
Page 145–147 Holding Up a Vote to Keep the Cloth for Herself A lay donor who had built a dwelling wanted to present out-of-season robe-cloth to both the monks' and nuns' communities, but this first required each Sangha to formally vote to end its robe season. The monks agreed readily, but Thullanandā blocked the nuns from doing the same because she was hoping to secure the cloth for herself, leaving the donor angry at being refused. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not obstruct a legitimate Sangha decision to end the robe season.
Page 147–148 Two Nuns, One Bed Visitors touring the nuns' dwellings came upon two nuns lying down together on a single bed and criticized them for acting like married householders indulging in worldly pleasure rather than renunciants. On hearing the complaint, the Buddha ruled that two nuns may not lie down together on the same bed, so as to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
Page 148–150 Sharing a Sheet and a Blanket In a nearly identical incident, visitors found two nuns lying down under one shared sheet and cover and leveled the same accusation — that they were behaving like a worldly couple rather than monastics. The Buddha responded with a companion rule forbidding two nuns from lying down together using a single sheet and a single blanket, closing a loophole the bed rule alone had left open.
Page 150–152 Shadowing a Rival Out of Jealousy Thullanandā and the elder nun Bhaddā Kāpilānī were both confident, accomplished teachers, but laypeople kept seeking out Bhaddā Kāpilānī first and Thullanandā only afterward. Stung by jealousy, Thullanandā took to deliberately pacing, standing, sitting, lying down, and reciting right in front of her rival, needling her on purpose to make her uncomfortable. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not intentionally make another nun ill at ease this way without her consent.
Page 152–153 Leaving a Sick Student Uncared For One of Thullanandā's own students fell sick, but Thullanandā neither nursed her nor made any effort to find someone else who would. Fellow nuns criticized her for neglecting a pupil who was her responsibility to look after. The Buddha ruled that a nun with a suffering disciple must either nurse her herself or see that someone else does, barring a genuine obstacle.
Page 153–156 Thrown Out of the Room She Was Given Bhaddā Kāpilānī asked Thullanandā for lodging while she attended to business in Sāvatthī, and Thullanandā agreed to house her. But when local people once again sought out Bhaddā Kāpilānī's teaching ahead of her own, jealousy got the better of Thullanandā, and in anger she physically threw her out of the very room she had assigned her. The Buddha ruled that a nun who gives another nun a place to stay may not later evict her, or have her evicted, out of anger.
Page 156–159 Too Familiar with Lay Society The nun Caṇḍakāḷī kept close, familiar company with householder families and their children in a way unbefitting a renunciant, and fellow nuns urged her to stop and embrace the seclusion the Sangha praises — but she ignored them. The Buddha set out a graduated procedure: the nuns should formally press her up to three times to stop, and only if she still persists after a complete, formal Sangha motion does she commit an offense entailing confession.
Page 159–160 Traveling Alone Through Dangerous Country Nuns set out wandering without a group of fellow travelers through a region of their own country known to be risky and dangerous, and were raped by criminals along the way. When the Buddha learned of this, he ruled that a nun who travels through such dangerous territory without a group of companions commits an offense entailing confession, with exceptions for safe routes, genuine emergencies, or traveling in company.
Page 160–162 The Same Danger, Now Beyond Her Own Borders The identical tragedy recurred when nuns went wandering without an escort through risky, dangerous territory outside their home country, and were again assaulted by criminals. The Buddha extended the previous rule to cover travel abroad as well as at home, making it an offense for a nun to travel unescorted through dangerous country outside her own land.
Page 162–164 Trampling the Rains, Then Refusing to Leave This section covers two related problems. Nuns who went wandering during the rainy-season retreat were criticized for trampling green grass and crushing small creatures underfoot, so the Buddha forbade wandering during the rains except for a genuine seven-day errand or real emergency. Separately, nuns who stayed put in Rājagaha year after year without ever traveling to learn elsewhere were said to be leaving their district in darkness for want of their presence, so the Buddha required every nun
Page 164–166 Sightseeing at the Royal Gallery When King Pasenadi's park gallery was decorated with artwork that drew crowds of sightseers, the nuns of the group of six went along to view it too, and onlookers criticized them for behaving like pleasure-seeking laywomen. The Buddha ruled that a nun who visits a royal house, gallery, park, garden, or lotus pond for entertainment commits an offense entailing confession, though incidental glimpses while passing by, on monastery grounds, or on legitimate business are excused.
Page 166–167 Couches Too Grand for a Renunciant Nuns were seen using oversized couches and seats decorated with images of predatory animals, furnishings associated with wealthy householders, and passersby criticized them for living like people indulging in worldly luxury. The Buddha prohibited nuns from using such high or ornamented couches, though a couch became permissible again once its legs were cut down or its decoration removed.
Page 167–168 Spinning Thread Like a Housewife The nuns of the group of six took up spinning yarn as a pastime, and people who saw them at it criticized the practice as fitting for a laywoman running a household, not for a renunciant. The Buddha banned nuns from spinning yarn themselves, though working with thread someone else had already spun remained permitted.
Page 168–169 Cooking and Washing for Lay Families Some nuns took on domestic labor for lay households, cooking meals or porridge and washing garments and turbans as though they were servants. The Buddha ruled this an offense, while allowing exceptions for preparing a congee drink, cooking for the monastic community, offerings at a shrine, or service to one's own lay supporter.
Page 169–171 A Promise to Mediate, Never Kept A nun asked Thullanandā to help settle a dispute in the community, and Thullanandā agreed to do so, but then took no action at all and made no effort to resolve it, leaving the matter unsettled. The Buddha ruled that a nun who agrees to resolve another nun's legal issue but then makes no genuine effort to do so, absent a real obstacle, commits an offense entailing confession.
Page 171–172 Buying Applause with Almsfood Thullanandā personally handed food to entertainers—dancers, acrobats, musicians, and magicians—in exchange for them publicly praising her as a learned and skilled teacher. The Buddha ruled that a nun who personally serves food with her own hands to a householder or to a non-Buddhist male or female wanderer commits an offense, closing off this route to bought flattery.
Page 172–173 Hoarding the Shared Cloth The community kept a special communal robe set aside for nuns to use during menstruation, but Thullanandā monopolized it and refused to hand it over, leaving other menstruating nuns without access. The Buddha ruled that a nun may use this shared cloth for only two or three days before washing it and relinquishing it to another nun who needs it.
Page 173–176 A Fire, and No One Dared Save Her Belongings Thullanandā left on a journey without formally handing over her lodging to anyone's care, and while she was away her room caught fire. Nearby nuns hesitated to go in and rescue her belongings, fearing they would be blamed for theft if anything later went missing, and when Thullanandā returned she scolded them for letting her things burn. The Buddha ruled that a nun must relinquish her lodging to another nun before setting out to wander, so responsibility for it is always clear.
Page 176–177 Learning Fortune-Telling and Charms The nuns of the group of six took up study of subjects outside the Buddha's teaching—worldly lore unconnected to liberation—and people criticized them for acting like laywomen absorbed in worldly pursuits. The Buddha forbade nuns from studying such worldly subjects, while still permitting them to learn reading and writing or verses recited for protection.
Page 177–178 Passing the Same Lore On to Others This time the nuns of the group of six were caught teaching these same worldly, non-liberating subjects to other people, drawing the identical criticism that it was unbecoming of a renunciant. The Buddha extended the previous rule to teaching as well as learning, forbidding nuns from instructing others in worldly subjects apart from writing or protective verses, bringing this subchapter to a close.
Page 178–181 Learning When It's Right to Walk In A group of monks in simple attire were sewing robes at a village monastery when nuns walked in on them without asking first, prompting a rule requiring nuns to always ask permission before entering a monks' monastery. This proved too rigid: when the monks temporarily left, the nuns believed they still needed permission and stayed away entirely, failing even to sweep the grounds or set out water, so the Buddha clarified that permission is needed only when monks are actually present. The rule was
Page 181–184 A Demolished Stupa and a Caste Insult When the senior nun of the "group of six" died, her companions cremated her near the dwelling of Venerable Kappita and built a memorial stupa, then returned to wail loudly beside it. Annoyed by the noise, Kappita tore the stupa down, and the furious nuns plotted to kill him, crushing his hut with rocks and earth while he was away in hiding. When they learned that Venerable Upāli had tipped him off, they turned on Upāli instead, hurling abuse that mocked his background as a barber of low caste. T
Page 184–186 Thullanandā Reviles the Whole Sangha The nun Caṇḍakāḷī was a habitual troublemaker, and whenever the Sangha tried to discipline her, her ally Thullanandā would object. While Thullanandā was away on business, the nuns formally expelled Caṇḍakāḷī for refusing to acknowledge an offense, and when Thullanandā returned, the now friendless Caṇḍakāḷī pointedly withheld the usual courtesies of welcome. Furious on learning why, Thullanandā denounced the entire community of nuns as incompetent fools who understood nothing about legal procedur
Page 186–188 Eating Twice After Declining Seconds A brahmin invited a group of nuns to a meal, and after they had eaten and formally declined any more food, several went on to relatives' houses and ate again. When the brahmin later offered to host his neighbors the same way, they refused, embarrassing him, since they already knew the nuns had eaten elsewhere after supposedly being full. The Buddha ruled that a nun who declines an offer of more food at an invited meal and then eats fresh or cooked food anyway commits an offense entailing confess
Page 188–189 Hoarding a Generous Family A nun who received a good meal at a family's house was told she could bring other nuns along next time. Wanting to keep the family's generosity for herself, she instead warned the other nuns away with an invented story about vicious dogs, a dangerous ox, and treacherous mud at that house, until the puzzled family asked why no other nuns ever came and the truth came out. The Buddha ruled that a nun who selfishly monopolizes a supportive family in this way commits an offense entailing confession.
Page 189–191 A Rains Retreat with No Monks to Guide Them A group of nuns spent their rainy-season residence at a village monastery with no monks in it, and when they returned and were asked whether they had received good instruction, they had to admit none was available at all. Other nuns criticized this as a serious lapse, since nuns depend on monks for periodic guidance and oversight during the rains. The Buddha ruled that a nun who spends the rains residence in a monastery without monks commits an offense entailing confession.
Page 191–192 Skipping the Invitation to Be Corrected After finishing the rains residence, nuns returning to Sāvatthī were asked whether they had invited the monks' Sangha to point out anything seen, heard, or suspected against them — the standard closing ceremony of the retreat — and they had not done so. This was treated as neglecting an important channel of accountability between the two Sanghas. The Buddha ruled that a nun who completes the rains residence without inviting correction from both Sanghas on these three grounds commits an offense e
Page 192–193 Refusing to Come for Instruction Monks of the "group of six" came in person to the nunnery to instruct the nuns of the "group of six" there, and when other nuns invited them to the regular instruction session with the monks' Sangha, they declined, saying the monks had already taught them on-site. The Buddha treated this as nuns opting out of their proper communal obligations toward the monks. He ruled that a nun who refuses to go to the instruction or to a formal meeting of the community commits an offense entailing confession.
Page 193–194 Neglecting to Ask for the Fortnightly Teaching The nuns had fallen into the habit of not asking the monks about the observance day and not requesting the instruction — a recitation of the eight important principles owed to them every half-month. When monks pointed out the lapse, the Buddha made it a formal, recurring duty. He ruled that a nun who lets a half-month pass without asking about the observance day and seeking this instruction from the monks' Sangha commits an offense entailing confession.
Page 194–195 An Abscess, a Man Alone with Her, and an Assault A nun had a man privately lance an abscess growing on the lower part of her body, and when he tried to rape her she cried out; other nuns rushed in and got the story out of her. The Buddha responded by ruling against nuns receiving this kind of one-on-one treatment from a man at all: without prior permission from the Sangha or a group of nuns, having a man rupture, cut open, wash, anoint, bandage, or unwrap a wound or abscess between her navel and knees makes a nun guilty of an offense entailing
Page 196–198 Ordaining Women Who Were Pregnant or Nursing Nuns gave full ordination to a visibly pregnant woman, and when she went out for almsfood, people remarked on how heavily burdened she looked and criticized the nuns for ordaining her at all. The Buddha ruled it an offense entailing confession to ordain a pregnant woman. A near-identical episode followed when nuns ordained a breastfeeding mother — onlookers noted she "had a companion" — and since caring for an infant left her unable to devote herself fully to monastic life, the Buddha issued a m
Page 199–204 Formal Approval Before and After Two Years of Training Nuns were found giving full ordination to trainee nuns (sikkhamānā) who had never actually completed the required two years of training in the six rules — abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying, alcohol, and eating at the wrong time — leaving the Sangha with ignorant new members who didn't know what was allowable. The Buddha responded with two linked procedures: a formal request and Sangha vote before a woman may even begin the two-year training period, and a second formal vot
Page 205–209 The Twelve-Year Rule for Once-Married Women Nuns were ordaining women who had previously "gone to the place of a man" (i.e., been married) before those women had spent twelve years running a household, and the Buddha explained that women with less experience than that could not yet endure the hardships of monastic life — heat, cold, hunger, harsh speech, and physical pain — the way those with twelve years could. He barred ordaining such women under twelve years, and, in a matching case, ruled that even once women qualified on that count,
Page 210–213 No Shortcuts to Full Ordination for Married Women Either Even after a once-married woman had the required twelve years running a household and had finished her two years of training in the six rules, some nuns were ordaining her outright without first securing the Sangha's formal vote of approval. The Buddha laid out the exact procedure step by step — approaching the Sangha, paying respect, requesting approval three times, and having the Sangha vote by silence — making clear this formal approval could never be skipped, whatever a candidate's backgroun
Page 214 Thullanandā Abandons Her New Disciple After giving full ordination to a disciple, the nun Thullanandā then failed to guide her — or arrange for anyone else to guide her — for the following two years, leaving the newly ordained nun ignorant of what was and wasn't allowable. Other nuns criticized Thullanandā for neglecting this basic responsibility of a preceptor. The Buddha ruled that a nun who ordains a disciple and then fails to guide her, or ensure she is guided, for two years commits an offense entailing confession.
Page 215–217 Mutual Duties of Mentor and Disciple Two linked rules define the bond between a new nun and the mentor who ordained her: the disciple must attend on and follow her mentor for two full years, and the mentor in turn must never simply abandon her student more than roughly sixty-five to eighty kilometers away without arranging for someone to look after her. The second rule arose after Thullanandā ordained a woman and then neither sent her away nor had her escorted to safety, so her former husband tracked her down and took her back. Tog
Page 218–219 Twenty Years Before Full Ordination Nuns had been giving full ordination to unmarried women under twenty, but many of these young women could not endure the hardships of monastic life — extremes of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, biting insects, harsh speech, and severe bodily pain. The Buddha judged that only a woman who has reached twenty has the maturity to bear up under such conditions, and so ruled that full ordination before twenty is an offense.
Page 220–225 Approval Before and After the Two-Year Training Even after turning twenty, a candidate still needed two years of training in six basic rules before full ordination, but some nuns were ordaining women who had skipped this step, or who had trained without ever being formally approved to do so. The Buddha set out an exact procedure: a woman may petition the Sangha to begin her two-year training at eighteen, so that she turns twenty just as her training finishes, and afterward she must petition the Sangha a second time for approval to actually re
Page 226–229 Twelve Years' Seniority to Serve as Preceptor Nuns with less than twelve years' standing were taking on students and ordaining them, leaving both the inexperienced preceptor and her new disciples ignorant of what was and wasn't allowable. The Buddha ruled that only a nun of at least twelve years' seniority may serve as a preceptor, and even then the Sangha must first judge her both competent and conscientious — an ignorant or shameless nun, however senior, is to be refused formal approval to ordain others.
Page 230–231 Caṇḍakāḷī's Change of Heart The nun Caṇḍakāḷī asked the Sangha for approval to ordain others; when the Sangha decided she wasn't ready and told her so, she accepted the verdict, saying "Fine." But when other nuns were later approved, she grew bitter, complaining that she'd effectively been branded ignorant and shameless. The Buddha ruled that a nun who consents to a Sangha decision may not turn around afterward and criticize it, since going back on one's word this way breeds resentment and division.
Page 232–234 Ordination Promised, Then Withheld A trainee nun asked Thullanandā to give her full ordination, and Thullanandā told her she would do it only if given a robe — then, robe in hand, never followed through. In an almost identical case, she instead demanded two years of personal attendance as her price for ordaining another trainee, and again reneged once the terms were met. The Buddha ruled that a nun must not dangle ordination as a bargaining chip for gifts or service, since this exploits the sincere faith of women seeking to join
Page 235–236 Ordaining an Unsuitable Candidate Thullanandā gave full ordination to the trainee nun Caṇḍakāḷī, a woman known for keeping close company with men and boys, for her hot temper, and for making the people around her miserable. Other nuns objected that someone with this reputation should never have been ordained. The Buddha ruled that a nun must not knowingly give full ordination to a trainee whose conduct around men or whose difficult temperament makes her unfit to live within the community.
Page 237 Ordaining Without a Family's Consent Thullanandā gave full ordination to a trainee nun without first securing permission from either her parents or her husband, and the angry family complained that the ordination had gone ahead behind their backs. The Buddha ruled that a nun must obtain permission from a candidate's parents or husband before ordaining her, to avoid inflaming family conflict and to protect the Sangha's standing with the laity.
Page 238–239 Trading the Sangha's Elders for Devadatta's Faction Preparing to ordain a trainee nun, Thullanandā first gathered a group of senior monks to take part, but on seeing there wasn't enough food to feed everyone, she sent them away, saying she'd hold off. She then rounded up Devadatta and his companions — monks who had broken away from the Sangha — and had them carry out the ordination instead. Other nuns criticized her for improperly reusing a quorum's consent after the original assembly had already dispersed, and the Buddha ruled that an ordination
Page 240–241 Straining the Nunnery's Capacity Nuns were giving full ordination every single year, and then even to two women in the same year, until the nunnery ran out of room to house everyone and the laity began complaining. The Buddha first ruled that a nun may not ordain someone in consecutive years, then further restricted ordination to no more than one woman per year, so that each newcomer could be properly housed and trained. These rules close the subchapter on unmarried women.
Page 242–245 No Sunshades, Sandals, or Carriages The nuns of the group of six used sunshades and wore sandals just as laywomen who still enjoyed worldly comforts did, and the public criticized them for it, so the Buddha banned both — later carving out an exception for a nun who was genuinely sick and needed them. He similarly forbade nuns from riding in vehicles like carts, carriages, and palanquins, again permitting the exception of a nun too ill to travel on foot. Both rules were meant to keep nuns visibly set apart from the ease of lay life
Page 246–247 No Hip Ornaments or Jewelry A nun agreed to carry a hip ornament to deliver to another woman and, worried about losing it in her almsbowl, wore it on her own body instead — until the cord snapped in the street and it scattered in front of onlookers who mocked her for looking like a laywoman. The Buddha banned wearing hip ornaments outright, and separately banned the group-of-six nuns' habit of decorating their heads, necks, hands, feet, and hips with jewelry, again allowing only a genuine medical exception.
Page 248–249 No Perfumed Baths or Cosmetic Bathing The group-of-six nuns were bathing with scents and cosmetic colors, and separately with fragrant sesame paste, in a way that made them look like pleasure-seeking laywomen, and the public took notice and criticized them. The Buddha banned both practices, permitting them only for a nun who was actually sick — and even then allowing unscented sesame paste, since it was the vanity of scent and color he was targeting, not washing itself.
Page 250–252 No Massages, Not Even from a Fellow Nun Nuns were having one another massage and rub their bodies, and passersby who witnessed it compared them to comfort-seeking laywomen and criticized them for it. The Buddha ruled that a nun may not have another nun massage or rub her, then extended the same ban to being massaged by a trainee nun, a novice nun, or even a laywoman, with the usual exception preserved for a nun who genuinely needed it due to illness.
Page 253–255 Asking Leave Before Sitting or Questioning a Monk Nuns had been sitting down on seats in front of a monk without first asking his permission, and monks complained that this showed a lack of respect. The Buddha responded with a rule making it an offense entailing confession for a nun to sit in front of a monk—even on the ground—without asking leave first. A parallel case followed when nuns questioned a monk about the discourses, the Monastic Law, or philosophy without being given permission to do so; the Buddha ruled that a nun must obtain a mon
Page 256–257 The Wind, the Whirlwind, and the Chest Wrap A nun went out for alms in the village without wearing her chest wrap, and a sudden whirlwind blew her upper robe up, exposing her body; onlookers jeered at her and she felt deeply humiliated. When she reported this back at the nunnery, the Buddha ruled that any nun entering an inhabited area without her chest wrap—a cloth meant to cover the body between the collarbone and the navel—commits an offense entailing confession, with exceptions for theft, loss, illness, or genuine emergency. This clos
Page 258–259 Asking for Ghee: The First Rule of Acknowledgment This section opens a new category of offense—rules "entailing acknowledgment," where a nun must confess her fault aloud in a set formula. The trigger was the group-of-six nuns asking for ghee to eat even though they were not sick, prompting public criticism that they were simply chasing tasty food; the Buddha barred this and set the confession formula, "I have done a blameworthy and unsuitable thing... I acknowledge it." Soon afterward, genuinely sick nuns who had previously found relief in aski
Page 260 Expanding the List: Oil, Honey, Syrup, and More Having settled the ghee case, the text turns to a nearly identical situation involving a wider set of foods. The group-of-six nuns are again described asking for choice items—oil, honey, syrup, fish, meat, fresh milk, and finally curd—purely for their own enjoyment while not sick, and the account breaks off just as villagers begin voicing the same complaint about curd that they had earlier raised over ghee. The fuller ruling and explanation for these items follows on the next pages.
Page 261–263 Curd, and the Close of the Acknowledgment Rules The curd episode plays out exactly as the ghee case did: the group-of-six nuns ask for curd without being sick, villagers criticize them for craving fine food, and the Buddha rules that a healthy nun who asks for curd (or oil, honey, syrup, fish, meat, or milk) and eats it must confess the offense aloud. When sick nuns later hesitated to ask even though it had eased their discomfort before, the Buddha again carved out an exception for illness, and the text defines exactly what counts as "sick" v
Page 264–265 Wearing the Sarong Evenly, Like a Monastic and Not a Layperson This section opens the chapter on training rules with an account of the group-of-six nuns wearing their sarongs hanging loosely in front and behind, prompting villagers to compare them unfavorably to worldly householders indulging in sensual display. The Buddha's rule requires a nun to wear her sarong evenly all around, covering herself from navel to knees, with an offense of wrong conduct for anyone who dresses sloppily out of disrespect—though not if it happens unintentionally, absentmindedly,
Page 265–266 Not Fouling the Water, and the End of the Training Rules The group-of-six nuns were defecating, urinating, and spitting into water just as worldly householders might, drawing public criticism, so the Buddha forbade nuns from doing this. When sick nuns found themselves unable to comply and suffered for it, he narrowed the rule so it applied only to nuns who were not sick, with further exceptions for accidents, unawareness, emergencies, insanity, and being overwhelmed by pain. This is the final training rule (the fifteenth), and its close—confirmed by t
Page 267 Seven Ways to Settle a Dispute, and the Nuns' Code Complete The volume's last substantive section lists the seven traditional procedures for resolving disputes within the Sangha: settling a matter face-to-face, through recollection, by ruling on past insanity, by acting on what has been admitted, by majority vote, by further penalty, and by "covering over as if with grass" (a negotiated reconciliation). After the customary threefold call to confirm the nuns' purity, the text recites the full tally of everything just covered—the introduction, eight expuls