Lzh Mg Bu Pm Np 13Silk Blanket
Pāli / Sanskrit:Kosiya
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
The Silk Cloth Sutta (Kosiya Sutta)
Background
The Silk Cloth Sutta belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon of Theravāda Buddhism, recorded among the rules governing the life of the monastic community. This sutta appears in the context of the Blessed One and his disciples living according to strict principles of discipline, for the purpose of cultivating the mind and gradually attaining liberation.
The Vinaya Piṭaka is not merely a rigid code of rules, but also a body of profound teachings on awareness, responsibility, and the application of wisdom to daily life. The Kosiya Sutta addresses a matter that may appear trivial yet carries deep spiritual significance: how monastics make use of material requisites, particularly those that are allocated to them or offered as gifts of devotion.
Principal Content
Kosiya is the name of a precious silk cloth. Within the context of the Vinaya Piṭaka, this sutta records regulations concerning the use of robes and valuable requisites by bhikkhus. What is noteworthy is that the Buddha-Dhamma does not categorically prohibit the use of fine or valuable things; rather, it provides guidance on using them with right intention and right purpose.
The sutta records that when a bhikkhu receives silk cloth or precious robes from a donor, he must examine his own motivation and manner of use. There are three approaches: first, use arising from wrong causes, such as greed or attachment to beauty; second, use on account of illness, cold, or the need to protect the body; and third, use for the purpose of practice and liberation.
The Vinaya Piṭaka instructs that bhikkhus should make use of such requisites with full awareness, not allowing the mind to be drawn along by them. This reflects a core principle of Theravāda Buddhism: material things are not themselves the problem, but attachment and craving with regard to material things constitute the obstacle.
Practical Significance
The Kosiya Sutta teaches that a monastic may make use of material things without being enslaved by them.
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.