Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pc 70Garlic

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

RULE 70

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Blessed One was dwelling in the Gabled Hall by the Monkey River at Vesālī. At that time, in a certain area there was a garlic garden. The bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā was passing not far from the garlic garden. The owner of the garden asked:

"Sister, do you need garlic?"

She said:

"Yes."

The garden owner then gave her garlic. Having received it, thereafter she regularly passed not far from the garlic garden again. Each time she saw the garden owner, he would ask:

"Sister, do you need garlic again?"

She said:

"Yes. When I have garlic, I can eat my meal."

The garden owner offered garlic to her and instructed the garden keeper, saying, "From now on, each day give every bhikkhunī five bulbs of garlic."

Afterward, the garden owner left the garden keeper at home and himself took garlic into Vesālī to sell.

At that time, the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā returned to the monastery and said to the bhikkhunīs:

"Do you all know? At the garlic garden in such-and-such a place, there is a donor of such-and-such a name who each day provides every bhikkhunī five bulbs of garlic. You may go there to receive them."

At that time, Sthūlanandā led the śrāmaṇerīs and the śikṣamāṇās to the garlic garden and asked the garden keeper:

"Where is the garden owner?"

The garden keeper replied:

"The garden owner has taken garlic into Vesālī to sell. What is your business, Sisters?"

Sthūlanandā said:

"The garden owner promised to provide every bhikkhunī five bulbs of garlic each day. We have come to receive our share."

The garden keeper said:

"Please wait for the owner to return. I do not dare act on my own authority. I am only here to watch over things."

The bhikkhunī said:

"The garden owner gives the offering, yet the servant refuses to hand it over."

Sthūlanandā then told the śrāmaṇerīs to pull up the garlic, count it, and distribute it: this is the portion for the senior elder, this is the portion for the junior elder, this is the portion for the preceptor and ācārya, this is the portion for those sharing the same preceptor and the same ācārya, this is the portion for relatives and acquaintances, this is the portion to eat today, this is the portion to eat tomorrow, this is the portion for the day after tomorrow. Thereupon the entire garlic garden was pulled clean. When the garden owner returned and saw that the garlic was all gone, he asked the garden keeper:

"Where has all the garlic gone?"

The garden keeper reported:

"Previously, because the owner was devoted to the religion, he provided five bulbs of garlic each day to every bhikkhunī. Just now some śrāmaṇerīs and śikṣamāṇās came and asked me, 'Is the garden owner at home today?' I said, 'The garden owner has gone into Vesālī to sell garlic. What is your business?' The nuns said, 'The garden owner promised to provide every bhikkhunī five bulbs of garlic each day; we have come to receive our share.' I said, 'Please wait for the owner to return.

I only know how to watch over things; I am not in full authority.' The bhikkhunī said, 'The garden owner gives the offering, but the servant refuses to hand it over.' Having said that, they told the śrāmaṇerīs to pull up the garlic, count it, and distribute it: this is the portion for the senior elder, this is the portion for the junior elder, this is the portion for the preceptor, this is the portion for the ācārya, this is the portion for those sharing the same preceptor, this is the portion for those sharing the same ācārya, this is the portion for relatives and acquaintances, this is the portion to eat today, this is the portion to eat tomorrow, this is the portion to eat the day after tomorrow.

Everyone had a share to eat, and so the entire garlic garden was pulled up."

The garden owner then gave rise to reproach, saying:

"These bhikkhunīs have no sense of shame or remorse. They receive without being sated and do not know sufficiency. Outwardly they proclaim, 'I know the true Dharma.' What sort of true Dharma is this? Even when a donor gives, one should still know sufficiency—how much more so when there is no owner at home, yet they pull up all of another person's garlic!"

The bhikkhunīs heard of this, and among them those who had few desires, knew contentment, practiced the ascetic disciplines, were fond of training in the precepts, and had a sense of shame and remorse, reproached the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā: "How could you pull up all of another person's garlic, eat it, and carry it all away without leaving even a single bulb?"

The bhikkhunīs went and reported the matter to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus went and reported it to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, on account of this cause and condition, assembled the community of bhikkhus and rebuked the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā:

"What you did was wrong—it is not in accordance with proper conduct, not the practice of a śramaṇa, not pure conduct, not conforming behavior; you did what ought not to be done. When there was no owner present, how could you pull up all of another person's garlic?"

The Blessed One rebuked her with numerous skillful means and then told the bhikkhus:

"In times past, there was a brahmin one hundred and twenty years old, thin and emaciated of body. The wife of this brahmin was beautiful beyond compare and had given birth to many sons and daughters. This brahmin was deeply attached to his wife and children and never wished to relinquish them.

Because of this extreme attachment, when he died he was reborn among the geese, with feathers of pure gold all over his body. Through the meritorious causes and conditions cultivated in past lives, he spontaneously recalled his former existence and thought: 'By whatever means possible, I must help provide for the livelihood of my children, so that they may not suffer poverty.' Every day the goose would fly to his former home, let fall one golden feather, and then fly away.

The children, finding the golden goose feathers, thought: 'For what reason does this king of geese fly here every day, drop a golden feather for us, and then fly away? Let us wait until it comes and ambush and catch it, and pluck all its golden feathers.' Then they caught it and took its golden feathers. But once plucked, the feathers grew back as white feathers."

The Buddha said to the bhikkhus:

"The brahmin of that time who died and was reborn as a goose—he was none other than the garden owner. His beautiful wife who bore many children was the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā. The sons and daughters of the brahmin and his wife were precisely those śikṣamāṇās, śrāmaṇerīs, and so forth. Because of craving and attachment, the golden feathers of the bird were exhausted and white feathers grew in their place. Now, again, because of craving and attachment, all the garlic has been pulled up, leading to poverty."

The Blessed One rebuked the bhikkhunī Sthūlanandā with numerous skillful means and then said to the bhikkhus:

"This bhikkhunī is a ground where many seeds of defilement are planted; she is the first to commit this offense. From this time forward, I shall lay down the precept for the bhikkhunīs, comprising ten principles of meaning, down to the phrase: 'so that the true Dharma may long endure.'"

Wishing to proclaim the precept, it should be stated thus:

Whatever bhikkhunī eats garlic: pācittiya.

B. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OFFENSE

Bhikkhunī: the meaning is as above.

Whatever bhikkhunī eats raw garlic, cooked garlic, or minced garlic—with each mouthful she commits one pācittiya.

A bhikkhu: dukkaṭa. A śikṣamāṇā or śrāmaṇerī: dukkaṭa. This is called an offense.

Non-offense: if one suffers from some illness requiring the consumption of garlic wrapped in bread as medicine; or if other remedies have failed to cure the illness and garlic must be used as treatment; or if garlic is used to treat sores and abscesses—in all such cases there is no offense.

Those who do not commit an offense: one who commits it for the first time before the precept has been laid down; one who is insane, mentally deranged, or overcome and oppressed by pain.

Vietnamese translation: Bhikkhu Thích Đỗng Minh and Thích Đức Thắng. FOUR-PART 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 Editorial Board, 2002