The Anguttara-nikāya does not recognize a form of atonement for pārājika, just as the śikṣādattaka observance does not imply a re-evaluation of the nature of a pārājika offence. Instead, the latter only involves an institutionalization of an option already available earlier, namely to continue to live at a monastery in robes but without all the privileges that come with full ordination.

A clarification of a misunderstanding in Shayne Clarke’s earlier presentation of the śikṣādattaka “repentance.”