the doing of, the performing of, the participation in, the consent to, the agreement to, the non-objection to that legal procedure of majority decision. When a legal issue has been resolved like this, if any of the participants reopen it, they incur an offense entailing confession for the reopening. If anyone who gave their consent criticizes the resolution, they incur an offense entailing confession.” The three kinds of voting At one time at Sāvatthī a legal issue had come about in this way. But there were monks who were dissatisfied with how the Sangha at Sāvatthī had resolved it. They heard that in a certain monastery there was a number of senior monks who were learned and masters of the tradition; who were experts on the Teaching, the Monastic Law, and the Key Terms; who were knowledgeable and competent, had a sense of conscience, and were afraid of wrongdoing and fond of the training. They thought, “If these senior monks resolve this legal issue—according to the Teaching, the Monastic Law, and the Teacher’s instruction—then it will be properly disposed of.” They then went to that monastery and said to those senior monks,