BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Naked Ascetic Chapter Chapter 8.5The Vibhaṅga states that perception with regard to the private area is not amitigating factor here (see Pc 4) and apparently the same holds true for perceptionwith regard to whether the couple is "with its meal." As for intention, the Parivāraand commentaries maintain that it is a factor, but the Vibhaṅga does not mention itat all. Thus, to be perfectly safe from an offense in cases like this, a bhikkhu shouldnot sit intruding on a couple unless they both make him 100% certain that he iswelcome: a wise policy in any case, regardless of whether one is a bhikkhu.Cases of sitting with a woman alone in her bedroom — or any other private place —are covered by the following rule.Non-offenses. There is no offense —if both the man and woman have left the bedroom/private area;if neither of them is sexually aroused;if the building is not a "sleeping building";if the bhikkhu is not in the private area; orif he has a second bhikkhu as his companion.Summary: To sit down intruding on a man and a woman in their private quarters —when one or both are sexually aroused, and when another bhikkhu is not present —is a pācittiya offense.44. Should any bhikkhu sit in private on a secluded seat with awoman, it is to be confessed.There are three factors for the offense here.1) Object: a female human being, "even one born that very day, all the morean older one."2) Effort: One sits with her in a private, secluded seat without another manpresent.3) Intention: One is aiming at privacy.Object. Woman here includes women as well. In other words, even if one is sittingwith many women in the secluded area, one is not exempt from this factor.A female human being is grounds for a pācittiya; a paṇḍaka, a female peta, afemale yakkha, and an animal in the form of a woman, grounds for a dukkaṭa.Perception as to whether a person is actually a woman is not a mitigating factor(see Pc 4).Effort. Sitting also includes lying down. Whether the bhikkhu sits near the womanwhen she is already seated, or the woman sits near him when he is already seated,or both sit down at the same time, makes no difference.343