Patimokkha
In Buddhism, the Patimokkha is the basic Theravada code of monastic discipline, consisting of 227 rules for fully ordained monks (bhikkhus) and 311 for nuns (bhikkhunis). It is contained in the Suttavibhanga, a division of the Vinaya Pitaka.
The rules are arranged into sections:
Parajika
The four parajikas (defeats) are rules entailing expulsion from the sangha for life. If a monk breaks any one of the rules he is automatically 'defeated' in the holy life and falls from monkhood immediately. He is not allowed to become a monk again in his lifetime. Intention is necessary in all these four cases to constitute on offence. The four parajikas for bhikku are:
1. Sexual intercourse, that is, any voluntary sexual interaction between a bhikku and a living being, except for mouth-to-mouth intercourse which falls under the Sanghadisesa.
2. Stealing, that is, the robbery of anything worth more than 1/24 troy ounce of gold (as determined by local law.
3. Condoning death of anyone at any time from the emergence of consciousness within the womb to natural death.
4. Lying about one's mental state, such as falsely claiming to be arahant.
Sanghadisesa
The thirteen sanghadisesas are rules requiring an initial and subsequent meeting of the sangha (communal meetings). If the monk breaks any rule here he has to undergo a period of probation or displine after which, if he shows himself to be repentant, he may reinstated by a sangha of not less than twenty monks. Like the parajikas, the sanghadisesas can only come about through the monk's own intention and cannot be accidentally invoked. The thirteen sanghadisesas for bhikku are:
1. Discharge of semen, except while dreaming, or getting someone to discharge your semen.
2. Lustful bodily contact with a woman, including kissing or holding hands.
3. Making lustful remarks to a woman alluding to her genitals or sexual intercourse.
4. Requesting sexual favors from a woman, or telling her that she would benefit (i.e., spiritually) from having sex with the monk.
5. Arranging for a date, affair, or marriage between a man and woman.
6. Building a hut without permission from the sangha, or building a hut that exceed 3 x 1.75 meters in size.
7. Having someone else build a hut for you without permission from the sangha, or exceeding 3 x 1.75 meters in size.
8. Making unfounded charges about another bhikku in the hopes of having him disrobed.
9. Making deceitfully worded charges about another bhikku in the hopes of having him disrobed.
10. Agitating for a schism, even after having been rebuked three times.
11. Supporting an agitator, even after he was rebuked three times. (This only applies if there are fewer than four supporters.)
12. Rejecting well-grounded criticism, even after having been rebuked three times.
13. Criticizing the justice of one's own banishment, even after having been rebuked three times.
Aniyata
The aniyata are two indefinite rules where a monk is accused of having committed an offence with a woman in a screened (enclosed) or private place by a lay person. It is indefinite because the final outcome depends on whether the monk acknowledges the offence. Benefit of the doubt is given to the monk unless there is over-riding evidence.
Thus it is not proper for a monk to be alone with a woman, especially in a screened or private places.
Nissaggiya pacittiya
The nissaggiya pacittiya are thirty rules entailing "confession with forfeiture." They are mostly concerned with the possessing of items which are disallowed or obtained in disallowable ways. The monks has to forfeit the item and then confess his offence to another monk. The thirty nissaggiya pacittiya for bhikku are:
1. Keeping an extra robe for more than ten days after receiving a new one.
2. Sleeping in a separate place from any of his three robes.
3. Keeping an out-of-season robe for more than thirty days when one has expectation for a new robe.
4. Getting an unrelated bhikkuni to wash your robes for you.
5. Accepting robes from a bhikkuni as a gift.
6. Accepting robes from the laity, except when one's own robes have been destroyed, or one is asking for the sake of another bhikku.
7. Accepting too many robes from the laity when one's own robes have been destroyed.
8. Accepting a robe from a lay person after telling them that their robe is too cheap for you.
9. Accepting a robe from the laity after asking two or more of them to pool their funds in order to buy a nicer robe.
10. Accepting a robe after coming to the treasurer to get the robe more than six times (since this indicates an excess of desire).
11. Owning a blanket or rug made of silk.
12. Making or accepting a blanket or rug made from pure black wool.
13. Making or accepting a blanket or rug made from more than 50% black wool.
14. Making or accepting a blanket or rug fewer than six years after you last made or accepted one.
15. Making or accepting a sitting rug without incorporating at least one old piece of felt 25 cm. square, for the sake of discoloring it.
16. Carrying raw wool for more than 48 km.
17. Getting a bhikkuni to wash, dye, or card raw wool.
18. Accepting gold or money, or telling someone how to donate it. If money is placed in a bhikku's presence he may not recognize it as his nor tell someone else to take care of it for him. Bhikkus often have stewards who will take care of donations, but the stewards are always free to take the money and leave.
19. Buying or selling goods.
20. Trading goods with anyone besides other bhikkus.
21. Keeping an extra alms bowl for more than ten days after receiving a new one.
22. Asking for a new bowl when your old bowl is not beyond repair.
23. Taking a medicine from storage for more than seven days.
24. Using a rains-bathing cloth before the last two weeks of the fourth month of the hot season, or accepting one before the fourth month.
25. Taking back a loaned robe out of anger.
26. Getting thread, and getting people to weave thread for you.
27. Receiving cloth after telling its weavers to increase the quality for you.
28. Keeping robes past the end of the season after accepting them during the last eleven days of the Rains Retreat, (Vassa) .
29. Being separated from your robes for more than six nights if you are living in a dangerously distant village and need to separate yourself from your robes after the Rains Retreat.
30. Persuading a donor to give gifts to oneself, when they were previously intended for the sangha at large.
Pacittiya
Pacittiya are rules entailing confession. There are ninety two Pacittiya.
Patidesaniya
Patidesaniya are violations which must be verbally acknowledged.
1. Accepting and eating food from an unrelated bhikkuni.
2. Accepting and eating food after a bhikkuni has instructed the donors on who to give what food, and none of the bhikkus rebuke the bhikkuni.
3. Accepting and eating food from a family that the sangha designates as "in training", that is, preparing to becoming arahants, unless if the monk is sick.
4. Accepting and eating food from a family living in a dangerous location, unless if the monk is sick.
Sekhiya
There are seventy five sekhiya or rules of training, which are mainly about deportment of a monk.
Adhikarana-samatha
Adhikarana-samatha are seven rules for settlement of legal processes that concern monks only.
1. When an issue is settled, the verdict should be in the presence of the sangha, the parties, the Dhamma and the Vinaya.
2. If the bhikku is innocent, the verdict should be "mindfulness".
3. If the bhikku was or is insane, the verdict should be "past insanity".
4. If the bhikku confesses to the exact allegations, the verdict should be "acting in accordance with what was admitted".
5. If the dispute cannot be unanimously settled, the sangha should take a vote and the verdict should be "acting in accordance with the majority".
6. If the bhikku confesses only after interrogation, the verdict should be "acting in accordance with the accused's further misconduct".
7. If both sides agree that they are not acting the way monks ought to, they can call a full assembly of the sima and confess their mistakes, and the verdict should be "covering over as with grass."
The rules are arranged into sections:
Parajika
The four parajikas (defeats) are rules entailing expulsion from the sangha for life. If a monk breaks any one of the rules he is automatically 'defeated' in the holy life and falls from monkhood immediately. He is not allowed to become a monk again in his lifetime. Intention is necessary in all these four cases to constitute on offence. The four parajikas for bhikku are:
1. Sexual intercourse, that is, any voluntary sexual interaction between a bhikku and a living being, except for mouth-to-mouth intercourse which falls under the Sanghadisesa.
2. Stealing, that is, the robbery of anything worth more than 1/24 troy ounce of gold (as determined by local law.
3. Condoning death of anyone at any time from the emergence of consciousness within the womb to natural death.
4. Lying about one's mental state, such as falsely claiming to be arahant.
Sanghadisesa
The thirteen sanghadisesas are rules requiring an initial and subsequent meeting of the sangha (communal meetings). If the monk breaks any rule here he has to undergo a period of probation or displine after which, if he shows himself to be repentant, he may reinstated by a sangha of not less than twenty monks. Like the parajikas, the sanghadisesas can only come about through the monk's own intention and cannot be accidentally invoked. The thirteen sanghadisesas for bhikku are:
1. Discharge of semen, except while dreaming, or getting someone to discharge your semen.
2. Lustful bodily contact with a woman, including kissing or holding hands.
3. Making lustful remarks to a woman alluding to her genitals or sexual intercourse.
4. Requesting sexual favors from a woman, or telling her that she would benefit (i.e., spiritually) from having sex with the monk.
5. Arranging for a date, affair, or marriage between a man and woman.
6. Building a hut without permission from the sangha, or building a hut that exceed 3 x 1.75 meters in size.
7. Having someone else build a hut for you without permission from the sangha, or exceeding 3 x 1.75 meters in size.
8. Making unfounded charges about another bhikku in the hopes of having him disrobed.
9. Making deceitfully worded charges about another bhikku in the hopes of having him disrobed.
10. Agitating for a schism, even after having been rebuked three times.
11. Supporting an agitator, even after he was rebuked three times. (This only applies if there are fewer than four supporters.)
12. Rejecting well-grounded criticism, even after having been rebuked three times.
13. Criticizing the justice of one's own banishment, even after having been rebuked three times.
Aniyata
The aniyata are two indefinite rules where a monk is accused of having committed an offence with a woman in a screened (enclosed) or private place by a lay person. It is indefinite because the final outcome depends on whether the monk acknowledges the offence. Benefit of the doubt is given to the monk unless there is over-riding evidence.
Thus it is not proper for a monk to be alone with a woman, especially in a screened or private places.
Nissaggiya pacittiya
The nissaggiya pacittiya are thirty rules entailing "confession with forfeiture." They are mostly concerned with the possessing of items which are disallowed or obtained in disallowable ways. The monks has to forfeit the item and then confess his offence to another monk. The thirty nissaggiya pacittiya for bhikku are:
1. Keeping an extra robe for more than ten days after receiving a new one.
2. Sleeping in a separate place from any of his three robes.
3. Keeping an out-of-season robe for more than thirty days when one has expectation for a new robe.
4. Getting an unrelated bhikkuni to wash your robes for you.
5. Accepting robes from a bhikkuni as a gift.
6. Accepting robes from the laity, except when one's own robes have been destroyed, or one is asking for the sake of another bhikku.
7. Accepting too many robes from the laity when one's own robes have been destroyed.
8. Accepting a robe from a lay person after telling them that their robe is too cheap for you.
9. Accepting a robe from the laity after asking two or more of them to pool their funds in order to buy a nicer robe.
10. Accepting a robe after coming to the treasurer to get the robe more than six times (since this indicates an excess of desire).
11. Owning a blanket or rug made of silk.
12. Making or accepting a blanket or rug made from pure black wool.
13. Making or accepting a blanket or rug made from more than 50% black wool.
14. Making or accepting a blanket or rug fewer than six years after you last made or accepted one.
15. Making or accepting a sitting rug without incorporating at least one old piece of felt 25 cm. square, for the sake of discoloring it.
16. Carrying raw wool for more than 48 km.
17. Getting a bhikkuni to wash, dye, or card raw wool.
18. Accepting gold or money, or telling someone how to donate it. If money is placed in a bhikku's presence he may not recognize it as his nor tell someone else to take care of it for him. Bhikkus often have stewards who will take care of donations, but the stewards are always free to take the money and leave.
19. Buying or selling goods.
20. Trading goods with anyone besides other bhikkus.
21. Keeping an extra alms bowl for more than ten days after receiving a new one.
22. Asking for a new bowl when your old bowl is not beyond repair.
23. Taking a medicine from storage for more than seven days.
24. Using a rains-bathing cloth before the last two weeks of the fourth month of the hot season, or accepting one before the fourth month.
25. Taking back a loaned robe out of anger.
26. Getting thread, and getting people to weave thread for you.
27. Receiving cloth after telling its weavers to increase the quality for you.
28. Keeping robes past the end of the season after accepting them during the last eleven days of the Rains Retreat, (Vassa) .
29. Being separated from your robes for more than six nights if you are living in a dangerously distant village and need to separate yourself from your robes after the Rains Retreat.
30. Persuading a donor to give gifts to oneself, when they were previously intended for the sangha at large.
Pacittiya
Pacittiya are rules entailing confession. There are ninety two Pacittiya.
Patidesaniya
Patidesaniya are violations which must be verbally acknowledged.
1. Accepting and eating food from an unrelated bhikkuni.
2. Accepting and eating food after a bhikkuni has instructed the donors on who to give what food, and none of the bhikkus rebuke the bhikkuni.
3. Accepting and eating food from a family that the sangha designates as "in training", that is, preparing to becoming arahants, unless if the monk is sick.
4. Accepting and eating food from a family living in a dangerous location, unless if the monk is sick.
Sekhiya
There are seventy five sekhiya or rules of training, which are mainly about deportment of a monk.
Adhikarana-samatha
Adhikarana-samatha are seven rules for settlement of legal processes that concern monks only.
1. When an issue is settled, the verdict should be in the presence of the sangha, the parties, the Dhamma and the Vinaya.
2. If the bhikku is innocent, the verdict should be "mindfulness".
3. If the bhikku was or is insane, the verdict should be "past insanity".
4. If the bhikku confesses to the exact allegations, the verdict should be "acting in accordance with what was admitted".
5. If the dispute cannot be unanimously settled, the sangha should take a vote and the verdict should be "acting in accordance with the majority".
6. If the bhikku confesses only after interrogation, the verdict should be "acting in accordance with the accused's further misconduct".
7. If both sides agree that they are not acting the way monks ought to, they can call a full assembly of the sima and confess their mistakes, and the verdict should be "covering over as with grass."
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