Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c19.s9.8

v1.c19.s9.8

There were special procedures for the declaration of *Pārisuddhi* by a sick monk, for obtaining his consent to the ecclesiastical acts passed in the assembly, and for dealing with a monk who has become insane. The minimum number of members who could hold a Pātimokkha assembly was four; for declaration of Pārisuddhi only, the minimum number of bhikkhus required was two,² and in both the cases actual attendance of the members was indispensable. If there were only one bhikkhu in an *āvāsa*, he had to take to *adhiṭṭhāna*.³ The *pārisuddhi* of an assembly was obtained by making all the members declare individually that they had not committed any breach of the Pātimokkha rules during the preceding fortnight, or by making those who had committed any breach confess their offences. There were exceptional occasions when collective declaration of *pārisuddhi* was accepted.⁴