Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c10.t1.23

c10.t1.23

Next to the half-monthly confessional days the yearly recurring simple and beautiful celebration must be borne in mind, which bears the name of invitation (Pavâraṇâ). When the three months of the rainy season have gone by, before the wandering begins, the brethren in each diocese, who have passed this time in common retirement—they are for the most part friends closely attached to each other—unite in a solemn conference, in which every one, from the oldest to the youngest, sitting in a reverential attitude on the ground, raising his clasped hands, asks his spiritual comrades, if he has been guilty of any sin during this period, to name it to him. "Reverend sirs," it is then said, "I invite the Order, if ye have seen anything on my part, or have heard anything, or have any suspicion about me, have pity on me, reverend sirs, and speak. If I see it, I shall atone for it."*