Introduction

Overview

i.1The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions is the third of the seventeen chapters in The Chapters on Monastic Discipline. It recounts the origins, timing, and procedures for the rite of pravāraṇa or “lifting restrictions,” held at the end of the rains retreat as an adjunct to the Rite of Restoration, or poṣadha. Although in practice the rite of lifting restrictions is performed at the end of the rains, months after the rite in which monastics pledge to undertake the rains retreat, the chapters on these two rites appear in reverse order in The Chapters on Monastic Discipline, with The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions first, followed by The Chapter on the Rains.

i.2During the rite of lifting restrictions each monk “invites” the other monks to “prompt” his recollection of any offenses he has not confessed. If one of the monks has seen, heard, or suspects the first monk of an unconfessed offense, the second monk may prompt the first’s memory by narrating the circumstances in which the offense allegedly occurred. The proper procedures for conducting this delicate affair‍—accusations of improper conduct may easily cause a schism in the saṅgha‍—provide the main content of the present chapter. The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions does not, however, explain how to deal with disputes that arise from these invitations and the responses they prompt. A complete picture of the Mūlasarvāstivādin protocols for handling denials, disputes, punishments, and their rescissions must be pieced together from at least seven of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline’s seventeen chapters. The rite of lifting restrictions described here proceeds from the premise that participating monks either willingly confess their offenses from the start or willingly acknowledge them when their memory is prompted.

Structure and Contents

i.3Like the other chapters of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline, The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions starts with a “global summary” or piṇḍoddāna. In this case, the global summary groups the contents of the text into five sections. The first section sets out the procedures by which restrictions are lifted, and the remaining four describe the contingencies that may bear on how the rite is performed.

Lifting Restrictions

i.4The first section, after its own summary (uddāna), opens with a nidāna, or “narrative introduction” in which we learn the reputed origins of the rite of lifting restrictions. We join the Buddha as he is making a pledge to pass the rainy season at Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Śrāvastī. Elsewhere, somewhere off in the countryside, a group of monks pledge to spend the rains at a site some days’ distance. These monks adopt a rule of silence, and under the conditions of this ad hoc agreement, the monks have neither discussed nor thought about the others’ offenses in conduct, view, propriety, or livelihood. When they later tell the Buddha about their arrangement, the Buddha rebukes them. We are largely left to infer the significance of this criticism of silence. The monastic logic, however, is not so hard to parse: offenses are to be confessed, not concealed. Thus, before parting ways at the end of the monsoon, monks should gather together and observe the rite of lifting restrictions, inviting their fellow monks to prompt their memory of unconfessed misconduct. Thus, when the community disperses, the monks can leave one another, and the lay people too, with the assurance that they and their fellow monks are pure.

i.5One or two weeks before the rains retreat ends, the monks should inform the people in nearby towns and cities of the upcoming rite of lifting restrictions. On the eve of the ceremony, the local populace gathers at the monastery to hear learned monks teach the Dharma. Then, before sunrise the next morning, the monks withdraw into the inner circle to perform the rite of lifting restrictions. First, a “monk who directs the lifting of restrictions” must be appointed. A monk may serve as a director of lifting restrictions provided that he knows what constitutes a proper “lifting of restrictions”‍—i.e., knows how an invitation for an accusation should be extended‍—and is not driven by caprice, anger, confusion, or fear. If a community has a large number of monks, several officiants may be appointed.

i.6Grass for seating is then distributed to the saṅgha before the saṅgha elder makes a motion, asking the saṅgha to allow the rite of lifting restrictions to proceed. While the monk director of lifting restrictions stands before him, the saṅgha elder invites the other monks to speak of any offenses they have seen, heard, or suspected him to have incurred by repeating the following formula one, two, or three times:

“Honorable saṅgha, please listen. Today is the saṅgha’s lifting of restrictions, the fifteenth. Today is also my, the monk so-and-so’s, lifting of restrictions and the fifteenth. I, the monk so-and-so, lift restrictions regarding the three grounds: what has been seen, heard, or suspected by the honorable saṅgha. I ask the venerable ones to admonish me. I ask the venerable ones to instruct me. I ask the venerable ones to guide me. The venerable ones extend their compassion, so I ask them to extend their compassion toward me. If I know of or see an offense, I will properly make amends in accord with the Vinaya.”

i.8So long as the saṅgha is not in any danger, each monk, in order of seniority, then invites others to remind him of any offenses he may have forgotten to confess by repeating the same formula. The procedures for handling any resulting disputes over offenses are laid out in chapter 16, The Chapter on Disputes. Once all of the monks have extended invitations to their brethren, the monk director of lifting restrictions then does so, followed by nuns, nun postulants, male novices, and female novices. The monk officiant then proceeds to “lift restrictions on materials” that the saṅgha has received during the rains before inviting the public in to present the saṅgha with further offerings. Khenpo Shenga explains the reasoning for this: giving to a saṅgha freshly affirmed in its purity, pure in intent, loving, and meritorious bears great fruit.

i.9This first section (“Lifting Restrictions”), which is signaled by key words in the chapter’s global summary, closes with a brief explanation of how a sick monk unable to attend the rite of lifting restrictions should send his invitation to recollect offenses. The protocols are similar to those described in chapter 2, The Chapter on the Restoration Rite, in which an ill monk sends his profession of purity and consent for the restoration rite.

Contingencies

i.10The remaining topics mentioned in the chapter’s global summary describe several contingencies that affect how and when the rite of lifting restrictions is performed.

i.11The second section (“Improper”) states that the lifting of restrictions can be repeated once, twice, or three times, but stipulates that if the lifting of restrictions is suspended before the entire ceremony is completed, it is an improper lifting of restrictions. The Buddha also provides for a “collective lifting of restrictions,” when appropriate.

i.12In the third section (“Monk”), the circumstances in which one may recite the lifting of restrictions once or as an assembly are spelled out. Each of the reasons, given in the summary verse that heads the chapter, relates to the welfare of the monks. The section concludes with an exchange between Upāli and the Buddha about whether monks who arrive late during the rains should be invited to participate in the rite. In an exchange with Upāli, the Buddha consents to their participation but declares that, because they have arrived late, any accusations they may make should not be accepted, that is, taken into consideration.

i.13The fourth section (“Repetition”) enumerates the proper protocols to follow in the event that a monk incurs an offense or is accused of having done so on the day leading up to the rite of lifting restrictions. Following the pattern established in the previous chapter, The Chapter on the Restoration Rite, scheming to exclude others from the rite of lifting restrictions and then “inviting” recollections of offenses in their absence is deemed to be improper. The reason for this would seem obvious‍—such an exclusive “invitation” is not to be mistaken for a truly transparent invitation for fellow monks to address the lingering unease they have about specific incidents.

i.14In the fifth section (“Rains”), a group of resident monks is faced with a group of quarrelsome visiting monks, who make it difficult for the saṅgha to invite each other to recollect offenses. The tension between the resident and visiting monks threatens the traditional closure of the rains retreat, where the saṅgha’s purity is affirmed and the collective offerings are dispersed to the monks. The atmosphere is so charged that the monks fear their invitations will become weaponized, inviting only accusations that will then be used as a wedge to exert influence or control over a monastery and its resources. In such fraught circumstances, the advice, in brief, is as follows: Do not take action immediately against the quarrelsome monks; instead, delay the rite of lifting restrictions for two or three fortnights, as marked by the restoration rite. If the visitors’ hostility has not dissipated by then, the resident monks may convene in a special boundary established for such hostile situations. If that does not work, the resident monks are instructed to extend to the visiting monks conciliatory gestures similar to those that The Chapter on the Restoration Rite stipulates should be made to visiting monks who uphold the sūtras, the vinaya, or the mātṛkā: welcome them with friendly words, wash their begging bowls, mend their ceremonial robes, offer them baths and oils, offer them rich foods, and give them the opportunity to explain the Dharma.

Adaptations for Nuns

i.15In The Chapters on Monastic Discipline, it is males who form both audience and performers in the rites of ordination, restoration, lifting restrictions, and pledging to settle for the rains‍—the respective subjects of chapters 1 through 4. The gendering here reflects a gendered binary in the Buddhist saṅgha as encapsulated by the story of Mahāprajāpatī’s extended campaign to secure the Buddha’s consent for the ordination of women, which is told in The Chapter on Minor Matters of Monastic Discipline. Eventually the Buddha relents and stipulates the wording for the nuns’ ordination and entrustment to her monastic mentor or “support”:

“From this day forth, (state her name) shall regard her preceptress as her mother. And her preceptress will regard her as her daughter. From this day, so long as you live, you must honor your preceptress. And your preceptress will honor you so long as she lives.”

i.17Dharmamitra, who wrote an authoritative commentary on Guṇaprabha’s sūtra digest of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, explains how the ritual language of the Mūlasarvāstivādin texts can be easily adapted for the participation of nuns:

“For ordination, everywhere that [the monks’ rite] says ‘monk’ [the monk officiant] should say ‘nun.’ Here, ‘the officiant [who performs] the motion, and so forth,’ is the monk officiant [who performs] the motion for ordination. Apart from this monk officiant, for the other positions such as instructor confidante and preceptor, the word ‘nun’ should be said instead of ‘monk.’ ”

i.19Butön Rinchen Drup, the remarkable fourteenth-century Tibetan bibliographer and historiographer, says that translating the going forth and ordination rites for females is simply a matter of swapping out male-gendered terms for female ones. In the case of the rites of restoration, lifting restrictions, and pledging to settle for the rains, those pronouns are easily swapped in contemporary Tibetan practice, while textually, The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions emphasizes not gender but the ability of someone on site to lead The Prātimokṣa Sūtra recitation.

The Etymology of Pravāraṇa

i.20The Sanskrit word pravāraṇa is derived from the root vṛ, which can mean “to prevent,” “to restrain,” or “to restrict,” as well as “to choose,” “to ask for,” or “to beg.” It assumes a wide range of meanings depending on context and the grammatical transformations it undergoes. In Epic Sanskrit, pravāraṇa may imply “satisfaction,” while in other cases it means “invitation,” as in “to invite gifts,” as we see here in the “invitation for material goods.”

i.21Pavāraṇā, the Pāli Vinaya’s parallel to the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya’s pravāraṇā, is generally translated as “invitation,” which captures the meaning of “lifting restrictions” in the present chapter. In The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions, “to lift restrictions” means “to invite” and the two translations can be used interchangeably; for instance, Kalyāṇamitra’s gloss of pravāraṇa might be translated as:

“ ‘To invite,’ to give the opportunity to monks with whom one has pledged to settle for the rains to prompt [one’s recollection of an offense] with what they have seen, heard, or suspected.”

i.23The Indic sources preserved in the Kangyur and Tengyur, however, suggest the Sanskrit pravāraṇāṃ pravārayitum had a specific and technical meaning to ears trained in the Vinaya, which presumably led to pravāraṇa being translated into Tibetan as dgag dbye. The entry on dgag dbye written for the Mahāvyutpatti, a ninth-century Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicon, glosses pravāraṇa with pramuktavāraṇa, meaning “a restraint that has been released,” and then offers the following definition: “to give an opportunity for disagreements and disputes about what was heard, seen, or suspected, which is otherwise prohibited while pledged to settle for the rains retreat.”

The Text

i.24The present translation is based on the Tibetan text of the version of the chapter in the Degé Kangyur, with reference to versions in other Kangyurs as detailed in the endnotes. The text was originally translated into Tibetan by Palgyi Lhünpo under the guidance of the Kaśmīri abbot Sarvajñādeva, the Indian abbot Vidyākaraprabha, and the Kaśmīri abbot Dharmākara. Their work was later proofread and finalized by Vidyākaraprabha and the translator-editor Paltsek.

i.25The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions was translated into Chinese by the Chinese monk Yijing in the late seventh to early eighth century ᴄᴇ.

i.26In Sanskrit, The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions is not extant in full, but four of its six manuscript folios were recovered at Gilgit. All but the righthand side of the first of these four folios is missing, but the remaining three folios are in relatively good condition, having sustained only slight losses or damage to the individual characters, or akṣaras. Editions based on these manuscripts have been published by Dutt (1950), Bagchi (1970), and Chung (1998). Despite these scholars’ efforts, numerous textual problems remain, so the Sanskrit reader would be advised to consult the facsimile edition of the manuscripts published in Clarke (2014), along with complete textual concordances.

i.27We have read the translation against the Sanskrit input version of Chung and Wille as well as against Yijing’s Chinese translation, and have also consulted Chung (1998), who provides relevant Sanskrit parallels drawn from other texts and compares Yijing’s Chinese and the Tibetan translation. See also the Japanese yomikudashi of Yijing’s text.

i.28The translation of Vinaya technical terms given here has benefitted greatly from discussion with the 84000 Vinaya Team. But these choices remain provisional and may require revision as work on the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya progresses.