Sacred Texts: Buddhism

Buddhism in Translations - § 83. The Buddhist Confession of Priests.

Henry Clarke WarrenPali Canon TranslationsTheravada Buddhism

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This text pairs a canonical Buddhist scriptural passage — drawn from the Mahavagga section of the Pali Vinaya Pitaka — with a Victorian-era eyewitness account of the Patimokkha ceremony as actually observed in Ceylon in 1874. The scriptural portion narrates the institutional origin of the Patimokkha: King Bimbisara of Magadha prompts the Buddha to have monks assemble publicly on fast days, as rival ascetic sects already did; when monks initially met in silence and were mocked as "dumb hogs," the Buddha prescribed that they recite a formal confession of all monastic precepts, making communal public confession the core fast-day ritual. The confession procedure outlined is notably legalistic — silence implies innocence, but deliberate concealment of a remembered sin after three public proclamations constitutes a "conscious falsehood," itself declared a deadly sin. The eyewitness account (likely by a Western scholar given JRAS citations) describes attending the ceremony at the ruined Lohapasada, or Brazen Palace, in Anuradhapura under the ancient Bo-tree, offering a rare outsider's view of mutual private confession between pairs of priests, hierarchical public absolution ranked by seniority of ordination, and liturgical prayers to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The text is distinctive for showing Buddhist communal practice as having partly competitive, institutional origins — a pragmatic response to rival sects winning popular adherents — and for grounding an ancient text in a concrete, richly described living ceremony.

Buddhism in Translations - § 83. The Buddhist Confession of Priests.

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