Chapter 10

10 1.

1. 'There are ten cases, O Bhikkhus, in which the taking of votes is invalid; and ten in which the taking of votes is valid.

'Which are the ten in which the taking of votes is invalid? When the matter in dispute is trivial 2--when the case has not run its course (that is, when. the necessary preliminaries of submission to arbitration have not been carried out 3)--when regarding the matter in dispute the Bhikkhus have not formally remembered, or been formally called upon to remember, the offence 4--when the taker of votes 5 knows that those whose opinions are not in accordance with the law will be in the majority,

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or probably 1 may be in the majority--when he knows that the voting will result in a schism in the Samgha--when he is in doubt whether the voting will result in a schism in the Samgha--when the votes are irregularly given 2--when all do not vote equally 3--and when they do not vote in accordance with the view (which they really hold). These are the ten cases in which the voting is invalid 4.

2. 'And which are the ten cases in which the voting is valid?'

[The ten cases are precisely the reverse of the other ten.]

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