20. Nuns (Bhikkhunī) (PLI-TV-KD20)

In this Section are a hundred and six items. This is its key:

The Gotamid asked for the going forth, the Truthfinder did not allow it,
from Kapilavatthu the Leader went to Vesālī. /
Covered with dust she made it known to Ānanda in the porch.
Saying: “Is she able?” he asked about the method; saying,
“(She was your) mother” and “(your) nurse.” /
A century and that day, no monk, desiring,
Invitation, important rules, two years, not abusing, /
Complying with these eight rules for exhortation during her life.
Acceptance of the important rules—that is the ordination for her. /
A thousand years to only five (hundred) by the similes of the pot-thieves,
mildew, red-rust: thus an injury to what is true dhamma. /
May, looking forward, build a dyke; again it is the stability of what is true dhamma.
To be ordained, the lady, greeting according to seniority, /
Will not carry out like this, in common and not in common,
about exhortation, and about the Pātimokkha, “now, by whom?”, to a nunnery, /
If they do not know he explains, and they do not confess, through a monk,
to acknowledge through a monk, acknowledgement through a nun, /
He explained, (formal) act, by a monk, they looked down on, or by a nun,
to explain, and to quarrel, having cancelled, and about Uppala-(vaṇṇā), /
In Sāvatthī, muddy water, did not greet, bodies and thighs
and private parts and the group offended and associated with, /
Not to be greeted is the penalty, for nuns likewise again,
and the prohibition, exhortation, is it allowable? he went away, /
Ignorant, without ground, decision, exhortation, an Order of five,
two or three, they did not undertake, ignorant ones, ill, setting out on a journey, /
Forest-dwellers, they did not announce, and they did not come back,
long, bamboo and leather, and woven cloth, plaited, and fringed,
And plaited cloth, and fringed, and plaited thread, (and) fringed, /
Cow’s leg-bone, cow’s jaw-bone, backs of the hands, likewise the feet,
thighs (and) faces, gums, smearing, rubbing (and) with chunam, /
They marked, and painting the body, painting the face, likewise the two,
ointment marks (and) distinguishing marks, from a window, in the light, and about dancing, /
Courtesan, tavern, slaughter-house, a shop, usury, trade,
they kept slaves, women slaves, servants, servant women, /
Animals, and greens, they carried pieces of felt,
robes that were dark green, yellow, red, crimson, that were black, /
Brownish-yellow, reddish-yellow, not cut up, and long,
and if they should wear (robes) with (borders) of flowers, snakes’ hoods, jackets,
as well as (garments made of the) Tirīṭa tree. /
If a nun, after she has gone, on a probationer, on a woman novice
bestows her requisites, it is the (Order of) nuns that is the owner. /
If a woman lay-follower on a monk, on a novice, on a lay-follower,
and on others is bestowing her requisites, the (Order of) monks is the owner. /
About a Mallian (woman), foetus, base of the bowl, membrumand concerning food,
and abundant, even greater, food that was stored, /
As for monks below, do likewise for nuns,
lodgings, menstruating, was soiled, and cloth and pin, /
They broke, and all the time, there were to be seen:
beginning with women without sexual characteristics,
those defective in sex, bloodless, just the same for those with stagnant blood, /
Always dressed, dripping, deformed, women eunuchs,
man-like women, and those of indistinct sexuality, and those who were hermaphrodites, /
Beginning with those defective in sexual characteristics and going as far as hermaphrodites.
This is from the abbreviation below: leprosy, boils, eczema and /
Consumption, epilepsy, are you a human woman? and a free woman?
without debts (and) not in the royal service and allowed (and) twenty, /
Complete, and what name and that of your woman proposer?:
having asked about twenty-four stumbling-blocks, there is ordination. /
They were at a loss, instructed, and likewise in the midst of the Order,
a woman preceptor should be chosen, outer cloak, inner and upper robes, /
And vest (and) bathing cloth having explained them they may be used,
ignorant ones, not agreed on, on one side, if she asks, questioned about the stumbling-blocks, /
Ordained on one side, likewise again in the Order of monks,
the shadow, the season, the day and formula, the three resources, /
The eight things not to be done, the right time, or everywhere eight,
nuns did not invite, and the Order of monks likewise, /
Disturbance, before the meal, and at the wrong time, disturbance,
Observance, Invitation, commands, authority, /
Leave, reproved, made to remember: objected to by the great Sage.
Just as monks, so nuns: allowed by the great Sage (was) /
A vehicle, and ill (and) yoked, jolting vehicle, Aḍḍhakāsīka,
monk, probationer, novice, woman novice and ignorant (woman), /
In a forest, a store-room by a lay-follower, a dwelling,
the building operations were not enough, pregnant, alone, /
And sleeping under the same roof, against an important rule,
and having disavowed, went over to the fold of,
greeting and hair and nails and treating a sore, /
Cross-legged, and ill, privy, with chunam, scented clay,
in a bathroom, against the stream, not at a ford, and at one for men, /
The Great Gotamid asked and also judiciously did Ānanda.
There were four assemblies for going forth in the dispensation of the Conqueror. /
For the sake of arousing emotion for what is true dhamma and for awakening
it was taught thus by the Awakened One, as medicine for a disease. /
Other women also, recognised thus in what is true dhamma,
nurture the everlasting state where, having gone, they grieve not.

The Book of the Discipline was translated by I.B. Horner.

Digital edition prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato

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Published in 2014 by SuttaCentral.

Originally published by the Pali Text Society in the following years:

Vol. 1: 1938

Vol. 2: 1940

Vol. 3: 1942

Vol. 4: 1951

Vol. 5: 1950

Vol. 6: 1966

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