The no-offence clause says it is no offence for a monk to break each and every Patimokkha rule under the following four conditions: if done when mad, deranged, in severe pain, or if he is the first offender (ummattakassa, khittacittassa, vedanāṭṭassa, ādikammikassāti). I call these four terms the 'terminal terms' because they always lie at the end of the no-offence clause. In many rules, the four terms are abbreviated to two terms. This abbreviation is called elision.
Following the first six rules (i.e. four parajikas and two sanghadisesas) the remaining no-offence clauses have elided terminal terms, except three rules: Sanghadisesa 10 and 11 and Pacittiya 2. (Sanghadisesa 10 concerns persistent attempts to form a schism; Sanghadisesa 11, persistent support of schismatics; Pacittiya 2, insulting speech). Also unelided are the clauses of all the nuns’ rules.
The pattern of elisions is very regular. This suggests that there is no particular reason for the elisions. They were perhaps elided by scribes for practical reasons. It is hard to understand why the terminal terms of Sanghadisesa 10 and 11 and Pacittiya 2 are unelided. There is some variation in the pattern of elisions in different texts.
I examine the meaning and usefulness of the terminal terms in Appendix 16 .
PJ 1 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
PJ 2 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
PJ 3 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
PJ 4 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 1 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 2 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 3 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 4 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 5 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 6 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 7 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 8 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 9 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 10 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 11 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 12 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
SD 13 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
NP 1 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
NP 2 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
NP 3 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
NP 4 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
... and so on till...
NP 29 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
NP 30 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
P 1 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
P 2 ummattakassa khittacittassa vedanaṭṭhassa ādikammikassāti.
P 3 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
P 4 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
P 5 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
P 6 ummattakassa ādikammikassāti.
... and so on, to the end, Sekhiya 75.
All the nuns’ rules, except the Patidesaniya rules, have unelided terminal terms.
