Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c10.6

c10.6

∗ Not, indeed, in the Pâtimokkha itself, but in another portion of the Church ordinances, bearing likewise the stamp of high antiquity, there is a clue which appears to point directly to the origin of the rules in question within Buddha's own lifetime. In the description of the persons who are not permitted to receive ordination, "he who has shed blood" appears. It cannot be meant that every one is rejected who has inflicted on another a bloody wound, for not even all murderers are excluded, but only parricides, matricides, and murderers of a holy man. Therefore it can hardly be doubted that the traditional explanation is correct, which