Definitions of alajji and lajji bhikkhus
Dear all,
after a discussion with one of the most strict and stern teachers of vinaya I have met so far I would like to request some help in form of pointing out some definitions and giving some explanations. On the basis of a passage which he read in Thai (it was translated for me) he maintained that it is an offense for a bhikkhu to simply stay with unconscientious (on the word alajji the text was based upon) bhikkhus within the same monastery boundaries, however far-reaching the circumference might be. He argued that any bhikkhu who has fallen into any small offense, which he does not mend, is considered alajji and ground for an offense for any other bhikkhu who stays with him. Now these questions bother me at the moment regarding this:
Where is his mentioned passage to be found in Paali or English (if at all)?
What are the definitions of lajji and alajji regarding bhikkhus? Do they match the mentioned case or are they generally different?
He also mentioned that it is the responsibility of conscientious bhikkhus to point out the offenses of his co-resident bhikkhus, if he neglects it he would incur an offense himself. I see that there is Paacittiya 64 which stipulates so but argued that in the no-offense clause we find the following exemptions:There is no offence if he does not tell, thinking: “There will come to be quarrel or dispute or strife or contention for the Order”; if he does not tell, thinking: “There will come to be a schism in the Order or dissension in the Order”; if he does not tell, thinking: “This one, harsh, rough, will be an obstacle to life or to the Brahma-life”; if he does not tell, not seeing other suitable monks; if he does not tell (though) not desiring to hide (him); if he does not tell, thinking: “It will be evident from his own action”; if he is mad, if he is the first wrong-doer.
So, to my mind, if a bhikkhu doesn’t say something because he doesn’t wish the whole day finding faults and talking to other monks (in Pa Auk Mawlamyine, just to give a random example, this would be a full-time job with so many hundreds of monks) that would be no offense because he doesn’t want to hide, is that also your understanding? He said there is somewhere another passage which says one has to confront issues regardlessly but he could not find it? Are you aware of any?
Thank you so much for the assistance!
Mettaa
There might be the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careless Bhikkhus, in a careless comunity, but does not recognize them as such, dwells and performes the Uposatha, in such a case there might be no transgression of wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There might be the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careless Bhikkhus, in a careless community, not proven yet he has doubt, dwells and performes the Uposatha nevertheless without claryfication: in such a case there might be a transgression of wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There might be the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careless Bhikkhus, in a careless community, not proven yet he has fear, dwells and performes the Uposatha nevertheless without clarifycation: in such a case there might be a transgression of wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There might be the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careless Bhikkhus, in a careless community, knowingly he dwells and performes the Uposatha nevertheless: in such a case there might be a transgression of strong wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There might be the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careful Bhikkhus, in a careful community, not proven yet he has doubt, does not dwell and performes the Uposatha with them, without claryfication: in such a case there might be a transgression of wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There might be the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careful Bhikkhus, in a careful community, not proven yet he has fear, does not dwell and performes the Uposatha with them, without claryfication: in such a case there might be a transgression of wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There might be the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careful Bhikkhus, in a careful community, knowingly, intending torward splitt or out of interest to hide his ways, he does not dwell and performes the Uposatha with them: in such a case there might be a transgression of strong wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There is the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careful Bhikkhus, in a carefull community, he dwells there without investigations, with no reasons for doubt or fear, and performs the Uposatha with them: in such a case there might be not transgression of wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
There is the case where a Bhikkhu dwells with careful Bhikkhus, in a carefull community, he dwells there having investigated it, with no reasons for doubt or fear, and performs the Uposatha with them: in such a case there is doubtless no transgression of wrongdoing, as far as my person may see.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa
‘‘Katamañca , bhikkhave, saṅgāhabalaṃ? Cattārimāni, bhikkhave, saṅgahavatthūni – dānaṃ, peyyavajjaṃ, atthacariyā, samānattatā. Etadaggaṃ, bhikkhave, dānānaṃ yadidaṃ dhammadānaṃ. Etadaggaṃ, bhikkhave, peyyavajjānaṃ yadidaṃ atthikassa ohitasotassa punappunaṃ dhammaṃ deseti. Etadaggaṃ, bhikkhave, atthacariyānaṃ yadidaṃ assaddhaṃ saddhāsampadāya samādapeti niveseti patiṭṭhāpeti, dussīlaṃ sīlasampadāya… pe… macchariṃ cāgasampadāya…pe… duppaññaṃ paññāsampadāya samādapeti niveseti patiṭṭhāpeti. Etadaggaṃ, bhikkhave, samānattatānaṃ yadidaṃ sotāpanno sotāpannassa samānatto, sakadāgāmī sakadāgāmissa samānatto, anāgāmī anāgāmissa samānatto, arahā arahato samānatto. Idaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, saṅgāhabalaṃ. Imāni kho, bhikkhave, cattāri balāni.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa
(Mv.II.27.13) “Monks, there is the case where the entire Saṅgha in a certain residence has fallen into an offense common to one another.
“They don’t know the name or class of the offense.
“Another monk arrives there: learned, erudite, one who has memorized the Dhamma, the Vinaya, the Mātikā. He is wise, experienced, astute, conscientious, scrupulous, desirous of training.
“A certain monk goes to that monk and, on arrival, says to him, ‘Friend, one who does such-and-such: What’s the name of the offense that he falls into?’
(Mv.II.27.14) “(The learned monk) says, ‘Friend, one who does such-and-such falls into the offense of this name. Friend, you have fallen into the offense of this name. Make amends for the offense.’
“He says, ‘Friend, I haven’t fallen into this offense alone. This entire Saṅgha has fallen into this offense.’
“(The learned monk) says, ‘Friend, what does it matter to you, whether another has fallen (into that offense) or not? Please, friend, rise up out of your own offense!’
(Mv.II.27.15) “So the monk, making amends for that offense in line with that (visiting) monk’s advice, goes to the monks and, on arrival, says to them, ‘Friends, they say that one who does such-and-such falls into the offense of this name. Friends, you have fallen into the offense of this name. Make amends for the offense.’
“If those monks make amends for the offense in line with that (visiting) monk’s advice, well and good. If they don’t make amends, then that monk doesn’t have to criticize the monks if he doesn’t want to.”
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa
Now on that occasion ... well-behaved monks protested when a non-Dhamma transaction was being performed by some Group-of-six monks. The Group-of-six monks became angered and unreasonable, and threatened them with a beating.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa
"Monks, I allow four or five to protest, two or three to voice an opinion, and one to determine, ‘This is not agreeable to me.’”
- Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa -
Should any bhikkhu knowingly commune, affiliate, or lie down in the same dwelling with a bhikkhu professing such a view who has not acted in compliance with the rule, who has not abandoned that view, it is to be confessed.
This rule reinforces the suggestion made under the preceding rule, that a bhikkhu who refuses to respond to the rebuke imposed by that rule should immediately be suspended. There are three factors for the full offense here.
1) Object: a bhikkhu who has been suspended by a Community transaction and has not yet been restored.
2) Perception: One knows that he has been suspended and has not yet been restored—either from knowing on one’s own, from having been told by the bhikkhu, or from having been told by others.
3) Effort: One communes with him, affiliates with him, or lies down in the same dwelling with him.
Object
According to Cv.I.25-35, a bhikkhu may be suspended for any one of three reasons:- He refuses to relinquish an evil view, as in the preceding rule;
- he refuses to see an offense (i.e., he admits to having performed an action forbidden by the rules, but refuses to concede that it is an offense); or
- he refuses to make amends for an offense (again, he admits to having performed an action forbidden by the rules, but refuses to undergo the attendant penalty).
Once a bhikkhu has been suspended, it is his duty to change his ways and reject the view or position that led to his suspension, so that he may be restored to normal status.
According to the Vibhaṅga, the factor of object here is fulfilled by a bhikkhu who has been suspended for the first of these three reasons and has yet to be restored. However, because the rules governing the way in which a suspended bhikkhu is to be treated by other bhikkhus are the same for all three cases (see Cv.I.27, Cv.I.31, Cv.I.33), the Commentary argues that a bhikkhu suspended for either of the other two reasons would fulfil this factor as well. The Vibhaṅga’s non-offense clauses add, though, that if the bhikkhu was suspended for holding an evil view and has come to relinquish that view, he does not fulfill this factor even if the Community has yet to restore him to normal status. This allowance would apparently apply to bhikkhus suspended for other reasons as well.
Perception
There is no offense in communing, etc., with a suspended bhikkhu if one perceives him as unsuspended; a dukkaṭa for communing, etc., with an unsuspended bhikkhu if one perceives him as suspended; and a dukkaṭa for communing, etc., with a bhikkhu if one is in doubt as to whether he has been suspended. This last penalty holds regardless of whether he has actually been suspended.
None of the texts mention the matter, but a similar principle would also seem to apply to one’s perception of the transaction whereby the bhikkhu was suspended. Thus, there would be no offense in communing, etc., with him if one perceived a valid transaction as invalid; a dukkaṭa for communing, etc., with him if one perceived an invalid transaction as valid; and a dukkaṭa for communing, etc., with him if one was in doubt as to the transaction’s validity, regardless of whether it was actually valid or not.
Effort
Effort here covers any one of three sorts of action:
1) One communes with the bhikkhu. Communion takes one of two forms: sharing material objects, i.e., giving material objects to the bhikkhu or receiving them from him; or sharing Dhamma, i.e., reciting Dhamma for him or getting him to recite Dhamma. The penalties for sharing Dhamma are, if one recites line-by-line or gets the other to recite line-by-line, a pācittiya for each line; if syllable-by-syllable, a pācittiya for each syllable.
2) One affiliates with the bhikkhu, i.e., one participates in a transaction of the Community along with him. An example would be sitting in the same assembly with him to listen to the Pāṭimokkha.
3) One lies down in the same dwelling with him. “Same dwelling” here, unlike Pc 5 & 6, means one with the same roof. Thus, as the K/Commentary notes, if one is lying under the same roof with the bhikkhu, one falls under this factor even if one is lying in a room that is not connected by any entrance with the one he is lying in. And, we might add, one falls under this factor regardless of whether the dwelling is walled or not. Whether one lies down first, the suspended bhikkhu lies down first, or both lie down at the same time, is not an issue here. As under Pc 5, if both parties get up and then lie down again, one incurs another pācittiya.
These three actions touch on only a few of the observances a suspended bhikkhu must follow, but they are the only ones that entail a pācittiya for a regular bhikkhu who has dealings with him while he is suspended. For further details, see Cv.I.25-35 and BMC2, Chapter 20.
Non-offenses
There is no offense in communing, affiliating, or lying down in the same dwelling with another bhikkhu if one knows that—he has not been suspended;
he was suspended but has been restored; or
he has abandoned the evil view that led to his suspension.
The Vibhaṅga states explicitly that the first of these three exemptions holds regardless of whether one’s perception is correct, and the same principle would seem to apply to the remaining two as well.
Summary: Communing, affiliating, or lying down under the same roof with a bhikkhu who has been suspended and not been restored—knowing that such is the case—is a pācittiya offense.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa
Be careful of the proper procedure being intent on what
was done with skill by him of discernment,
Of what was well spoken in conformity with the rules of
training, not destroying a bourn in a future state.
[165] Ignorant as to subject, falling away, offence, provenance, kind,
He does not know the earlier and the later (speech) nor
likewise what was and was not done.
And he is ignorant too as to formal act and legal question
and decidings, Impassioned, corrupted and astray, he proceeds from fear,
from confusion, And he is not skilled as to layings down and is not versed in pacifying,
One who has obtained a faction, conscienceless, (of) dark
deed, disrespectful :
A monk such as this is called one who should not be shown
deference.
Knowledgeable as to subject, falling away, offence,
provenance, kind,
He comprehends the earlier and the later (speech) and
likewise what was and was not done, I
And he is knowledgeable as to formal act and legal
question and decidings,
Unimpassioned, uncorrupt, not astray, he proceeds not
from fear, from confusion,
And he is skilled as to layings down and is knowledgeable
as to pacifying,
One who has obtained a faction, conscientious, (of) bright
deed, respectful:
A monk such as this is called one who should be shown
deference.