Lzh Dg Bu Vb Sk 29Even Measure of Curry

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– ŚAIKṢA-KARAṆĪYA

RULE 29

Once, the Buddha was dwelling in the Anāthapiṇḍika Garden, the Jeta Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, a householder invited the Saṅgha to receive a meal the following morning. During the night he prepared a variety of fine and nourishing foods, and early in the morning came to inform the monks that it was time to eat.

When the time came, the monks put on their robes, took up their bowls, and went to the householder's home, seating themselves in their places. The householder, with his own hands, served food — rice and curry — to the Saṅgha. When he had finished serving the rice, he went inside the house to bring out the curry. By the time the curry was brought out, one of the monks had already finished all his rice.

The householder asked:

"Where has the rice gone?"

The monk replied:

"I have eaten it all."

After the householder had served the curry, he went back inside to bring out more rice. When the rice was brought out, the curry had already been eaten up.

The householder asked:

"Where has the curry gone?"

The monk replied:

"I have eaten it all."

The householder then felt indignant and said: "These Śākyan recluses have no sense of shame. They receive without knowing any restraint. Outwardly they claim to know the right Dharma — what kind of right Dharma is this? When the rice comes and the curry has not yet come, they have already eaten all the rice. When the curry comes and the rice has not yet come, they have already eaten all the curry. They are just like people who are starving!"

The monks who heard this — among them those of few desires and contentment, who practiced the ascetic rules, who were fond of training in the precepts and who knew shame and remorse — reproached the group of six monks: "Why do you, when receiving food, eat all the rice before the curry arrives, and eat all the curry before the rice has come?"

The monks went to the place where the Buddha was, paid homage at his feet, and sat to one side. They then reported this matter to the Blessed One fully and in detail. The Blessed One used this occasion to assemble the community of monks and rebuked the group of six monks:

"What you have done is wrong. It is not proper conduct, not the practice of a recluse, not pure conduct, not fitting behavior — it is something that should not be done. Why do you eat all the rice before the curry arrives, and eat all the curry before the rice has come?"

At that time the Blessed One, having rebuked them with many skillful means, said to the monks:

"These foolish men are a field for planting many seeds of the defiled outflows; they are the first to transgress this precept. From this day forward, I shall set forth a precept for the monks, comprising ten meaningful principles, up to and including the preservation of the right Dharma for a long time."

The precept should be stated as follows:

One should eat rice and curry in equal measure — this is a śaikṣa-karaṇīya.

Monk: as defined above.

"Not in equal measure" means: the rice comes, the curry has not yet come, and the rice is already gone; the curry comes, the rice has not yet come, and the curry is already gone. A monk who intentionally eats rice and curry unevenly commits a duṣkṛta offense requiring confession. Because it is done intentionally, the offense of improper conduct is a duṣkṛta. If done unintentionally, it is also a duṣkṛta.

For a bhikṣuṇī: duṣkṛta. For a śikṣamāṇā, a śrāmaṇera, or a śrāmaṇerī: duṣkṛta. These are called transgressions.

Non-offense: if one is afflicted with such an illness; or if one needs rice but not curry, or needs curry but not rice; or if it is close to midday; or if there is danger to one's life or to one's practice of the holy life and one must eat quickly — in all such cases there is no offense.

Those who do not offend: one who transgresses before the precept has been promulgated; one who is insane, mentally disturbed, or tormented and overcome by severe pain.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated by: Bhikṣu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Publication Committee, 2002