Lzh Dg Bu Vb Pc 89Rainy-Season Robes

– DHARMAGUPTAKA VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

89. RAIN-BATHING ROBE

A. ORIGIN

At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the Anāthapiṇḍika Garden, Jeta's Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, Viśākhā-mātā heard that the Tathāgata had permitted monks to make rain-bathing robes, and so she had a great many rain-bathing robes made and sent people to bring them to the monastery as an offering to the monks. The monks, having received them, proceeded to distribute them among themselves.

The Buddha instructed:

"This type of robe should not be distributed in such a manner. From now on, if rain-bathing robes are received, they are to be given out according to seniority, beginning with the senior elder. If there are not enough, a record should be kept. When the next ones are received, they are to be given in that same order until all have received one."

Thereafter, when robes of great value were received, they were given out in order. The Buddha instructed:

"It should not be done in this way. They should be exchanged for the senior elders. Then the robes that the senior elders had previously received should be passed on to the junior elders. If there are still not enough to go around, one should take distributable communal property of the Sangha and give it out until all have received a share."

At that time, the group of six monks, having heard that the Tathāgata had laid down a rule permitting monks to make rain-bathing robes, proceeded to make for themselves many rain-bathing robes, both exceedingly long and exceedingly wide. Other monks, upon seeing this, asked: "The Tathāgata has laid down a rule permitting monks to keep three robes and no more. Whose robes are these?"

The group of six monks said:

"These are our rain-bathing robes."

The monks who heard this — among them those of few desires and contentment, who practiced the ascetic disciplines, delighted in training in the precepts, and had a sense of shame — reproached the group of six monks: "How could you make so many rain-bathing robes, both so long and so wide?"

The monks went to the Blessed One, bowed their heads at the feet of the Buddha, sat to one side, and reported this matter in full to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, on account of this matter, assembled the community of monks and reprimanded the group of six monks:

"What you have done is wrong — it is not proper conduct, not the way of a śramaṇa, not pure practice, not befitting behavior; it is something that ought not to be done. Why did you make so many rain-bathing robes, both so long and so wide?"

Having reprimanded the group of six monks by numerous expedient means, the Buddha addressed the monks:

"These foolish men are a field for planting many seeds of the āsravas; they are the first to commit this offense. From now on, I shall lay down a rule for the monks, comprising ten points of meaning, up to and including the enduring of the True Dharma for a long time."

The rule should be stated as follows:

Whatever monk makes a rain-bathing robe must make it to the proper measure. The proper measure here is: six spans in length and two and a half spans in width by the Buddha's hand, after cutting. If it exceeds this, pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE RULE

Monk: as defined above.

Rain-bathing robe: a robe used by monks to wear when bathing in the rain.

If a monk makes a rain-bathing robe in which the length does not conform to the proper measure while the width does, or the width does not conform to the proper measure while the length does, or both the length and the width do not conform to the proper measure — if he makes it with his own hands and it is completed, pācittiya; if it is not completed, dukkaṭa. If he has another person make it and it is completed, pācittiya; if it is not completed, dukkaṭa. If he makes it for another person, whether completed or not, dukkaṭa.

A bhikkhunī, dukkaṭa. A śikṣamāṇā, śrāmaṇera, or śrāmaṇerī, dukkaṭa. These are called offenses.

Non-offense: making it to the proper measure or smaller; or receiving one from another person and cutting and making it in accordance with the Dharma; or folding it double so as to make two layers — none of these constitute an offense.

Those who do not offend: one who commits a transgression for the first time before the rule has been laid down; one who is insane; one whose mind is disturbed; one who is overcome by illness and affliction.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka master Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Edited and annotated: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Publication Committee 2002