Tipitaka >> Vinaya Pitaka >> Khandhaka >> Chulavagga >> Tenth Khandhaka >> 10.25
Adapted from the Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg
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CHULAVAGGA (THE MINOR SECTION)
TENTH KHANDHAKA (ON THE DUTIES OF BHIKKHUNIS/NUNS)
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 Bhikkhunis. Afterwards her womb moved within her. Then that Bhikkhuni thought: 'How shall I now conduct myself towards this child?'
They told this matter to the Lord Buddha.
'I allow her, O Bhikkhus, to bring it up till it have attained to years of discretion.'
Then the Bhikkhuni(Nun) thought: 'It is not permissible for me to live alone, nor for any other Bhikkhuni to live with a male child. What course ought I to pursue?'
They told this matter to the Lord Buddha.
'I allow the Bhikkhunis, O Bhikkhus, to depute any one Bhikkhuni, and give her as a companion to that (first-mentioned) Bhikkhuni.'
'And thus, O Bhikkhus, is she to be appointed: First that Bhikkhuni ought to be asked (whether she be willing to undertake the duty). After she has been asked, a learned and competent Bhikkhuni ought to lay the motion before the Sangha, saying:
'"Let the Sangha, venerable Ladies, hear me. If it seem meet to the Sangha, let the Sangha depute N. N. as a companion to M. M. That is the motion.
'"Let the Sangha,"' [&c., as usual, to the end of the Kammavaka.]
2. Then that companion Bhikkhuni thought: 'Now how should I conduct myself towards this child?'
They told this matter to the Lord Buddha.
'I prescribe that the Bhikkhunis, 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. Now at that time a certain Bhikkhuni, who had been guilty of a grievous offence, was living subject to the Manatta penance. Then that Bhikkhuni thought: 'It is not permissible for me to live alone, and it is not permissible for any other Bhikkhuni to live with me. What now ought I to do?'
They told this matter to the Lord Buddha.
I allow the Bhikkhunis, O Bhikkhus, to depute any one Bhikkhuni, and to give her as a companion to that Bhikkhuni. And thus, O Bhikkhus, ought
she to be deputed [&c., as in last section but one, down to the end of the Kammavaka].'
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