11 Bhikkhūnīs piled into a mini bus and I want to know why?
In Pli-tb-bi-vb-pc40 (Bhikkhuni Pācittiyā 40) the people where displeased and grumbled because of what?
Tena kho pana samayena bhikkhuniyo tattheva rājagahe vassaṃ vasanti, tattha hemantaṃ, tattha gimhaṃ. Manussā ujjhāyanti khiyyanti vipācenti—“āhundarikā bhikkhunīnaṃ disā andhakārā, na imāsaṃ disā pakkhāyantī”ti.
The English translation doesn’t make it clear at all. Saying ‘the 4 quarters are blocked the 4 quarters can’t be seen’.
I took a stab at the Pāli but andhakāra (bewildered) seems to describe how I feel.
Is it that the nuns stayed for the hot, cold AND rainy season and it became too crowded?
Thanks and mettā
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Maybe—and that’s just a thought, I don’t know for sure—it is because a monastery is usually dedicated to the ‘Sangha of the four quarters’; and when it is full because the nuns don’t leave other nuns from the ‘four quarters’ can’t come.
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It’s because people wanted to see the nuns, but the nuns only stayed in one place. They use the words dark and obscure (or “blocked and can’t be seen” ) as metaphors to complain that the nuns did not brighten up their lives with the Dhamma. Here is my translation of the rule and the origin story:
At one time the Buddha was staying at Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrel sanctuary. At that time the nuns were staying right there in Rājagaha for the rainy season, for the cold season, and for the hot season. People complained and criticized them, “The districts are left dark and obscure by the nuns. They don’t brighten them up.”
The nuns heard the complaints of those people. They then told the monks, who in turn told the Master. Soon afterwards the Master gave a teaching and addressed the monks, “Because of this, monks, I will lay down a training rule for the nuns for the following ten reasons: for the well-being of the Order … for the continuation of the true Teaching, and for supporting the training. And, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule thus:
‘If a nun who has completed the rainy-season residence does not go wandering, even if only 65 to 80 kilometers, she commits an offense entailing confession.’”
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