Tuesday, May 17, 2011

002 What a terrible rule in disciplining Buddhist Bhikkunis



Tripitakas -- Three sacred scriptures in Buddhism.

VinayapiTaka -- The treatise dealing with discipline.

ATimokka -- Fornightly confessional and corrective Review Meeting of monks and nuns about the status of their discipline.

Bhikkunii pATImokka -- -do- for nuns.

pAcittIyams -- Atonements, and reparations.

bhikkunii pAcittIyams -- -do- for nuns.

bhikkunI nissaggika pAcittIyams --Confessions and atonements for intentional deviations.

Chapter 6 aRAma vagga -- Chapter 6 Hostel Group.

No. 35: That nun who gets her genital blisters (abscesses, herpes, lesions, warts etc.) /balmed (ointment applied) /cleaned/ bandaged / opened / removed surgically with the help of a man and without the consent of the society -- she needs confession and correction.


Blogger's Comments
What a rule is this!

Is this not an excessive interference into personal medical issues?
Were these things occurring so too frequently, that a rule has become an imperative need?

Genital herpes and warts might have been common in those Centuries where the convents lacked basic sanitation facilities and water. A humane and sympathetic approach was necessary and ought to have been adopted instead of treating the nuns as sinners.

Surgical acts need not have been viewed with suspicion.

Incomplete. To come back, and continue adding, deleting, modifying, with more evidence and information.

No comments:

Post a Comment