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CHAPTER VIII
THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH ATONEMENTS: PARTIAL AND RADICAL SUPPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS SENIORITY (cheya; cheda. mūla)
While the commentaries analyse the parihara minutely and at great length, they give very little information about the seventh and eighth atonements (cf. Abhidhāna 3, 1360 b, s. v. cheda; 1361 b-1362 a, s. v. cheyariha; 6, 336 a-337 a, s. v. mula; 377 a-b, s. v. mulâriha). The information is not only meagre but as will be seen sometimes contradictory, at least if one examines certain details of the seventh.
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These two payachhittas consist of a partial and a total suppression of religious seniority - from which comes their name, cheya (cheda) "cutting off", and mula "root". In the disciplinary texts, cheya has become specialised in this sense. The commentaries recall that another "suppression" exists: that which cuts the religious off from the religious circle; but this measure is characteristic of the "demotion" (chedas ca dvidha: paryaya-vyavacchedo maṇḍalı-vyavacchedas ca..., Vav Ţ IV, 26 a 8).
It might be thought that Ţ is here suggesting the existence of a sort of parallel between the seventh and eighth atonements on the one hand, and the ninth and tenth on the other. And, indeed, beyond the sixth, the payacchittas imposed on the offender amount, in the last analysis, to his exclusion from the monastic life fictitiously, in a certain way, and retrospectively, when a part or the whole of his religious seniority is cancelled (7, cheya; 8, mula); and effectively and immediately when he is forbidden to enter the shelter or wear the religious paraphernalia (9, aṇavatthappa; 10, parañciya).
The Vav Pith compares the cheya, the partial removal of seniority, to the removal of a member this action aims at preserving from evil the parts which are still healthy: yasmin punar apatite prayaścitte samdüşita-pūrvaparyaya-desa-cchedanam iva seșa-sariravayava-paripālanaya kriyate, tat chedarP198 hatvat chedaḥ (Vav Pith T 20.6 11; quoted in Abhidhana, 3, 1360 b).
This all helps one to understand better why the cheya and mula could be considered more severe than the parihara. This last did not permanently affect the status of the religious, who resumed his rank in the company once he had completed the sixth atonement. But the seventh and eighth altered his whole career - and, as a consequence, ran the risk of upsetting the entire organisation of the community. For it will be remembered that
