Mahavogga 2.22

Tipitaka >> Vinaya Pitaka >> Khandhaka >> Mahavagga >> Second Khandaka >> 2.22

Translated from the Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg

1. Then the Blessed One thus addressed the Bhikkhus: 'Assemble, O Bhikkhus, the Samgha will hold Uposatha.' When he had spoken thus, a certain Bhikkhu said to the Blessed One: 'There is a sick Bhikkhu, Lord, who is not present.'

'I prescribe, O Bhikkhus, that a sick Bhikkhu is to declare (lit. to give) his pârisuddhi. And let it be declared, O Bhikkhus, in this way: Let that sick Bhikkhu go to one Bhikkhu, adjust his upper robe so as to cover one shoulder, sit down squatting, raise his joined hands, and say: "I declare my pârisuddhi, take my pârisuddhi, proclaim my pârisuddhi (before the fraternity)." Whether he express this by gesture (lit. by his body), or by word or by gesture and word, the pârisuddhi has been declared. If he does not express this by gesture, &c., the pârisuddhi has not been declared.

2. 'If (the sick Bhikkhu) succeeds in doing so, well and good. If he does not succeed, let them take that sick Bhikkhu, O Bhikkhus, on his bed or his chair to the assembly, and (then) let them hold Uposatha. If, O Bhikkhus, the Bhikkhus who are nursing the sick, think: "If we move this sick person from his place, the sickness will increase, or he will die," let them not move the sick, O Bhikkhus, from his place; let the Samgha go there and hold there Uposatha. But in no case are they to hold Uposatha with an incomplete congregation. If (a Bhikkhu) does so, he commits a dukkata offence.

3. 'If he who has been charged with the pârisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, leaves the place at once, after the pârisuddhi has been entrusted (to him), the pârisuddhi ought to be declared to another. If he who has been charged with the pârisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pârisuddhi has been entrusted to him, returns to the world at once; or dies; or admits that he is a sâmanera; or that he has abandoned the precepts; or that he has become guilty of an extreme offence; or that he is mad; or thit his mind is unhinged; or that he suffers (bodily) pain; or that expulsion has been pronounced against him for his refusal to see an offence (committed by himself); or to atone for such an offence; or to renounce a false doctrine; or that he is a eunuch; or that he has furtively attached himself (to the Samgha); or that he is gone over to the Titthiyas; or that he is an animal; or that he is guilty of matricide; or that he is guilty of parricide; or that he has murdered an Arahat; or that he has violated a Bhikkhunî; or that he has caused a schism among the Samgha; or that he has shed (a Buddha's) blood; or that he is a hermaphrodite: (in these cases) the pârisuddhi ought to be entrusted to another one.

4. 'If he who has been chùrged with the pârisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pârisuddhi has been entrusted to him, and whilst he is on his way (to the assembly), leaves the place, or returns to the world, or dies, or admits that he is a sâmanera, &c., or admits that he is a hermaphrodite, the pârisuddhi has not been conveyed (to the Samgha). If he who has been charged with the pârisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pârisuddhi has been entrusted to him, having arrived with the fraternity, leaves the place, or dies, &c., the pârisuddhi has been conveyed. If he who has been charged with the pârisuddhi, O Bhikkhus, after the pârisuddhi has been entrusted to him, though he reaches the assembly, does not proclaim (the pârisuddhi he is charged with) because he falls asleep, or by carelessness, or because he attains (meditation), the pârisuddhi has been conveyed, and there is no offence on the part of him who has been charged with the pârisuddhi. If he who has been charged, &c., intentionally omits to proclaim (the pârisuddhi), the pârisuddhi has been conveyed, but he who has been charged with the pârisuddhi is guilty of a dukkata offence.'