Lzh Dg Bu Vb Pc 58Hiding Robes

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

58. HIDING THE BELONGINGS OF A BHIKKHU

A. ORIGIN

At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the Anāthapiṇḍika Garden, Jeta's Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, a householder invited the Saṅgha to receive a meal the following morning, and that very night prepared various fine and nourishing foods and drinks. When dawn came, he sent word that the time to receive the meal had arrived.

At that time, the group of seventeen bhikkhus had set down their robes and bowls, sitting-cloths, and needle cases to one side, and were walking back and forth in a relaxed manner, waiting for the mealtime to arrive. The group of six bhikkhus watched for the moment when the group of seventeen, while walking back and forth, had their backs turned to the place where their belongings lay, and then took the robes, bowls, sitting-cloths, and needle cases of the seventeen and hid them. When the group of seventeen bhikkhus heard that the time for the meal had arrived, they discovered their belongings were gone and asked:

"Our robes, bowls, sitting-cloths, and needle cases were placed here — who has taken them away?"

The other bhikkhus asked:

"Where have you been?"

The group of seventeen replied:

"We were right here. We set our robes, bowls, sitting-cloths, and needle cases to one side and went walking back and forth, waiting for mealtime."

Meanwhile, the group of six bhikkhus was frolicking about in front. The other bhikkhus observed this, and seeing that the group of six was playing around, concluded that these were the ones who had hidden the robes and bowls.

Those bhikkhus who heard of this — among them those of few desires and contentment, who lived the ascetic practices, who were fond of training in the precepts, who knew shame — reproached the group of six bhikkhus: "Why did you take and hide the robes, bowls, sitting-cloths, and needle cases of the group of seventeen?"

The bhikkhus went to where the Blessed One was, paid homage at his feet, then sat to one side and reported this matter in full to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, on account of this matter, assembled the Saṅgha of bhikkhus and rebuked the group of six bhikkhus:

"What you have done is wrong, not in accord with proper conduct, not befitting a śramaṇa, not in keeping with pure practice, not a proper and conforming act — it is something that should not be done. Group of six bhikkhus, why did you wait until the group of seventeen bhikkhus had their backs turned while walking back and forth, and then take and hide their robes, bowls, sitting-cloths, and needle cases?"

Having rebuked the group of six bhikkhus with numerous means of instruction, the Blessed One said to the bhikkhus:

"These foolish men are a field in which many seeds of defilement are sown — they are the first to commit this offense. From this day forward, I shall lay down a precept for the bhikkhus, comprising ten bases of meaning, up to and including the purpose that the true Dharma may long endure."

The precept should be proclaimed as follows:

Whatever bhikkhu hides the robes, bowl, sitting-cloth, or needle case of another bhikkhu — whether hiding them himself or instructing another to hide them — even if only in jest, it is a pācittiya.

B. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRECEPT

Bhikkhu: as defined above.

A bhikkhu who hides the robes, bowl, sitting-cloth, or needle case of another bhikkhu, or who instructs another to hide them, even in jest: pācittiya.

For a bhikkhunī: pācittiya. For a śikṣamāṇā, a śrāmaṇera, or a śrāmaṇerī: a duṣkṛta. This is called an offense.

Non-offense: if one clearly knows the belongings of that person and, out of mutual consideration and goodwill, takes them into safekeeping; or if the belongings are left in an open place and are liable to be damaged by wind and rain, and so one takes them in; or if the owner of the belongings is by nature careless and leaves robes, bowl, sitting-cloth, and needle case scattered about carelessly, and one takes them in for the purpose of admonishing that person; or if one has borrowed another's robe to wear and that person has not put it away, and out of fear it may be lost one takes it in; or if, on account of these robes, bowl, and other belongings, there is danger to life or danger to the holy life, and so one takes them in — 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 precept has been established; one who is mentally deranged, one whose mind is disturbed, one who is afflicted and overcome by pain.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated by: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Studies Editorial Board, 2002