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8
PÂTIMOKKHA.
4. Whatsoever Bhikkhu, being degraded, shall, with perverted mind, magnify, in the hearing of a woman, ministration to himself1 (by saying), 'This, Sister, would be the noblest of ministrations, that to so righteous and exalted a religious person as myself you should ministrate by that act,' (meaning) sexual intercourse-that is a Samghâdisesa.
5. Whatsoever Bhikkhu shall act as a go-between for a woman to a man, or for a man to a woman, or for a wife, or for a paramour, or even for a harlot— that is a Samghâdisesa.
6. A Bhikkhu who, begging (the materials) together, is having a hut put up for his own use, to belong to no one (else), must have it made of due measurement. And herein this is the measurementin length twelve spans according to the accepted span, in breadth seven spans (measured) inside.
1 Attakâma pârikariyâ, perhaps 'to his lusts;' but we follow the old commentator.
2 Sugata-vidatthiyâ.
Dickson translates of the span of Buddha,' Sugata being one of the many epithets applied to the Buddha in poetry, or poetical prose. Mr. James D'Alwis in the Ceylon Asiatic Society's Journal for 1874 has a long article to show that this cannot be the correct meaning of the word 'Sugata' in this connection; and we think he is right, though his discussion as to what it does mean (evidently more than a simple span) seems to lead to no certain conclusion. The older Ceylon commentators take the expression as being equal to one and a half carpenter's cubits, a 'carpenter's cubit' (Simhalese Wadu-riyana) being two ordinary cubits, so that 'the Buddha's span' (as they translate it) would be four feet and a half! But the Bhikkhus of the present day in Ceylon take it to be equal to the length of the supposed foot-print of the Buddha on Adam's Peak; that is, four ordinary cubits, or six feet. See Dickson's note; and compare Nissaggiya 15, and Pâkittiya 87-92.
There is no comment on the phrase in the Old Commentary,
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| SR No. | 007684 |
| Book Title | Vinaya Texts |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2523 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 47 MB |