Notes to Chapter II 375 108 Reading kyi for kyis (line two) 109 Tsonapa states that ill-will and longing for the objects of desire are primarily impediments when training in ethics; sleep and drowsiness are primarily impediments to the training in meditation; and having reservations about the doctrine is an impediment to the training in discriminative awareness (SIRD, f 205a5-7) 110 Shakhyaprabha states that an offense with concealment is incurred when the monk who has committed the defeat harbors, even for a single moment, the intention to conceal it Thus, intention is the primary factor in an offense with concealment; otherwise, a non-concealed offense would be an impossibility since it is unlikely that after a single moment the offender could find someone to confess to (CTHSN, f 125b3) 111 According to Tsonapa, an exception (sel ba) is a case in which the defeat or another downfall does not occur because the object (for example, stolen goods) does not fulfill the condition of worth, etc., because one is not in a normal state of mind (i.e., is in a deranged state of mind), or because the action itself [is not completed] (SIRD, f 166b4) 112 Butön Rinchen Drup, called “Second Buddha” (Kun mkhyen gnyis pa bu ston chos rje) (1290-1364): a scholar and translator, as well as an authoritative master of the Kalachakra Tantra He was a major editor of the Tibetan Canon of Buddhist Teachings (bKa’ ’gyur and bsTan ’gyur) At least eight works related to monastic discipline (vinaya) are found in his collected works 113 The Eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorjé (Mi bskyod rdo rje) (1507-54): a scholar, prolific writer, and accomplished meditator of the Kagyu school, contemporary of Tsongkapa His Great Commentary on the Discipline (’Dul tika chen po) is also known as Illumination of the Discipline (’Dul ba nyi ma’i dkyil ’khor), its full title being A Detailed Commentary on the Vinayasutra and Buddhist Monastic Discipline (’Dul ba mdo rtsa ba’i rgya cher ’grel spyi’i don mtha’ dpyad dang bsdus don sa bcad dang ’bru yi don mthar chags su gnyer ba bcas ’dzam bu’i gling gsal bar byed pa’i rgyan nyi ma’i dkyil ’khor) Reproduced from prints of the Pelpung (Dpal spungs) blocks, New Delhi, 1973, by the Sixteenth Karmapa 114 Dharmashri, the Great Translator (Lo chen dharma Ÿri) (1654-1717): the younger brother of the famous Terdak Lingpa of the monastery of Mindroling, ordained as a novice by the Fifth Dalai Lama, and an important master in the transmission of the discipline (vinaya) and Ancient Tradition (rNying ma) teachings The commentary on the vows (sdom ’grel) referred to here is Dharmashri’s Commentary that Ascertains the Three Vows: The Wish-fulfilling Cluster of Corn of Good Explanations (sDom gsum rnam par nges pa’i ’grel pa legs bshad ngo mtshar dpag bsam gyi snye ma bstan bcos), which is a commentary on Ngari Panchen Pema Wangyal’s Treatise that Ascertains the Three Vows (sDom gsum rnam par nges pa’i ’grel pa) 115 Pema Karpo, the all-knowing Drukpa (’Brug pa kun mkhyen Pad ma dkar po) (1527-1592): an eminent scholar of the Drukpa Kagyu school and author of The Three Vows (sDom gsum) (TV) 376 Buddhist Ethics 116 Wönkarma (dBon karma) (also known as Karma Ngelek): nephew (dbon) of the Eighth Tai Situ, Chökyi Jungné (Si tu chos kyi ’byung gnas) His commentary is called The Essential Bountiful Vase of the Three Vows (sDom gsum rnam par bstan pa nyer mkho’i bum bzang) (Dergé, Tibet: dPal spungs thub bstan chos ’khor gling Monastery) 117 According to Tsonapa, unimpaired (ma nyams pa) organ refers to the organ of a living person or of a human corpse not affected by a disease such as leprosy (SIRD, f 154b1-2) See also Shakyaprabha’s CTHSN, ff 121b7-123a2 and Pema Karpo’s TV, vol Nga, ff 56b5 118 Tsonapa states that this means not having a disease such as one causing impotency that prevents the experience of orgasm (SIRD, f 154b7) 119 Serious infractions (sbom po): infractions that occur only in relation to defeating and partially defeating offenses (Tsonapa’s SIRD, f 141a3) The word “serious” (sbom po, lit “gross”) indicates that the offense is not a major one since the complementary branches are not all present, and yet it is a serious transgression 120 According to Tsonapa, this implies that to touch the nails, the teeth, and the hair of a woman are not partial defeats but related serious violations (sbom po) (SIRD, f 215b2) 121 With regard to this rule, Tsonapa states that the monk’s words should clearly refer to sexual intercourse and not just allude to it in unclear terms (in which case, the offense would be a related serious violation and not a partial defeat) For example, the suggestion might be stated as a direct request (gsol ba) (“Lady, come! Let’s make love.”) or an indirect one (nye bar gsol ba) (“When a woman and man make love, it is pleasurable If we were to make love, it would also be pleasurable.”) (SIRD, ff 217b3-218b1) 122 Tsonapa explains that to act as an intermediary has three phases: first, the monk suggests to a person that he or she engage in sexual relationship with another; next, the monk conveys the same suggestion to the prospective partner; finally, the monk receives the answer from this last person and conveys it to the first person This partial defeat is incurred even if the monk does not actually carry the last message, but the first person comes to know of it by other means (SIRD, ff 221b7-222a1) 123 f 13a5 124 Improper site (gzhi ma dag pa) is the abode of other small creatures (srog chags phra mo’i gnas dang ldang pa), a disputed site (rtsod pa dang bcas pa), or one that is illsuited (brtsam du mi rung ba) To explain, the place for the building of a monk’s dwelling must not (1) be the permanent abode of small creatures, snakes, or other kinds of animals; (2) be owned by a king, a householder, a non-Buddhist, or used by nuns for their rainy season retreat; or (3) be next to a strong flowing river or an underground deposit of water, etc., which can result in death [due to the instability of the land] Before building, the monk must first ask permission Notes to Chapter II 377 of the community The suitability of the site for a hut or other dwelling is subject to the judgment of the monastic community, who will inspect the place or appoint a monk to so (SIRD, ff 133b7-136b1; and Gunaprabha’s HFP, ff 141a2144a1) 125 Cubit (khru): the length measured from the elbow to the tip of the outstretched middle finger 126 Materials acquired in an illegal way 127 Tsonapa clarifies that “having heard” (thos) means that the monk who brings forth the accusation of a defeating act should actually have heard the sound made by one of his fellow monks engaged in sexual intercourse (for example) To make a false accusation by reporting the words of a third person who has said that a certain monk has committed a defeating offense would constitute a related serious violation but not a partial defeat The same applies for having seen (mthong) or having suspected (dogs) If a monk, believing another’s words, lies by saying “I personally have seen,” or having simply a suspicion, says, “I have seen,” he incurs the partial defeat (SIRD, f 240a1-b6) 128 Tsonapa explains the difference between “groundless accusation” and “accusation for a trivial reason.” In the first case, the monk bringing forth the accusation clearly states the agent-action relationship: “I have seen the monk (so and so) incur (such and such) a defeating offense.” In the second case, the agentaction relationship is not stated clearly, as in “I have seen the monk (so and so) and the nun (so and so) I have seen the act of sexual intercourse.” The event that led to the prescription of this rule occurred in Rajagriha Two monks, Suhrit (mDza’ bo) and Salé kye (Sa las skyes), had made an accusation without relating agent and action against the monk Vasumallaputra (Gyad bu nor) and the nun Utpali after having seen two deer copulating Seeing the two deer copulating was the trivial (bag tsam) reason (SIRD, ff 240b7-241a5) 129 The circumstance that led to the institution of this rule was a schism that developed at the time of the Buddha in the monastic community at Rajagriha in Bihar caused by Devadatta, Buddha’s cousin The partial defeat of causing a schism involves taking up an incorrect doctrinal view, converting other monks to this view, and thereby creating a division in the community A schism can take place only in our continent (world), Jambudvipa, within the boundaries of a monastery, and in a place where the Buddha is not residing Furthermore, the monks involved in the schism must not number less than nine (counting the monk causing the schism); must be ordinary monks (who have not seen the truth), four on the correct side and four on the non-doctrinal side; must be monks who have pure morality; and must be wise in the three classes of scriptures (otherwise, they could not be taken seriously) Moreover, a schism could not occur when the Buddha had just attained enlightenment, before he attained it, or after he had passed away (unless one of his two outstanding disciples was still alive) Differentiation must be made among the different forms of schism, “causing 378 Buddhist Ethics dissension in the community” (dge ’dun dbyen), “causing a schism that is a deed of immediate retribution” (dbyen gyi mtshams med), and “the partial defeat of causing a schism” (dbyen gyi lhag ma) The first is a neutral phenomenon (neither virtuous nor unvirtuous) of disharmony among the monks The second involves an actual schism in the community [and is caused by a monk] through lying This schism results in a birth in the hell of Unceasing Torture for the monk who has caused it The third is a partial defeat that is incurred when the offender does not desist after having been reprimanded three times by fellow monks This form of schism may be incurred by a monk or a nun (but not by a newly ordained monk who has recently begun his training) The schism need not actually take place (if it does take place, the schism would be considered the second type) Some scriptures state that after the demise of the Buddha, the conditions necessary for these three forms of schism no longer applied Nevertheless, a monk who causes a division within the community incurs a serious violation (SID, ff 95a4-97b6) As for the unwanted consequence of a schism, it is said that as long as a schism in the community is not resolved, the followers of the Buddhist doctrine living in one great third-order thousand world-system, the buddhafield of a single buddha, will not attain any of the five experiential paths (SID16, f 82a2-5) See also Dharmashri’s Commentary on the Three Vows, ff 61b3-5; 118a65; and Pema Karpo’s TV, vol Nga, ff 114a3-116a1 130 Tsonapa explains this as follows: causing a lay devotee to lose faith as a result of one’s bad behavior or by proclaiming the faults of other monks and then defaming the monks who have expelled oneself on this account, saying, “They have expelled me because of their desire, anger, or stupidity” (SIRD, ff 251b3-252a2) 131 As an alternative interpretation, Tsonapa states that “defeats of the monastic community” (dge ’dun lhag ma, lit “with remainder in the monastic community”) are so called because the monk who incurs one is not expelled from the monastic community (as is the monk who has incurred a defeating offense), but still remains part of it (SIRD, f 149b7) 132 Gunaprabha’s SD, f 40a3 133 Tsonapa’s defines conscientious friend (khrims grogs) as a friend who prevents a monk from incurring a downfall and who is not non-human, mute or stupid, insane, a hermaphrodite, or blind (SIRD, f 213b3-5) 134 According to Tsonapa, a “convenient place for sexual intercourse” implies that the monk stays with a woman closer than the length of a bow (a fathom) on a seat that is fit for copulation If the monk is not closer than a fathom to the woman or on a seat unfit for sexual intercourse, he may incur only a partial defeat (touching a woman) or a downfall (sitting with a woman) (SIRD, f 141a5-6) 135 Tsonapa states that although classed among the downfalls that require forfeiture, in this case no forfeiture is required (SIRD, f 263b1) 136 A piece of cloth sufficient to cover the three areas when one is seated in the cross-legged position Notes to Chapter II 379 137 Tsonapa notes that if the monk has left the robe within the same boundary, the downfall is not incurred; if the monk is living in solitude, is old or sick, etc., he may be excused from the rule of “to be separate from the three robes” for a day; and if the robes are not consecrated, to be separated from them is not a downfall (SIRD, f 313b6) 138 All three (the patron, the person who carries the money, and the caretaker in this case) must be male laypersons If any one of them is a monk, the insistence becomes a minor infraction (SIRD, f 295a3-5) 139 “To make” also implies to commission someone to make (SIRD, f 299a2) This applies also to the infractions of similar types listed below Silk and black wool were prohibited because at that time they were expensive and difficult to obtain Silk, in addition, had to be made by sacrificing the lives of many larvae 140 One and a half cubits as measured on a medium-sized man 141 One earshot (rgyang grags) is a measure of five hundred bow-lengths, one bow being four cubits (SIRD, f 302b2) 142 The consecration of a precious substance that a monk has acquired or donated, and which is to be used for a virtuous purpose, is to be done through a three-part ceremony: (1) Before the monk makes use of a precious item to buy robes or other things, he should think that it does not belong to him, but that it belongs to the householder who has donated it (2) He entrusts it to the caretaker of the community who is a lay practitioner or a novice, making him accept that he (the caretaker) now owns it (3) When the monk needs to use the precious substance to buy something, the consecration is done by first placing it in front of another monk If that monk is an elder, the monk requesting the consecration prostrates to him After that, both stand up and raise their hands over the substance, and the monk repeats three times after the elder the appropriate formula of consecration (SIRD, ff 304b6-305b1) 143 See below section “Conditions for Living Comfortably: Food and Medicine” for the types of permissible food and medicine Kongtrul here mentions only three types, excluding the fourth, because such medicines are consecrated for life Thus, once consecrated, they may be kept even after the monk has recovered from his illness without incurring the downfall of storing If unconsecrated, the permitted time for any of the four types of food and medicine expires within the next of the four periods of the day and night in which they have been acquired See Dharmashri’s Commentary on the Three Vows, f 69a1-6 144 Sönam Drakpa mentions that the article is relinquished (spang) by separation (’bral), i.e., putting it in another place (the house of another monk, for example) Relinquishment is of two types, temporary (re shig spang ba) and permanent (gtan du spang ba) When a monk possesses more than one extra begging bowl, he should put them permanently into the custody of any of the five types ... the community is not resolved, the followers of the Buddhist doctrine living in one great third-order thousand world-system, the buddhafield of a single buddha, will not attain any of the five. .. result of one’s bad behavior or by proclaiming the faults of other monks and then defaming the monks who have expelled oneself on this account, saying, “They have expelled me because of their... relationship with another; next, the monk conveys the same suggestion to the prospective partner; finally, the monk receives the answer from this last person and conveys it to the first person This