Lzh Dg Bu Pm 2 Pd 3Receiving Food From Designated Families
Pāli / Sanskrit:Tatiyapāṭidesanīya
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Tatiyapāṭidesanīya Sutta: The Consequences of Receiving Food From Designated Families
Background
The Tatiyapāṭidesanīya is a pāṭidesanīya (pāti-desanīya), that is, one of the fourth category of training rules within the Pāṭimokkha—the ethical code governing monks and nuns. The pāṭidesanīya rules are not as grave an offense as the pārājika or saṅghādisesa, yet they still require confession (desanīya) before the Sangha. This text belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically to the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha (the code for female monastics), and reflects the careful regulation of training within the community of Buddhist nuns.
The context takes place in Sāvatthī, the capital of the kingdom of Kosala. The Blessed One observed that certain nuns were receiving food from families that had been designated in advance—typically close acquaintances or regular donors. Although this may outwardly appear to violate no rule, it is entangled with personal sentiment and improper preference, and can give rise to partiality, thereby causing harm to the spirit of communal harmony and equality within the Sangha.
Principal Content
The Tatiyapāṭidesanīya teaches that if a nun, out of a desire to receive fine food or out of personal affection, designates certain families from whom she will go to seek alms, such an action must be confessed (paṭidesanīya). Specifically, a nun should not say: "I shall visit this family or that family to receive food." Rather, she should cultivate purity of mind, free from discrimination, and accept food from whatever family she encounters in an impartial manner.
This offense arises from attachment (upādāna) to material benefit or to personal relationships, which runs contrary to the principles of the Dhamma concerning impermanence (anityatā) and non-self (anattā). When a monastic has "favored families," she easily falls into expectation, inequality of mind, and moral weakness.
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