Lzh Dg Bu Vb Pc 16Encroaching on a Monastic

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

16. ENCROACHING ON A SLEEPING PLACE

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, the group of six bhikkhus and the group of seventeen bhikkhus were in the country of Kosala, traveling along a road to another settlement, where there was no monastery for bhikkhus. At that point, the group of seventeen bhikkhus said to the group of six:

"You go ahead and find a place to rest."

The group of six said:

"Find it yourselves. What does it have to do with us?"

Since the group of six bhikkhus were the elders with respect to the group of seventeen, the group of seventeen addressed the group of six as follows:

"You are our elders. The elders should find a resting place first. We will find one afterward."

The group of six said:

"You go. We have no need to find a place to rest."

Thereupon, the group of seventeen bhikkhus went to find a place to rest. Having found one, they spread out their sleeping mats and rested. The group of six bhikkhus, knowing that the group of seventeen had found a resting place and had already spread out their sleeping mats, came and said:

"Stand up. You must rest according to order of seniority."

The group of seventeen said:

"We cannot stand up and give way to you."

The group of six asked:

"How many rains do you have?"

The group of seventeen replied:

"You elders are truly our superiors. Earlier, we had asked the elders to go first and find a resting place, after which we would find our own. Now we have found ours, and we cannot move."

At that point, the group of six bhikkhus forcibly spread their bedding in the middle and lay down to sleep. The group of seventeen bhikkhus cried out loudly:

"Venerables, do not do this! Venerables, do not do this!"

At that time, other bhikkhus heard this. Among those who heard, there were those who were of few desires, who were content, who practiced the ascetic disciplines, who were fond of training in the precepts, who knew shame and remorse. They criticized the group of six bhikkhus, saying:

"O group of six bhikkhus, why, when the group of seventeen bhikkhus had found the resting place first, did you come afterward and forcibly spread your bedding in the middle to sleep?"

Those bhikkhus went to where the Blessed One was, bowed their heads at the feet of the Buddha, then sat to one side and reported this matter in full to the Blessed One. The Blessed One thereupon used this matter as the occasion to convene the assembly of bhikkhus and rebuked the group of six bhikkhus:

"What you have done is wrong, not in accordance with proper conduct, not in accordance with the practice of a samaṇa, not in accordance with pure conduct, not in accordance with proper behavior—it is something that should not have been done. O group of six bhikkhus, why, when the group of seventeen bhikkhus had found the resting place first, did you come afterward and forcibly spread your bedding in the middle to sleep?"

At that time, after the Blessed One had rebuked the group of six bhikkhus with numerous skillful means, he said to the bhikkhus:

"These foolish men are a source for sowing many defiled seeds; they are the first to commit this offense. From now on, I shall lay down a rule for the bhikkhus, comprising ten points of meaning, up to and including the clause that the true Dharma may long endure."

The precept should be stated as follows:

Whichever bhikkhu, knowing that another bhikkhu has already taken a resting place, arrives afterward and deliberately inserts himself in the middle, spreading out his bedding to rest, with the thought: 'If that person finds it crowded, he can move elsewhere'—acting for this reason and no other, which is not in accordance with proper conduct, commits a pācittiya.

The Blessed One laid down the rule for the bhikkhus in this way. At that time, there were bhikkhus who did not know in advance whether someone had already taken that resting place or not; only afterward did they learn that someone had come first, and so they performed the pācittiya confession, or they were cautious. The Buddha said:

"If one does not know, there is no offense."

Henceforth the precept should be stated as follows:

Whichever bhikkhu, knowing that it is a resting place already taken by another bhikkhu, arrives afterward and deliberately inserts himself in the middle, spreading out his bedding to rest, with the thought: 'If that person finds it crowded, he can move elsewhere'—acting for this reason and no other, which is not in accordance with proper conduct, commits a pācittiya.

B. THE NATURE OF THE OFFENSE

Bhikkhu: as defined above.

In the middle: meaning at one end by the head, at one end by the feet, or at one side of the two flanks.

Bedding: spreading grass on the ground, spreading leaves on the ground, spreading felt to lie upon.

Whichever bhikkhu, knowing that another bhikkhu has already chosen a resting place, arrives afterward and deliberately inserts himself in the middle and spreads out his bedding to rest—for each turning of the body such that the flank touches the bed, he commits a pācittiya.

For a bhikkhunī, a pācittiya. For a sikkhāmānā, a sāmaṇera, or a sāmaṇerī, a dukkaṭa. This is called an offense.

Non-offense: If one did not know beforehand; or if one speaks with the person lying there first; or if the door is open; or if the place is spacious and without obstruction; or if there is an acquaintance. If an acquaintance says: "Go ahead and spread your mat inside and sleep. I will speak to the owner." Or if one falls to the ground; or if due to illness one rolls and falls upon the other. Or if one is taken by force, or bound and confined, or if there is danger to life, or danger to the holy life—in all these cases there is no offense.

Those who do not commit an offense: one who commits it for the first time before the rule was promulgated; one who is insane, mentally deranged, or afflicted with pain and compelled by it.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Edited and annotated by: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Publication Committee, 2002