BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 11) Object: a living woman — "even one born on that very day, all the more anolder one." Whether she is awake enough to realize what is going on isirrelevant to the offense.2) Perception: The bhikkhu correctly perceives her to be a woman.3) Intention: He is impelled by lust.4) Effort: He comes into physical contact with her.Of these four factors, only two — intention and effort — require detailed explanation.Intention. The Vibhaṅga explains the term overcome with lust as meaning"impassioned, desiring, a mind bound by attraction." Altered, it says, can refer ingeneral to one of three states of mind — passion, aversion, or delusion — but hereit refers specifically to passion.The Commentary adds a piece of Abhidhamma analysis at this point, saying thataltered refers to the moment when the mind leaves its state of pure neutrality in thebhavaṅga under the influence of desire. Thus the factor of intention here can befulfilled not only by a prolonged or intense feeling of desire, but also by amomentary attraction.The Commentary also tries to limit the range of passion to which this rule applies,saying that it covers only desire for the enjoyment of contact. As we noted under Pr1, the ancient commentators formulated a list of eleven types of lust, each mutuallyexclusive, and the question of which rule applies to a particular case depends onwhich type of lust provokes the bhikkhu's actions. Thus if a bhikkhu lusting forintercourse touches a woman, it says, he incurs only a dukkaṭa as a preliminary tosexual intercourse under Pr 1. If he touches her through his lust for an ejaculation,he incurs a thullaccaya as a preliminary to causing an emission under Sg 1. Only ifhe touches her with the simple desire to enjoy the sensation of contact does heincur a saṅghādisesa under this rule.This system, though very neat and orderly, flies in the face of common sense and,as we noted under Pr 1, contradicts the Vibhaṅga as well, so there is no need toadopt it. We can stick with the Vibhaṅga to this rule and say that any state ofpassion fulfills the factor of intention here. The Commentary's discussion, though, isuseful in showing that the passion needn't be full-scale sexual lust. Even amomentary desire to enjoy the sensation of physical contact — overwhelmingenough that one acts on it — is enough to fulfill this factor.Effort. The Vibhaṅga illustrates the effort of making physical contact with a list ofactivities: rubbing, rubbing up against, rubbing downwards, rubbing upwards,bending down, pulling up, drawing to, pushing away, seizing hold (restraining orpinning down — abhiniggaṇhanā), squeezing, grasping, or touching. The Vinitavatthuincludes a case of a bhikkhu giving a woman a blow with his shoulder: Hetoo incurs a saṅghādisesa, which shows that the Vibhaṅga's list is meant to coverall similar actions as well. If a bhikkhu with lustful mind does anything of this sort toa living woman's body, perceiving her to be a woman, he incurs the full penalty86