BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 1Summary: When being admonished by another bhikkhu with regard to a training ruleformulated in the Vinaya, saying something as a ploy to excuse oneself fromtraining under the rule is a pācittiya offense.72. Should any bhikkhu, when the Pāṭimokkha is being recited, say,"Why are these lesser and minor training rules recited when they leadonly to anxiety, bother, and confusion?" the criticism of the trainingrules is to be confessed."Now at that time the Blessed One, phrasing it in many ways, gave a talk ondiscipline to the bhikkhus. He spoke in praise of discipline, in praise of the masteryof discipline, and in praise of Ven. Upāli, referring to him again and again. Thebhikkhus (said), '... Come, friends, let's study discipline with Ven. Upāli.' They andmany other bhikkhus — elders, newly ordained, and those in between — studieddiscipline with Ven. Upāli."Then the thought occurred to some group-of-six bhikkhus: 'Now, friends, manybhikkhus... are studying discipline with Ven. Upāli. If they become well versed in thediscipline, they will push us and pull us around in whatever way they like, howeverthey like, and as long as they like. Come, friends, let's criticize the discipline.' Thenthe group-of-six bhikkhus, going to the bhikkhus, said, 'Why are these lesser andminor training rules repeated when they lead only to anxiety, bother, andconfusion?'"The full offense here has three factors.2) Effort: One criticizes the discipline in the presence2) Object: of another bhikkhu3) Intention: with the intent of disparaging it.Effort. The Vibhaṅga explains "criticizing the discipline" with a list of examples. Inaddition to the statement in the rule, the list includes such statements as, "Thosewho master this suffer anxiety, bother, and confusion. Those who don't master thissuffer no anxiety, bother, or confusion. It would be better (§) if this were notrepeated. It would be better (§) if this were not learned. It would be better (§) if thiswere not mastered. It would be better (§) if this were not borne in mind. May thediscipline disappear or may these bhikkhus not be well-versed in this." This lastsentence sounds less like a criticism and more like a possible motivation for one'scriticism — a typical ambiguity in the style of the Pali Canon — but none of thecommentaries discuss this point.The training rule would seem to indicate that these actions are grounds for anoffense only while the Pāṭimokkha is being recited or rehearsed, but the nonoffenseclauses in the Vibhaṅga give no allowance to criticize the discipline at othertimes, and the K/Commentary follows the Vibhaṅga in not making the recitation ofthe Pāṭimokkha a necessary factor for the offense here. In other words, the factorof effort here is fulfilled if one criticizes the discipline at any time.394