If the Sangha is ready, I’ll receive his confession.’ And he should say: ‘Do you recognize that offense?’ — ‘Yes, I recognize it.’ — ‘You should restrain yourself in the future.’ This is called the resolution of a legal issue. It’s been resolved face-to-face and by acting according to what’s been admitted. Face-to-face with what? Face-to-face with the Sangha, the Teaching, the Monastic Law, and the persons concerned. This is the meaning of face-to-face with the Sangha: the monks who should be present have arrived, consent has been brought for those who are eligible to give their consent, and no-one present objects to the decision. This is the meaning of face-to-face with the Teaching and the Monastic Law: the Teaching, the Monastic Law, the Teacher’s instruction—that by which that legal issue is resolved. This is the meaning of face-to-face with the persons concerned: both the one who confesses and the one he confesses to are present. This is the meaning of acting according to what’s been admitted: the doing of, the performing of, the participation in, the consent to, the agreement to, the non-objection to that legal procedure of acting according to what’s been admitted. When a legal issue has been resolved like this, if the receiver of the confession reopens it, he incurs an offense entailing confession for the reopening.