BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Saṅghādisesa Chapter 5medicines for the sick.'" The K/Commentary explains this as meaning that if one ismotivated by a sensual desire for robe-cloth, etc., one may speak to a potentialdonor in praise of giving these things. In other words, given this sort of desire, thissort of statement is allowable. From this interpretation it can be argued that when abhikkhu is speaking without any lust or sensual desire of any sort, he may make anyof the remarks that would fulfill the factor of effort here in the presence of otherswithout incurring an offense. A prime example would be when, while explaining thisrule, he quotes examples of the remarks it forbids.Summary: Telling a woman that having sexual intercourse with a bhikkhu would bebeneficial is a saṅghādisesa offense.5. Should any bhikkhu engage in conveying a man's intentions to awoman or a woman's intentions to a man, proposing marriage orparamourage — even if only for a momentary liaison — it entails initialand subsequent meetings of the Community.There are two factors for a full offense under this rule: effort and object.Effort. The Commentary says that to engage in conveying means to take on the roleof a go-between. This includes helping to arrange not only marriages and affairsbut also "momentary associations" that, from the way it describes them, couldinclude anything from appointments with a prostitute to arrangements for X to beY's date.The Vibhaṅga sets the component factors of a go-between's role at three:1) accepting the request of one party to convey a proposal;2) inquiring, i.e., informing the second party and learning his/her/theirreaction; and3) reporting what one has learned to the first party.The penalties for these actions are: a dukkaṭa for performing any one of them, athullaccaya for any two, and a saṅghādisesa for the full set of three. Thus a bhikkhuacting on his own initiative to sound out the possibility of a date between a man anda woman would incur a thullaccaya for inquiring and reporting. A bhikkhu planningto disrobe who asks a woman if she would be interested in marrying him after hisreturn to lay life would incur a dukkaṭa for inquiring. If, on the way to inquire about awoman after accepting a man's request to inquire about her, a bhikkhu asks peoplealong the way of her whereabouts, that does not count as inquiring. If he goes nofurther in acting as a go-between, he incurs only a dukkaṭa.The penalties are the same if the bhikkhu, instead of acting as a go-betweenhimself, gets someone else to act for him. Thus a bhikkhu who agrees to convey101