Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pc 148Inviting

– DHARMAGUPTAKA VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

RULE 148

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Bhagavān was dwelling in the garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the Jeta Grove, at the city of Śrāvastī. At that time, a certain householder invited the community of bhikkhunīs to come and take a meal the following morning. During the night, he prepared various delicious and nourishing foods. The next morning, he came to invite the community of nuns to come and eat.

On that day, it happened to be a festival in the city of Śrāvastī, and various householders brought food—fish, meat, cooked rice, dried rice, flour cakes—and offered it to the bhikkhunīs. The bhikkhunīs accepted this food and ate it. Only afterward did they go to the householder's home to eat. At that time, the householder, with his own hands, prepared rice and soup to offer to the bhikkhunīs. The bhikkhunīs said:

"Please, please, householder, do not serve so much."

The householder said:

"I have prepared an abundance of delicious and nourishing foods, a bowl of meat for each of you—all for the sake of the nuns. Do not think that I lack faith and therefore do not partake. Please eat freely; I am truly of faithful heart."

The bhikkhunīs said:

"We do not think so! It is just that today is a festival day, and various householders brought food—fish, meat, cooked rice, dried rice, flour cakes, and other delicious and nourishing things—to the monastery as offerings to the bhikkhunīs. We had already eaten before coming here. That is why we eat only a little."

When the householder heard this, he was full of resentment: "These bhikkhunīs have no sense of restraint or contentment. They outwardly claim to know the true Dharma—but where is the true Dharma in this? Having already accepted my invitation, how could they accept food from others and eat, and only then come to take a meal at my house?"

The bhikkhunīs who heard of this—among them those who were of few desires and contentment, who lived the austere practices, who delighted in training in the precepts, who knew shame—rebuked the other bhikkhunīs: "Having already accepted the householder's invitation, how could you afterward accept other food?"

The bhikkhunīs reported the matter to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus went and reported it to the Blessed One. He used this occasion to assemble the community of bhikkhus and reproached the bhikkhunīs:

"What you have done is wrong, improper in conduct, not in accord with the Dharma of a renunciant, not pure conduct, not befitting behavior—you have done what should not be done. Having already accepted the householder's invitation, how could you afterward accept other food?"

Having reproached them with numerous skillful means, the Buddha said to the bhikkhus:

"These bhikkhunīs are a field in which many defiled seeds are planted, and they are the first to commit this offense. From this day forward, I shall lay down a rule for the bhikkhunīs, comprising ten principles of meaning, up to and including the phrase 'so that the true Dharma may long endure.'"

The rule should be stated as follows:

Whatever bhikkhunī, having previously accepted an invitation, or having already eaten to her fill, afterward eats cooked rice, dried rice, flour cakes, fish, or meat—pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE RULE

Bhikkhunī: as explained above.

Whatever bhikkhunī, having previously accepted an invitation, or having already eaten to her fill, afterward eats cooked rice, dried rice, flour cakes, fish, or meat belonging to another—for each mouthful eaten, a pācittiya.

For a bhikkhu, a dukkaṭa. For a sikkhāmānā, a sāmaṇera, or a sāmaṇerī, a dukkaṭa. These are called offenses.

Non-offense: if one accepted an invitation that did not involve a principal meal; or if the invitation was for less than a full meal; or if one had not previously accepted an invitation; or if additional food was received right at the time of eating; or if at that same house the prior and subsequent meals were treated as a single occasion—in all such cases there is no offense.

Those who do not commit an offense: one who commits the act for the first time before the rule has been laid down; one who is insane, of disturbed mind, or overcome by severe pain and distress.

Vietnamese translation: Bhikkhu Thích Đỗng Minh and Thích Đức Thắng. DHARMAGUPTAKA VINAYA, PART ONE

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

(Chinese translation, fascicles 1–21; Vietnamese translation, volumes 1–2)

Buddhist Publication Committee, 2002