Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c10.t1.19

c10.t1.19

∗ The wording of the formula shows beyond doubt, that according to the original intention anyone who felt himself guilty of a transgression, had at this point to confess it before the Order. The later texts (“Khandhaka”) give directions which are at variance with this construction. No one could carry unatoned guilt with him into the confessional meeting. He had previously to confess and, where any penance is attached, perform it. Also when he calls to mind an offence first only during the celebration, he has not to answer the question of the leader, but he has to absolve himself, by anticipation as it were, for the period of the celebration, by saying to his neighbour: “Friend, I have committed this and that offence; when I shall have risen from this place, I shall purify myself therefrom.” Whoever was cognizant of the transgression of another, had to hold the guilty party to penance before the celebration of the confession, or “to forbid the confession” in his case by veto, until he had complied with his duty. We see in this maxim: “No man, on whom a transgression lies, is allowed to keep the ceremony of the fast-day” (“Mahâvagga,” ii, 27; cf. “Cullavagga,” ix, 2) clearly the more scrupulous conception of a late period, as compared with the old institution, which had created the observance of the fast-day quite particularly for those who were burdened by a sense of guilt.