Lzh Dg Bu Vb Pc 46Sending a Monastic Back from Almsround

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

46. SENDING AWAY WITHOUT GIVING FOOD

A. ORIGIN OF THE RULE

At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the Anāthapiṇḍika Garden, Jeta's Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, Upananda the Śākyan quarreled with other bhikkhus and was made to confess. Upananda harbored resentment in his heart. Afterward, Upananda the Śākyan said to a certain bhikkhu:

"Come with me into the village. I will give you food."

That bhikkhu agreed.

When the time for almsround came, Upananda put on his robe, took up his bowl, and entered the city of Śrāvastī together with that bhikkhu. He led him to an area where there was no food. Upananda wandered about everywhere. When it was nearly midday, Upananda calculated:

"If this bhikkhu leaves the city of Śrāvastī and returns to Jetavana, it will already be past noon."

Upananda then said to that bhikkhu:

"There has never been anyone as wicked as you!"

That bhikkhu asked:

"What offense have I committed?"

Upananda replied:

"Today you have caused me to receive no food. Venerable, go elsewhere quickly. If I sit or speak with you, it brings me misfortune. Sitting alone and speaking alone, I am at ease."

Having spoken thus to that bhikkhu, Upananda entered a place within the city of Śrāvastī where food was available and ate. Meanwhile, by the time that bhikkhu left the city of Śrāvastī and returned to Jetavana, it was already past midday, so he was unable to eat and had to go hungry.

The bhikkhus heard of this. Among them, those who were of few wishes, contented, who practiced the ascetic rules, who were fond of training in the precepts, and who had a sense of shame and remorse, reproached Upananda the Śākyan:

"How could you tell that bhikkhu to come with you into the village, saying you would give him food—and then in the end not give that bhikkhu any food, but instead say, 'Venerable, go elsewhere quickly. If I sit or speak with you, it brings me misfortune. Sitting alone and speaking alone, I am at ease'—and send that bhikkhu back to Jetavana? It was already past midday, and in the end he had to go hungry."

At that time, the bhikkhus went to where the Blessed One was, paid homage at the Buddha's feet, sat to one side, and reported this matter in full to the Blessed One. The Blessed One then, on account of this matter, convened the assembly of bhikkhus and rebuked Upananda the Śākyan:

"What you have done is wrong, unbecoming, not in accordance with the conduct of a samaṇa, not pure conduct, not fitting behavior—something that ought not to be done. How could you tell that bhikkhu to come with you into the village, saying you would give him food—and then in the end not give that bhikkhu any food, but instead say, 'Venerable, go elsewhere quickly! If I sit or speak with you, it brings me misfortune. Sitting alone and speaking alone, I am at ease'—and send that bhikkhu back to Jetavana? It was already past midday, and in the end he had to go hungry."

The Blessed One then, having rebuked Upananda the Śākyan with countless skillful means, said to the bhikkhus:

"This foolish person is a source of planting many seeds of the āsavas, and is the first to commit this offense. From now on, I shall establish a rule for the bhikkhus, comprising ten bases of meaning, up to and including the clause for the long endurance of the true Dharma."

The rule should be stated thus:

Whatever bhikkhu says to another bhikkhu, 'Venerable, come with me into the village; I will give you something to eat'—and that bhikkhu in the end does not give that other bhikkhu food, but says: 'Venerable, go elsewhere quickly! If I sit or speak with you, it brings me misfortune. Sitting alone and speaking alone, I am at ease'—with only that purpose and no other, intentionally sending him away, it is a pācittiya.

B. THE ANALYSIS OF THE RULE

Bhikkhu: as explained above.

Village: there are four kinds, as stated above.

Food: timely food (eating at the proper time).

If that bhikkhu says to this bhikkhu, "Come into the village; I will give you food"—and in the end that bhikkhu does not give this bhikkhu food, but instead says, "Venerable, go elsewhere quickly! If I sit or speak with you, it brings me misfortune. Sitting alone and speaking alone, I am at ease"—if that bhikkhu uses expedient means to send him away to a place where he can neither be seen nor heard, it is a pācittiya; to a place where he cannot be seen but can be heard, it is a dukkaṭa; to a place where he cannot be heard but can be seen, it is a dukkaṭa.

Using expedient means to send him away, if one oneself leaves the place where one can see and hear, it is a pācittiya; if one leaves the place where one can see and goes to a place where one can hear, or leaves the place where one can hear and goes to a place where one can see, it is a dukkaṭa.

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

Non-offense: if one has given food and then tells him to go; or if he is ill, or if his bearing is improper and those who see it are displeased, and one says, "You go; I will send food to the monastery"; or if the other party has broken the precepts, broken right view, or broken proper conduct; or if he has been formally charged in the assembly, or has been expelled, or is deserving of expulsion; or if there is a danger to life or a danger to the holy life—if one uses expedient means to tell him to go, and it is not out of hatred that one causes him to leave, then 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 rule has been established; one who is mentally deranged, one whose mind is disturbed, one who is afflicted with pain and overwhelmed by suffering.

---

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka master Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Studies Editorial Board, 2002