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Although children were in early Buddhism initially prohibited from ordaining under fifteen years of age (Vin i 079), this standard was eventually relinquished to admit them even at seven years old (Vin i 079). But not only are there no special safeguards for the under thirteens, for example, Vinaya even seems to minimise the danger. For example, the bhikkhu who accidentally killed a young girl by penetrating her with his thumb, was not obliged to disrobe (Vin iii 034).<ref>https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-pj?view=normal</ref> And the monk who sexually assaulted a sleeping novice was judged guilty of a minor offence.(V iii 117).<ref>https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-ss1/en/brahmali?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin</ref> These two stories may perplex the modern reader, but there is no scriptural justification to discount them.
Although children were in early Buddhism initially prohibited from ordaining under fifteen years of age (Vin i 079), this standard was eventually relinquished to admit them even at seven years old (Vin i 079). But not only are there no special safeguards for the under thirteens, for example, Vinaya even seems to minimise the danger. For example, the bhikkhu who accidentally killed a young girl by penetrating her with his thumb, was not obliged to disrobe (Vin iii 034).<ref>https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-pj?view=normal</ref> And the monk who sexually assaulted a sleeping novice was judged guilty of a minor offence.(V iii 117).<ref>https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-ss1/en/brahmali?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin</ref> These two stories may perplex the modern reader, but there is no scriptural justification to discount them.


The Buddha made it clear that religious texts of all traditions, even his own, may on occasions be corrupted. Mistakes and errors can creep in (M i 520). <ref>https://suttacentral.net/mn76/en/horner?reference=none&highlight=false</ref>Therefore, one cannot categorically prove, on the basis of scriptures, how seriously to regard the abuse of child novices. Although there is no justification for saying child abuse is Anantarika Karma, there is but little justification for saying it is not. As explained above, the fact that they are in robes, means that all monastics should be treated with extraordinary respect.
The Buddha made it clear that religious texts of all traditions, even his own, may on occasions be corrupted. Mistakes and errors can creep in (M i 520). <ref>https://suttacentral.net/mn76/en/horner?reference=none&highlight=false</ref>Therefore, one cannot categorically argue, on the basis of scriptures, how seriously to regard the abuse of child novices. Although there is no justification for saying child abuse is Anantarika Karma, there is but little justification for saying it is not. As explained above, the fact that they are in robes, means that all monastics should be treated with extraordinary respect.
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Revision as of 14:39, 16 March 2023

Lord Buddha
The Buddha

Ānantarya Karma (Sanskrit) or Ānantarika Kamma (Pāli) [1] are the most serious offences in Buddhism that, at death, through the overwhelming karmic strength of any single one of them, bring immediate disaster.[2][3] Both Buddhists and non-Buddhists must avoid them at all costs. Such offenses prevent perpetrators from attaining any of the stages of enlightenment[4] and from ordaining into the Sangha. The offences are:[5][6][7]

  1. Killing one's mother
  2. Killing one's father
  3. Killing an Arahant
  4. Wounding a Tathagata
  5. Creating schism in the Sangha (Anguttara iii 440)

Ānantarika Kamma is so serious that even Amitabha Buddha abandoned all hope. His Vow 18 reads:[8]

"If I attain Buddhahood and a sentient being aspires with faith and joy to be reborn in my Sukhavati Pure Land: if they recite my name just ten times and, in spite of this, are not reborn there, then may I myself not attain enlightenment [in the first place]. Two exceptions to this solemn promise are in respect of, firstly, those who have committed the five terrible offences and, secondly, of those who have vilified the Sublime Dharma [because such people cannot be reborn in Sukhavati]."

There are another five unlisted Ānantarika Kamma offences found in the scriptures:

  1. Physically obstructing the Lord Buddha's path
  2. Rejecting the Lord Buddha's claim to supernatural insight
  3. Accusing the Lord Buddha or an Arhat of sexual misconduct
  4. Wounding an Arhat
  5. Raping ordained monastics

Physically obstructing the Lord Buddha's path

When Suppabuddha blocked the Lord Buddha's path, forcing him to turn back, he was reborn in hell. [9]

Rejecting the Lord Buddha's claim to supernormal insight

Some people rejected the Buddha's claim to supernormal insight, saying:

"The recluse Gotama does not have any outstanding knowledge and vision. He teaches Dhamma that has been merely hammered out in his head, following his own line of inquiry."

The Buddha said that unless such people abandon these assertions and relinquish such views, they would be cast into hell. (Majjhima i 71)

Accusing the Lord Buddha or an Arahant of sexual misconduct

1) The Bodhisatta accused Paccekabuddhas Surabhi and Sabbābhibhu of sexual misconduct and was consigned to hell.[10]

2) The bhikkhu Kokālika accused Sāriputta and Moggallāna of having unvirtuous desires and was consigned to hell. (Suttanipata p. 123).[11]

3) Ciñcā Māṇavikā accused the Buddha of sleeping with her and was consigned to hell.[12]

Wounding an Arahant

When MahaMoggallana was Mara Dusi, he made a young boy attack the chief disciple of a previous Buddha and split his head. For this, Dusi was cast into hell.[11]

Usually it is the killing of the Arahant that counts.

Raping ordained monastics

Raping nuns: Ānantarika Kamma

A group of nuns on the road to Savatthi were raped (ekaccā bhikkhuṇiyo dusesuṃ). The Buddha said those who rape nuns should not be ordained (bhikkhuṇidusako na upasampādetabbo) (Vinaya i 089[1]). The danger of raping nuns is this: the man who raped (dusesi) the nun Uppalavanna was cast into hell. The rule against ordaining, and the descent into hell, are both signs of Ānantarika Kamma.

Raping monks: Ānantarika Kamma

The rape of monks and novices is likely Ānantarika Kamma, too. just as ordination confers special protection on women, it likely confers the same protection on men. The definition of sexual misconduct does not discriminate between the sexes (M i 286).[13]

Other considerations

The different meanings of Dussati: rape, fondle, molest, make love

  • A group of nuns on the road to Savatthi were raped (ekaccā bhikkhuṇiyo dusesuṃ).
  • In the course of showing her round his new hut, Udayin fondled a visitor's wife 'limb by limb' and was accused of molesting her (duseyyu ti, Vinaya iii 119[2]).
  • A doctor treating a nun, lanced a boil 'in the area between her navel and knees,' then started to molest her (dūsetuṃ upakkami) (Vinaya iv 316[3]).
  • Then the layman Sāḷha asked the nun Sundarīnandā : “What is wrong with you? Why are you lying down?” “Surely, it is this, sir: you do not want me.” “How could I not want you? But I never had a chance to make love with you” (okāsaṃ na labhāmi taṃ dūsetun ti). Then, filled with lust, Sāḷha touched the nun Sundarīnandā, who was also filled with lust (avassuto avassutāya sundarīnandāya bhikkhuniyā kāyasaṃsaggaṃ samapajji).

Relations with consenting monastics

Ānantarika Kamma involves actions undertaken without consent. Acts that are consensual are not Ānantarika Kamma, however unskilful they may be.

For example:

  • two nuns sexually abuse each other: Pacittiya offence (Vinaya iv 261).
  • a monk invites a novice to sexually abuse him: Sanghadisesa offence (Sd 1, case 29; Vinaya iii 118).
  • a monk or nun consents to sex: Parajika offence (Vinaya iii 040).

If a woman rapes a monk it is Ānantarika Kamma: if she seduces him, it is not.

Sexually abusing laywomen: Sanghadisesa offence

Sexually abusing laywomen is a Sanghadisesa Offence. For example, a monk sexually abusing a baby girl (Vinaya iii 35).

Five precepts infringements

Hell usually is the result of repeated infringements of the five precepts. Therefore such infringements are not Anantarika Karma (A iv 248).

The Sixth Great Offence

The Tatiya Abhabbaṭṭhāna Sutta (A iii 439) links the five Anantarika Karma to the action of adopting a non-Buddhist teacher (aññaṃ satthāraṃ uddisituṃ), as if to suggest that there are now six Anantarika Karma, not five.[14] In the Buddha's era, adopting a non-Buddhist teacher inevitably meant giving up the Eightfold Path (D ii 150).[15]

The association of the six offences is confirmed in the Ratana Sutta verse 231, which now calls them the six great offences, and links them in the same sentence to lower rebirths, including hell (Catūhapāyehi ca vippamutto cha cābhiṭhānāni).[16] [17][18]

This raises the alarming question as to whether adopting a non-Buddhist teacher (teaching the Wrong Eightfold Path) is Anantarika Karma.

The question is decided in Vinaya, which says that adopting a non-Buddhist teacher (teaching the Wrong Eightfold Path) is consequential under two conditions only, according to which one would be unable to re-ordain as a Buddhist monastic. This puts these two modes, and these two modes only, into the Parajika category:

1) If a Buddhist monastic adopts a non-Buddhist teacher having refuted their preceptor in an argument (Vin i 060).[19]

2) If a Buddhist monastic adopts a non-Buddhist teacher whilst still wearing their Buddhist robes (Vin ii 279).[20]

Abuse of child novices

Although the Buddha strongly condemned the sexual harm of children,[21] there are, in Vinaya, no extra provisions made to ensure the safety of young children in community life. Thus, even today, across the world, children of all ages are being trained in monasteries without proper safeguarding.[22][23][24]

Although children were in early Buddhism initially prohibited from ordaining under fifteen years of age (Vin i 079), this standard was eventually relinquished to admit them even at seven years old (Vin i 079). But not only are there no special safeguards for the under thirteens, for example, Vinaya even seems to minimise the danger. For example, the bhikkhu who accidentally killed a young girl by penetrating her with his thumb, was not obliged to disrobe (Vin iii 034).[25] And the monk who sexually assaulted a sleeping novice was judged guilty of a minor offence.(V iii 117).[26] These two stories may perplex the modern reader, but there is no scriptural justification to discount them.

The Buddha made it clear that religious texts of all traditions, even his own, may on occasions be corrupted. Mistakes and errors can creep in (M i 520). [27]Therefore, one cannot categorically argue, on the basis of scriptures, how seriously to regard the abuse of child novices. Although there is no justification for saying child abuse is Anantarika Karma, there is but little justification for saying it is not. As explained above, the fact that they are in robes, means that all monastics should be treated with extraordinary respect. .

Citations to Pali text

All citations in this article are to the Pali Text Society Pali page numbers. For example, (Majjhima ii 156), means PTS Majjhima Nikaya, Volume 2, page 156.

See also

References

  1. ^ "SuttaCentral". SuttaCentral. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  2. ^ Gananath Obeyesekere (1990), The Work of Culture: Symbolic Transformation in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology, University of Chicago, ISBN 978-0-226-61599-8
  3. ^ Walters, Jonathan S. (1990). "The Buddha's Bad Karma: A Problem in the History of Theravâda Buddhism". Numen. 37 (1): 70–95. doi:10.2307/3269825. JSTOR 3269825.
  4. ^ Nakamura, Hajime (1991). Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 285. ISBN 978-8120807648.
  5. ^ "The Sutra Preached by the Buddha on the Total Extinction of the Dharma". buddhism.org. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  6. ^ Nyanatiloka (1980), Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Buddhist Publication Society, ISBN 978-955-24-0019-3
  7. ^ Triplegem glossary Archived 2006-12-28 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ https://www.fgsitc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Amitabha-Sutra_ChiEng.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ "King Suppabuddha blocks the Buddha's path". suttanta.tripod.com.
  10. ^ "The Twelve Saṃsāric Debts of the Buddha [Part 32]". www.wisdomlib.org. September 13, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "SuttaCentral". SuttaCentral.
  12. ^ "Buddhist Legends, XIII. 9. Ciñcā falsely accuses the Buddha". www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net.
  13. ^ https://suttacentral.net/mn41/en/bodhi?reference=none&highlight=false
  14. ^ https://suttacentral.net/an6.94/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
  15. ^ https://suttacentral.net/dn16/en/anandajoti?reference=none&highlight=false
  16. ^ https://suttacentral.net/kp6/en/anandajoti?reference=none&highlight=false
  17. ^ https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.2.01.than.html#fn-5
  18. ^ https://suttacentral.net/kp6/en/piyadassi?reference=none&highlight=false
  19. ^ https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-kd1/en/brahmali?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
  20. ^ https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-kd20/en/brahmali?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
  21. ^ https://suttacentral.net/mn41/en/bodhi?reference=none&highlight=false
  22. ^ https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2012/01_02/2012_02_28_Clergy_ChildAbuse.htm
  23. ^ https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1782969/temples-no-longer-safe-for-children
  24. ^ https://info-buddhism.com/Abuse_and_Buddhism-Behind_the_Smiling_Facade-Anna_Sawerthal.html
  25. ^ https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-pj?view=normal
  26. ^ https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-ss1/en/brahmali?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
  27. ^ https://suttacentral.net/mn76/en/horner?reference=none&highlight=false

Further reading

  • Silk, Jonathan A. (2007). Good and Evil in Indian Buddhism: The Five Sins of Immediate Retribution, Journal of Indian Philosophy 35 (3), 253-286
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