Lzh Dg Bu Vb Pc 15Leaving Bedding Outside

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

15. SPREADING BEDDING IN THE SAṄGHA'S DWELLING

A. ORIGIN

At one time, the Buddha was staying in the park of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the Jeta Grove, in the country of Sāvatthī. At that time, a visiting bhikkhu said to the resident bhikkhus:

"I will spread the Saṅgha's bedding in the adjoining room of the Saṅgha to rest."

Afterward, without informing the resident bhikkhu, he departed. The Saṅgha's bedding became rotten and decayed, gnawed and discolored by insects and ants. During morning meals, midday meals, evening Dhamma talks, and recitation of the Precepts, the resident bhikkhu did not see the visiting bhikkhu present, and so the resident bhikkhu thought: "Why do I not see the visiting bhikkhu? Has he passed away, gone far away, returned his precepts to become a layman, been seized by bandits, devoured by wild beasts, or swept away by water?" The resident bhikkhu then went to that room and saw the Saṅgha's bedding rotten and decayed, gnawed and discolored by insects and ants. Having seen this, the resident bhikkhu reproached that visiting bhikkhu, saying:

"How is it that the visiting bhikkhu told me he would use the Saṅgha's bedding, spreading it in the adjoining room to sleep, yet when he departed he did not tell me, causing the Saṅgha's sitting mats to be gnawed and damaged by insects and ants, discolored and rotten?"

Among the bhikkhus who heard of this, those who were of few desires, content, who practiced the ascetic way, who were fond of training in the precepts, who possessed a sense of shame and remorse, reproached that visiting bhikkhu, saying:

"How is it that the visiting bhikkhu told the resident bhikkhu he would take the Saṅgha's bedding to spread in the adjoining room to sleep, yet when he departed he did not inform the resident bhikkhu, causing the Saṅgha's sitting mats to be gnawed and damaged by insects and ants, discolored and rotten?"

The bhikkhus went to the place of the Blessed One, paid homage at the Buddha's feet, and sat to one side; they then reported this matter in full to the Blessed One. The Blessed One thereupon used this matter to assemble the community of bhikkhus, and rebuked the visiting bhikkhu:

"What you have done is wrong, not in accord with proper conduct, not the way of a samaṇa, not pure practice, not conforming behavior — this is something that should not be done. How is it that you spread the Saṅgha's bedding in the adjoining room to sleep, yet when you departed you did not inform the resident bhikkhu, causing the Saṅgha's sitting mats to be gnawed and damaged by insects and ants, discolored and rotten?"

At that time, the Blessed One rebuked the visiting bhikkhu by means of countless skillful methods, and then said to the bhikkhus:

"These foolish ones are a field in which many defiled seeds are planted; they are the first to transgress this precept. From this day forward, I shall establish a precept for the bhikkhus, based on ten principles, up to and including the principle of causing the true Dharma to endure long."

The precept should be stated thus:

Whatever bhikkhu, in the Saṅgha's dwelling, spreads the Saṅgha's bedding — whether spreading it himself or instructing another to spread it — and sits or lies upon it, and upon departing neither puts it away himself nor instructs another to put it away: pācittiya.

B. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OFFENSE

Bhikkhu: meaning as above.

Property of the Saṅgha: as stated before.

Bedding, sleeping beds, sitting chairs, sleeping mattresses, sitting mats, pillows, floor coverings, and even woolen sleeping articles — if that bhikkhu wishes to spread the Saṅgha's bedding in the Saṅgha's dwelling, whether spreading it himself or instructing another to spread it, and then sits or lies upon it, and upon departing neither puts it away himself nor instructs another to put it away: if there is a resident bhikkhu, a steward, or a māmāṭī present in that place, he should say, "Please put this away for me." In the case where there is no one to entrust it to and one does not fear it will be damaged, one should move the bed away from the wall, raise the bed legs up high, place the pillow, mattress, and bedding inside, then cover them with other bedding and depart.

If one fears damage, one should hang the bedding, the felted woolen mattress, and pillow on the clothes rack, stand the bed upright, and then depart. That bhikkhu should do thus before departing. If he departs without doing so, going beyond the boundary: pācittiya.

If one foot is outside the boundary and one foot inside the boundary, and one then repents and does not depart, all such cases incur a dukkaṭa. If one intends to depart but does not, this incurs a dukkaṭa. If one has departed and returns immediately, or if one has spent two nights outside the boundary, before dawn of the third night — if one returns to the room oneself, or sends someone, or tells the māmāṭī or the steward, "Please watch over this property" — these are permissible. If a bhikkhu departs and sleeps outside the boundary for two nights, and before dawn of the third night does not return to the room himself, and does not send someone to say, "Please watch over this property": pācittiya.

For a bhikkhunī: pācittiya. For a sikkhāmānā, a sāmaṇera, or a sāmaṇerī: dukkaṭa. These are called offenses.

Non-offense: if one spreads the Saṅgha's bedding with one's own hands, or instructs another to spread it, in order to sit or lie down; and when departing, if there is a resident bhikkhu, a māmāṭī, or a steward present, one says: "Please watch over this property; please act as māmāṭī here." If there is no one to entrust it to but one judges that it will not be damaged, one should move the bed away from the wall, place the bedding, pillow, and mattress on top of the bed, cover them doubly, and depart. If one fears damage, one should hang the bedding on the clothes rack, stand the bed upright, and then depart — doing thus before departing constitutes no offense.

If the dwelling collapses, catches fire, has a venomous snake inside, or there are bandits, tigers, wolves, or lions; if one is seized by a person of force, or is bound, or faces danger to one's life, or danger to one's celibacy; or if one will soon face an obstacle, or if one has slept outside the boundary for two nights, and before dawn of the third night, one returns oneself or sends someone to say to the resident bhikkhu, "Please watch over this property and act as māmāṭī." Or if the waterway is obstructed, or on the route there are bandits, tigers, wolves, or lions, or flooding;

if one is detained by a person of force, or is bound, or faces danger to one's life, or danger to one's celibacy, and one has spent two nights outside the boundary, and before dawn of the third night one cannot return oneself, and cannot send someone to say, "Please watch over this property and act as māmāṭī on my behalf" — all such cases constitute no offense.

Those who do not offend: one who commits an act for the first time before the precept has been established, one who is insane, one whose mind is deranged, or one who is tormented 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 by: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng.

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

Buddhist Publishing Committee, 2002.