BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 14) He is able to inform another bhikkhu (i.e., a fellow bhikkhu suitable to beinformed lives in a place that may be reached in that day, one is not too weakor ill to go, etc.) and he perceives that he is able. (According to Cv.III.34.2,going insane after committing the offense (!) would count as "not being ableto inform another bhikkhu.") A bhikkhu suitable to be informed means onewho is —o a) in good standing (e.g., not undergoing penance, probation, orsuspension himself) ando b) not on uncongenial terms with the offender.5) He (the offender) desires to conceal the offense and so conceals it.If any of these factors are lacking, there is no penalty for not informing anotherbhikkhu that day. For instance, the following cases do not count as concealment:A bhikkhu does not suspect that he has committed an offense and realizes onlymuch later, after reading or hearing about the rules in more detail, that he hasincurred a saṅghādisesa.A bhikkhu lives alone in a forest and commits a saṅghādisesa in the middle of thenight. Afraid of the snakes or other wild animals he might encounter in the dark, hewaits until daylight before going to inform a fellow bhikkhu.A bhikkhu lives alone in a forest, but the only other bhikkhu within one day'straveling time is a personal enemy who, if he is informed, will use this as anopportunity to smear the offender's name, so the offender travels another day ortwo before reaching a congenial bhikkhu whom he informs.A bhikkhu intends to tell another bhikkhu before dawn but falls asleep and eitherwakes up too late or else wakes up in time but remembers his offense only afterdawn has past.Once all of the first eight factors are complete, though, one must inform anotherbhikkhu before dawn of the next day or else incur a dukkaṭa and undergo thepenalty for concealment.A bhikkhu who commits a lesser offense that he thinks is a saṅghādisesa and thenconceals it, incurs a dukkaṭa (Cv.III.34.1).The restrictions for a bhikkhu undergoing probation — and the other possible stepsin the rehabilitation process — are similar to those for one undergoing penance andare discussed in detail in BMC2, Chapter 19.Saṅghādisesas are classified as heavy offenses (garukāpatti), both because of theseriousness of the offenses themselves and because the procedures of penance,probation, and rehabilitation are burdensome by design, not only for the offender136