Pārājika Pāḷi

Pārājika Pāḷi, which is the first book of the Vinaya Piṭaka, gives an elaborate explanation of the important rules of discipline concerning pārājika and saṅghādisesa, as well as aniyata and nissaggiya which are minor offences.

Pārājika Offences and Penalties

Pārājika discipline consists of four sets of rules laid down to prevent four grave offences. Any transgressor of these rules is prohibited from becoming a bhikkhu. In the language of Vinaya the pārājika āpatti falls upon him. He automatically loses the status of a bhikkhu, he is no longer recognized as a member of the community of bhikkhus, and he is not permitted to become a bhikkhu again. He either has to go back to the household life as a layman or return to the status of a sāmaṇera (novice).

One who has lost the status of a bhikkhu for transgression of any of these rules is likened to: (1) a person whose head has been cut off from his body-he cannot become alive even if the head is fixed back on the body; (2) leaves which have fallen off the branches of the tree they will not become green again even if they are attached back to the leaf-stalks; (3) a flat rock which has been split-it cannot be made whole again; (4) a palm tree which has been cut off from its stem-it will never grow again.

The four pārājika offences which lead to loss of status as a bhikkhu are:

(1) The first pārājika: a bhikkhu who indulges in sexual intercourse loses his bhikkhuhood.
(2) The second pārājika: a bhikkhu who takes with intention to steal what is not given loses his bhikkhuhood.
(3) The third pārājika: a bhikkhu who intentionally deprives a human being of life loses his bhikkhuhood.
(4) The fourth pārājika: a bhikkhu who claims to attainments he does not really possess, namely, attainments to jhāna or magga and phala insight loses his bhikkhuhood.

The pārājika offender is guilty of a very grave transgression. He ceases to be a bhikkhu. His offence (āpatti) is irremediable.

Thirteen Saṅghādisesa Offences and Penalties

Saṅghādisesa discipline consists of a set of thirteen rules which require formal participation of the Sangha from beginning to end in the process of making him free from the guilt of the offence.

(1) A bhikkhu having transgressed these rules, and wishing to be free from his offence must first approach the Sangha and confess to having committed the offence. The Sangha determines his offence and orders him to observe the parivāsa penance, a penalty requiring him to live under suspension from association with the rest of the Sangha for as many days as he has knowingly concealed his offence.

(2) At the end of the parivāsa observance he undergoes a further period of penance (mānatta) for six days to gain approval of the Sangha.

(3) Having carried out the mānatta penance, the bhikkhu requests the Sangha to reinstate him to full association with the rest of the Sangha.

Now being convinced of the purity of his conduct the Sangha lifts the āpatti at a special congregation attended by at least twenty bhikkhus, where ñatti (the motion for his reinstatement) is recited followed by three recitals of kammavācā (procedural text for formal acts of the Sangha).

Some examples of saṅghādisesa offences are:

(1) Kāyasaṃsagga offence: if any bhikkhu with lustful, passionate thoughts engages in bodily contact with a woman, such as holding her hand, caressing her hair or touching any part of her body, he commits the kāyasaṃsagga saṅghādisesa offence.

(2) Sañcaritta offence: if any bhikkhu acts as a go-between for a man and a woman in connection with their lawful living together as husband and wife or their temporary arrangement as man and mistress or woman and lover, he is guilty of sañcaritta saṅghādisesa offence.

Two Aniyata Offences and Penalties

Aniyata means indefinite, uncertain. There are two aniyata offences where it is unclear whether they are a pārājika offence, a saṅghādisesa offence or a pācittiya offence. This must be determined according to provisions in the following rules:

(1) If a bhikkhu sits down alone with a woman in a place which is secluded and hidden from view and convenient for an immoral purpose and if a trustworthy lay woman (i.e. an ariya) seeing him accuses him of any one of the three offences: (i) a pārājika offence, (ii) a saṅghādisesa offence, (iii) a pācittiya offence, and the bhikkhu himself admits that he was so sitting, he should be found guilty of one of these three offences.

(2) If a bhikkhu sits down alone with a woman in a place which is not hidden from view and not convenient for an immoral purpose but convenient for talking in a lustful manner to her, and if a trustworthy lay woman (i.e. an ariya) seeing him accuses him of any one of the two offences: (i) a saṅghādisesa offence, (ii) a pācittiya offence, and the bhikkhu himself admits that he was so sitting, he should be found guilty of one of these two offences.

Thirty Nissaggiya Pacittiya Offences and Penalties

There are thirty rules under the nissaggiya category of offences and penalties which are laid down to curb greed in bhikkhus for possession of material items such as robes, bowls etc. To give an example, an offence is committed under these rules when objects not permitted are acquired, or when objects are acquired in more than the permitted quantity. The penalty consists firstly of giving up the objects in question. This is followed by confession of the breach of the rule together with an undertaking not to repeat the same offence, to the Sangha as a whole, or to a group of bhikkhus, or to an individual bhikkhu to whom the wrongfully acquired objects have been surrendered.

Some examples of the nissaggiya pācittiya offences are:

(1) First nissaggiya sikkhāpada: if any bhikkhu keeps more than the permitted number of robes (i.e. the lower robe, the upper robe and the great robe) he commits an offence for which he has to surrender the extra robes and confess his offence.

(2) Cīvara acchindana sikkhāpada: if any bhikkhu gives away his own robe to another bhikkhu and afterwards, being angry or displeased, takes it back forcibly or causes it to be taken away by someone else he commits a nissaggiya pācittiya offence.

Nissaggiya offences are light offences compared with the grave offences of pārājika āpatti or saṅghādisesa āpatti.