list of the 227 rules of pātimokkha

Here you will the list of the 227 rules of conduct that all the bhikkhus are supposed to observe. On this page, each rule is described in a single sentence, in order to allow a short insight. Click on a rule to get access to its complete description. By means of this latter, you will know why Buddha did establish it, in which cases it is committed, and how to get purified from it.

The 4 pārājikas

1. Not to have sexual intercourse.
2. Not to steal.
3. Not to commit murder.
4. Not to claim attainments of stages of pure mental concentration that have not been achieved.

The 13 saṃghādisesas

1. Not to deliberately emit sperm.
2. Not to touch a woman.
3. Not to have an ill-mannered conversation with a woman.
4. Not to propose sexual intercourse to a woman.
5. Not to unite couples.
6. Not to build a housing exceeding 2.70 metres by 1.60 metres (2.95 yards by 1.74 yards), without the agreement of the saṃghaa, and doing harm to living beings, or not providing enough space to turn around it.
7. Not to build a monastery without the approval of the saṃgha, harming living beings or not allowing to make a whole turn around it.
8. Not to groundlessly accuse a bhikkhu of having committed a pārājika.
9. Not to make believe that a first bhikkhu has committed a pārājika by deliberately accusing a second one who shows similarity with the first.
10. Not to create a division within the saṃgha.
11. Not to encourage a bhikkhu who works to divide the saṃgha.
12. Not to reject admonishments made on his behaviour..
13. Not to spoil the confidence and the consideration that the people have for the dhamma.

The 2 aniyatas

1. Not to be found alone with a woman in a remote place that can arise suspicions about a sexual intercourse.
2. Not to be found alone with a woman in an isolated place that can arise suspicions about conversations on lustful subjects.

The 30 nissaggiyas

1. Not to keep an extra robe more than ten days at a time.
2. Not to spend the night far from one of his three robes.
3. Not to keep the clothing material meant for the tailoring of a robe more than one month at a time.
4. Not to have a robe washed or dyed by a bhikkhunī who is not a relative.
5. Not to accept a robe from a bhikkhunī who is not a relative.
6. Not to ask someone who is not a relative for a robe.
7. Not to ask for more than one upper robe and one lower robe in case of loss of the three robes.
8. Not to ask for a good quality robe from a dāyakā who is saving money to offer one.
9. Not to ask for a good quality robe from two dāyakas who are saving money to offer one each.
10. Not to appoint a kappiya on his own, nor to be too pushy with a kappiya who is supposed to provide something.
11. Not to accept carpets containing silk.
12. Not to accept the floor carpets only made of black sheep wool.
13. Not to accept a floor carpet that is, for more than half of it, made with black sheep wool and a quarter in white wool.
14. Not to purchase another floor carpet as long as the former is not six years old yet.
15. Not to make a new carpet without adding a part of the old one.
16. Not to carry wool along with oneself for more than three walking days.
17. Not to make someone else wash, dye or card the wool for a bhikkhunī.
18. Not to accept money.
19. Not to use money.
20. Not to exchange things.
21. Not to keep an extra bowl more than ten days at a time.
22. Not to ask for a new bowl as long as the present one does not have at least five cracks or has not become unusable.
23. Not to keep medicinal foods more than seven days at a time.
24. Not to get a bath robe, sewed, dyed or brought before the full moon.
25. Not to take back a robe after having offered it.
26. Not to get the robe woven.
27. Not to ask for a robe to be woven bigger and of better quality than the one that the donor had planned to give.
28. Not to accept any extra robe – offered or not out of emergency – beyond the authorised period.
29. Not to leave one of the robes more than six nights in a village, at the end of the vassa period, while lodging in a dangerous area.
30. Not to divert for his own benefit a donation made to the saṃgha.

The 92 pācittiyas

1. Not to lie.
2. Not to insult another bhikkhu.
3. Not to create disagreement between bhikkhus.
4. Not to recite together with laymen, texts of dhamma in Pali language.
5. Not to spend the night under the same roof as the laity.
6. Not to lie down in a building in which there is a woman.
7. Not to teach to a woman more than six consecutive words of dhamma.
8. Not to announce to a layman a realisation that has been achieved.
9. Not to denounce a saṃghādisesa to a layman.
10. Not to dig or cause someone else to dig the ground.
11. Not to destroy plants.
12. Not to change the conversation when the saṃgha asks a question.
13. Not to blame or slander a bhikkhu.
14. Not to leave a mattress or a chair outside without arranging it back suitably.
15. Not to leave a couch that has been moved in the monastery.
16. Not to set a bhikkhu apart in order to make him leave.
17. Not to expel a bhikkhu from a lodging belonging to the saṃgha.
18. Not to install oneself on a bed or a chair that is placed on a floor with broken planks.
19. Not to build a roof having more than three layers.
20. Not to pour on the ground some water containing insects.
21. Not to teach bhikkhunīs without a permission taken from the saṃgha.
22. Not to teach the dhamma to the bhikkhunīs after nightfall.
23. Not to proceed to a monastery of bhikkhunīs in order to teach.
24. Not to accuse a bhikkhu to have taught bhikkhunīs so as to receive offerings.
25. Not to give a robe to a bhikkhunī.
26. Not to sew a robe for a bhikkhunī.
27. Not to plan a trip with a bhikkhunī.
28. Not to take a boat with a bhikkhunī.
29. Not to eat food prepared by a bhikkhunī.
30. Not to sit with a bhikkhunī in a remote spot.
31. Not to eat at the same spot twice consecutively food destined for travelling guests.
32. Not to eat several times food being incorrectly asked for.
33. Not to go to eat at another place after having already been invited somewhere.
34. Not to accept more than the equivalent of three bowls of pastries if they were not originally make for the bhikkhu.
35. To eat no longer once we have left our spot, after having made understood that we have finished our meal or refused to be served again.
36. bhikkhu to eat elsewhere after having made him understood that he has finished his meal or refused to be served again.
37. Not to consume solid foods between noon and the following dawn.
38. Not to store food at afternoon time.
39. Not to ask for food of superior quality for oneself.
40. Not to eat food which has not been offered and given in hands.
41. Not to give food to naked ascetics or other persons clinging to erroneous views.
42. During the alms collection round, not to dismiss a bhikkhu with whom one is making this round.
43. Not to remain near the place where a man and his companion lie when these are in the house.
44. Not to remain alone with a woman in an isolated place.
45. Not to sit next to a woman in a place remote from others' ears.
46. Not visit houses just before noon.
47. Not to request medicinal products beyond the limits of the quantity or time fixed by the donor.
48. Not to watch an army departing for combat.
49. Not to sleep with an armed troop for more than three consecutive nights.
50. Not to witness military activities.
51. Not to consume alcohol or other intoxicating substances.
52. Not to tickle.
53. Not to play in the water.
54. Not to lack respect.
55. Not to frighten a bhikkhu.
56. Not to light a fire, or have a fire light.
57. Do not wash more than twice per month if the body is not dirty.
58. Not to use a robe without having applied one or more maroon, brown, or black marks to it.
59. Not to wear a robe shared with a bhikkhu, a bhikkhunī, a sikkhamāna, a sāmaṇera or a sāmaṇerī, without the latter having pronounced in turn the formula for sharing this robe.
60. Not to hide the things of another bhikkhu.
61. Not to kill animals.
62. Not to use water containing living beings.
63. Not to agitate in order to re-open a closed issue.
64. Not to conceal a pārājika, a saṃghādisesa, or a thullaccaya.
65. Not to integrate a person under twenty years of age into the saṃgha.
66. Not to travel with smugglers planning to perpetrate a fraud.
67. Not to make a trip with a woman having planned it with her.
68. Not to affirm that things such as sexual pleasures are not an obstacle to the development of ariyā stage or to jhāna realisations, nor to rebirth in the deva world, when the Buddha explains that these things are precisely an obstacle to those, and not to maintain erroneous views.
69. Not to frequent a bhikkhu who has been placed outside the community.
70. Not to frequent a sāmaṇera who develops erroneous views.
71. Not to look for pretexts to disregard the rules of the pātimokkha.
72. Not to denigrate the rules of the pātimokkha.
73. Not to pretend not knowing a rule of conduct.
74. Not to hit another bhikkhu.
75. Not to make a threatening gesture suggesting that he is about to strike.
76. Not to accuse a bhikkhu of saṃghādisesa without foundation.
77. Not to arouse remorse, doubts or anguish in another bhikkhu's mind.
78. Not to eavesdrop on a conflict between bhikkhus.
79. Not to contest a decision taken after having given one's agreement (chanda).
80. Not to absent oneself without having given agreement (chanda), during a meeting of the saṃgha.
81. Not to accuse a bhikkhu of assigning a robe belonging to the saṃgha according to favouritism.
82. Not to make a gift originally destined to the saṃgha to be offered to another person.
83. Not to enter the king's chamber without warning.
84. Not to collect and stow away a precious object outside a monastery or the area where one lives.
85. Not to enter a town or village after noon without having asked for approval from another bhikkhu.
86. Not to make or have made a needle box in ivory, bone or horn.
87. Not to make – or have made – or use beds or chairs of a height greater than 65 centimetres.
88. Not to use mattresses, cushions or cloths filled with cotton or kapok.
89. Not to use a sitting cloth of more than 2.20 metres by 1.72 metres and with a flange over 1.15 metres of width.
90. Not to make or have made a "bandage robe" of more than 4.50 metres by 2.20 metres.
91. Not to make or have made a rains robe of more than 6.50 metres by 2.70 metres.
92. Not to make or have made a robe of more than 10 metres by 6.50 metres.

The 4 pāṭidesanīyas

1. Not to accept food from a bhikkhunī.
2. Order the bhikkhunīs who manage the service to the bhikkhus to go somewhere else during the meal.
3. Not to accept food from poor people who show remarkable fervor towards the dhamma, without having been invited by them.
4. Not to eat the food offered by donors whom one has not previously warned of an existing danger in the area.

The 75 sekhiyas

1. To wear the lower robe correctly wrapped around oneself, so as to leave the edges level.
2. To wear the upper robe correctly wrapped around oneself, so as to leave the edges level.
3. To close the robe up to the neck and down to the wrists when sitting in inhabited areas.
4. To close the robe up to the neck and down to the wrists when present in inhabited areas.
5. To behave decorously when sitting in inhabited areas.
6. To behave decorously when going to inhabited areas.
7. To keep the eyes always lowered when sitting in inhabited areas.
8. To keep the eyes always lowered when going to inhabited areas.
9. Not to lift the robes when sitting in inhabited areas.
10. Not to lift the robes when going to inhabited areas.
11. Not to laugh loudly when sitting in inhabited areas.
12. Not to laugh loudly when going to inhabited areas.
13. To speak only in a low voice when sitting in inhabited areas.
14. To speak only in a low voice when going to inhabited areas.
15. Not to swing the body when sitting in inhabited areas.
16. Not to swing the body when going to inhabited areas.
17. Not to swing the arms when sitting in inhabited areas.
18. Not to swing the arms when going to inhabited areas.
19. Not to swing the head when sitting in inhabited areas.
20. Not to swing the head when going to inhabited areas.
21. Not to place the hands on the hips when sitting in inhabited areas.
22. Not to place the hands on the hips when going to inhabited areas.
23. Not to cover the head when sitting in inhabited areas.
24. Not to cover the head when going to inhabited areas.
25. Not to stand on tiptoes or on the heels within inhabited areas.
26. Not to sit with the knees raised and the arms wrapped around the legs when in inhabited areas.
27. To adopt a respectful attitude when going to collect food.
28. Maintain the attention on the bowl when going to collect food.
29. Not to accept more than one ration of curry for every three rations of rice when going to collect food.
30. Accept food in proportion to the bowl, without exceeding its inner rim, when going to collect food.
31. Take care to adopt a respectful attitude when eating.
32. When eating, keep the attention on the bowl.
33. Eat the food one after the other, without rejecting any.
34. Eat a ratio of one part of curry to three parts of rice.
35. Not to take and eat food placed at the top of a heap of food, or flatten down a heap of food.
36. Not to hide the curry under the rice in order to obtain more.
37. Not to request and eat food if one is not ill.
38. Not to look at someone else's bowl with jealousy.
39. Not to eat by inserting large morsels in the mouth.
40. To prepare mouthfuls of suitable proportions.
41. Not to open the mouth before the food reaches its level.
42. Not to put the hand in the mouth, not even a finger.
43. Not to speak with a full mouth.
44. Not to throw pieces of food into the mouth.
45. Not to eat cutting pieces de food with the mouth.
46. Not to fill the mouth with food so that the cheeks are inflated.
47. Not to agitate the hands when eating.
48. Not to scatter the rice when eating.
49. Not to let the tongue out when eating.
50. Not to make noise in opening the mouth when eating.
51. Not to make noise (slurp) when absorbing a liquid.
52. Not to leak one's hand.
53. Not to wipe the inside of the bowl (or the plate) when eating.
54. Not to leak the lips when eating.
55. Not to hold a vessel of water or a plate with a dirty hand.
56. Not to throw (a bowl's) washing up water containing rice in an inhabited area.
57. Not to teach the dhamma to someone holding an umbrella (unless he is ill).
58. Not to teach the dhamma to someone holding a walking stick (unless he is ill).
59. Not to teach the dhamma to someone holding a cutting object (unless he is ill).
60. Not to teach the dhamma to someone holding a weapon (unless he is ill).
61. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who is wearing shoes (unless he is ill).
62. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who is wearing sandals (unless he is ill).
63. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who is inside a vehicle (unless he is ill).
64. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who is lying down (unless he is ill).
65. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who is sitting with the knees raised and the arms around (unless he is ill).
66. Not to teach the dhamma to someone wearing a turban (unless he is ill).
67. Not to teach the dhamma to someone whose head is covered (unless he is ill).
68. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who sits on a rug spread on the ground while sitting directly on the ground (unless he is ill).
69. Not to teach the dhamma to someone sitting at a higher level (unless he is ill).
70. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who is sitting while one is standing (unless he is ill).
71. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who is walking ahead (unless he is ill).
72. Not to teach the dhamma to someone who walks on a footpath while one is walking to the side of this footpath (unless he is ill).
73. Not to defecate or urinate standing up (unless required by medical reasons).
74. Not to defecate, urinate, or spit on the grass or on green plants (unless a medical reason prevents doing otherwise).
75. Not to defecate, urinate, or spit in proper water (unless a medical reason prevents doing otherwise).

The 7 adhikaranasamathas

1. Settling a conflict by confrontation.
2. Settling a conflict by taking into account the reputation of a bhikkhu.
3. Settling a conflict by taking into account the insanity of a bhikkhu.
4. Settling a conflict after an admission.
5. Settling a conflict by a majority decision.
6. Settling a conflict by judgement of the ill will of a bhikkhu.
7. Settling a conflict by covering the act with grass.

See also: Other faults (out of pātimokkha)