sudinna

SudinnaKalandakaputta

A monk who, after being ordained, returned to his former wife and had relations with her, thus becoming guilty of the first Pārājika offence. When there was a famine in the Vajji country, Sudinna went to Vesāli, hoping to be kept by his rich relations, to the mutual benefit of both parties. They gave him sixty bowls of rice, which he distributed among his colleagues. When he went to his father’s house, in Kalandakagāma, he saw a servant girl about to throw away some boiled rice and asked her to put it into his bowl. The girl, recognizing his hands and feet and voice, told his mother of his arrival. Both she and his father visited him as he was eating the rice, and his father took him by the hand and led him home. There he was provided with a seat and asked to eat: but he refused, saying he had already eaten. The next day he was again invited; he went, and they tried to tempt him back to the lay life. His former wife joined in the attempt, but on being addressed by him as “Sister,” she fell fainting. Then he begged for his meal, saying that if they desired to give it to him they should do so without worrying him. Later his wife visited him, with his mother, at the Mahāvana, and begged that he would give her a son, so that the Licchavis might not confiscate their wealth for want of an heir. Sudinna agreed, and had intercourse three times with her. She became pregnant, and in due course a son was born, who was called Bījaka. When Sudinna realized what he had done he was filled with remorse, and his colleagues, discovering the reason, reported him to the Buddha, who blamed him greatly. Vin.iii.11–21