Lzh Dg Bu Pm 2 Sk 80Not Chew Tooth-stick Around Stupa
Pāli / Sanskrit:Not chew tooth-stick around stupa
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Scripture Commentary: Not Chewing a Tooth-stick Around a Stupa
Background
This scripture belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, the collection of rules for the community of monks and nuns. The Vinaya Piṭaka is not a teaching on ultimate truth, but a set of rules for communal life intended to protect the lineage of the noble community, maintain discipline, and educate the Sangha in ethics. This scripture records a specific rule concerning respectful conduct near a stupa, the most sacred symbol in Theravāda Buddhism.
The background for this rule appears when the Buddha or certain disciples did not respect the spirit of the sacred place and chewed tooth-sticks, a traditional means of oral hygiene, around stupas. This is not only a matter of hygiene or discipline, but reflects an attitude of mind: carelessness, distance, or even negligence in places worthy of reverence is a sign of an unfocused mind and a lack of awe before the Buddha’s Dharma.
Main Content
The Buddha laid down the rule that disciples must not chew tooth-sticks (danta-kaṭṭha) in the area around a stupa. This rule is recorded among the things taught by the Buddha in order to protect the purity of sacred places and to nurture reverence among the community of monks and nuns.
In ancient India, tooth-sticks were made from tree twigs and used to clean the teeth and mouth. Yet chewing a tooth-stick is an activity that may produce a state of “a-samādhi,” an unfocused and unmindful mind. Moreover, this action may leave small marks or remnants on sacred ground, affecting purity both in consciousness and in actual practice.
This rule is not meant to restrict personal convenience, but to educate: when we are near symbols of awakening, the mind should turn toward reverence and mindfulness. The stupa is a place of veneration for the Buddha’s Dharma, the spiritual center of the community of practice.
Practical Meaning
This scripture teaches that discipline is not a set of meaningless constraints, but a means of cultivation.
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