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| "My gun went off! My gun went off! Are we not supposed to play with our guns?" |
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What we are here calling "sutras" (Pali suttas) are actually origin stories for monastic rules. They are found in the Theravada Buddhist Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya), where the Buddha established a rule only after an incident. The backstory was recorded along with the new rule. The Great Analysis (Mahāvibhaṅga) covers these offenses, one entailing suspension (saṅghādisesakaṇḍa) for monks [and another entailing confession, pācittiyakaṇḍa, for nuns].
1. The training rule on the emission of semen. Venerables [monks, nuns, novices, initiates, trainees, white clad ten precept holders], these 13 rules on suspension come up for recitation.
Origin story: First sub-story |
| You're not looking so good, Venerable. Have you been discontented with the monastic life? |
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At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove, in the Multimillionaire’s Monastery. At that time Ven. Seyyasaka was dissatisfied with the spiritual life.
He looked pale, thin, and haggard with veins protruding all over his body. Ven. Udāyī saw him in this condition and said to him:
“Seyyasaka, you’re not looking well. You’re not by any chance dissatisfied with the spiritual life, are you?”
“I am,” Seyyasaka said.
- Seyyasaka: A Buddhist monk from Sāvatthi who was found guilty of various Vinaya offences, who was therefore subjected to the Nissayakamma ("giving dependence"). Udāyī (Lāludāyi) was his friend and his evil genius. Vin.iii.110 f. (Dicionary of Pali Proper Names)
“Well, then, eat, sleep, and bathe as much as you like. And whenever you become discontent [inasmuch] as lust overwhelms you, just
masturbate with your hand.”
“But is that allowable [within the Buddhist monastic rules]?”
“Yes. I do it myself.”
Then Seyyasaka ate, slept, and bathed as much as he liked, and whenever he became discontent and lust overwhelmed him, he masturbated with his hand.
After some time Seyyasaka [regained his glowing complexion and] had a good color, a bright face, clear skin, and sharp senses.
The monks who were his friends said to him:
“Seyyasaka, you used to be pale, thin, and haggard with veins protruding all over your body. But now you have a good color, a bright face, clear skin, and sharp senses. Have you been taking medicine?”
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| The Theravada monks' life is a hard one...until one attains the meditative absorptions. |
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“No. I just eat, sleep, and bathe as much as I like, and whenever I become discontent [inasmuch] as lust overwhelms me, I masturbate with my hand.”
“Do you eat the food given in confidence (faith, conviction) with the same hand you use to masturbate?”
“Yes.”
The [contented] monks of few desires complained and criticized him:
“How can Venerable Seyyasaka masturbate with his hand?” They rebuked Ven. Seyyasaka in many ways and then told the Buddha.
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| He didn't overdo it. He's a saint in samadhi. |
The Buddha then had the Monastic Community (
Sangha) gather and questioned Seyyasaka: “Is it true, Seyyasaka, that you do this?”
“Yes, venerable sir.”
The Buddha rebuked him:
“Foolish person, it’s unsuitable. It’s improper. It’s unworthy of a monastic. It is not allowable. It is not to be done. How can you do this? Haven’t I given many teachings
- for the sake of dispassion rather than passion,
- for freedom from bondage rather than bondage,
- for the sake of non-grasping rather than grasping?
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| That's not why I wear glasses. I'm innocent! |
“When I have taught like this, how can you choose passion, bondage, and grasping? Have I not given many teachings for the fading away of lust, for the clearing away of [passionate] intoxication, for the removal of craving (lit. thirst), for the uprooting of clinging (attachment), for the cutting off of the round of rebirth (
samsara), for the stopping of craving, for fading away, for ending, for extinguishment?
“Have I not given many teachings for the abandoning of sensual pleasures, for the full understanding of the perceptions of sensual pleasure, for the removal of thirst for sensual pleasure, for the elimination of thoughts of sensual pleasure, for the stilling of the fevers of sensual pleasure?
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| David Bowie wanted to be a Buddhist monk. |
“Foolish person, this will affect people’s confidence (faith) and cause some to lose it.” Then, after rebuking Seyyasaka in many ways, the Buddha spoke in dispraise of [a monastic] being difficult to support…
“And, monastics, this training rule should be recited like this. Preliminary ruling: ‘Intentional emission of semen is an offense entailing suspension.’” (Variant: sukkavissaṭṭhi → sukkavisaṭṭhi).
In this way the Buddha laid down this training rule for male monastics.
[Wet dreams] Second sub-story
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| There was no conscious intention of emission. |
Soon afterwards some monks ate fine foods, fell asleep absentmindedly and heedless, and emitted semen while dreaming [wet dream].
They became anxious, thinking:
“The Buddha has laid down a training rule [not an arbitrary rule] that intentional emission of semen is an offense entailing suspension. We had an emission while dreaming, which is not without intention. Could it be that we’ve committed an offense entailing suspension?”
They told the Buddha. [He responded:] “It’s true, monastics, that a dream is not without intention, but it’s negligible. And so, monastics, this training rule should be recited in this way:
[Final ruling]
“‘Intentional emission of semen, except while dreaming, is an offense entailing suspension.’”
Source
Definitions
- Intentional: sañcetanikāti, knowing, perceiving, having intended, having decided, one transgresses.
- Semen: Sukkanti. There are ten kinds of semen: (1) blue, (2) yellow, (3) red, (4) white, (5) the color of buttermilk (6) the color of water, the color of oil, the color of milk, the color of curd, the color of ghee.
- Emission: Vissaṭṭhīti making it move from is what is meant by “emission.”
- Except while dreaming: apart from that which occurs while dreaming.
- An offense entailing suspension: Saṅghādisesoti only the Sangha gives probation for that offense, sends back to the beginning, gives the trial period, and rehabilitates — not several monks, not an individual. Therefore, it is called “an offense entailing suspension.”
- “Gives the trial period” renders mānattaṁ deti. For the meaning of mānatta, see A Translation and Analysis of the Pātimokkha, by Bhikkhu Ñāṇatusita, p. 123.
- The point here, which can only be understood from the Pali, is that the word saṅghādisesa (saṅgha + ādisesa) is derived from the fact that only the sangha can do the legal procedures required when a monastic commits this offense. This is the name and designation of this class of offense. Therefore, too, it is called “an offense entailing suspension.”
3. [This is] the training rule on stimulating [slapping, rubbing, hitting, massaging, pressing] with the palm of the hand (talaghātakasikkhāpada*).
Rule for nuns
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Origin story
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| It wasn't my palm like men do. I used a lotus leaf. |
At one time when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Multimillionaire’s Monastery, two nuns plagued by lust entered their room and stimulated their genitals with the palm of their hands.
- [Their? Whose room, whose genitals? It does not say "their own." The careful reader cannot help but notice that it may be mutual masturbation being denoted, connoted, or suggested here, as it is plural and simultaneous, along with their questioning and rebuke, as if they were not alone and separate in the act.]
Hearing the sound, other nuns rushed up and asked them:
“Venerables, are you having sex with a man?”
“No, we’re not,” and they told them what had happened. The [contented] nuns of few desires complained and criticized them:
“How can nuns stimulate their genitals with their hands?”…
“Is it true, monks, that nuns did that?”
“It’s true, venerable sir.”
“How could nuns do that? This will affect people’s confidence [faith]…”
“And, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule in this way:
[Final ruling]
“‘If a nun stimulates her genitals with the palm of her hand, she commits an offense entailing confession.’”
SourceDefinitions
- Slaps her genitals with the palm of her hand: Talaghātakaṁ nāma if, consenting to the contact, she hits [stimulates] her genitals, even with a lotus leaf, she commits an offense entailing confession.
*Pali is a very euphemistic language. Talaghātaka is translated as “slaps her genitals with the palm of her hand,” literally, “hits with the palm.” However, it seems from the origin story that this was a euphemism, an indirect and therefore more polite expression, referring to [stimulation of] the genitals. Sp.2.803 supports this interpretation: Talaghātaketi muttakaraṇatalaghātane, “Talaghātake: hitting the genitals with the palm of the hand.” “Talaghātake pācittiyan'ti.] - Bhikkhu Brahmali (trans), suttacentral.net; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
