Lzh Mg Bu Pm Pd 1Receiving Food in a Dangerous Region
Pāli / Sanskrit:Catutthapāṭidesanīya
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Catutthapāṭidesanīya Sutta: Receiving Almsfood in a Dangerous Region
Background
The Catutthapāṭidesanīya (the fourth Pāṭidesanīya) belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, in the section that regulates the conduct of bhikkhunis. This text was recorded in the context of the Buddha and his disciples traveling through desolate, dangerous regions, or places where difficulties arose concerning food and safety. These regulations came into being to ensure that bhikkhunis both maintained their precepts with integrity and preserved their own lives and the wellbeing of the faithful in such places.
In the Theravāda tradition, the Vinaya Piṭaka is not merely a collection of rigid prohibitions, but a body of wise guidance intended to protect the harmony of the monastic community, to sustain the Dharma over the long term, and to enable ethical action appropriate to each circumstance. The Catutthapāṭidesanīya reflects this principle of flexibility.
Principal Content
This text addresses the situation in which bhikkhunis travel through difficult regions—places where food is scarce or dangers pose a threat. The question raised is this: in such circumstances, is a bhikkhuni permitted to receive food from sources that would ordinarily be prohibited, in order to preserve her vitality and continue her practice?
The Buddha sets forth four situations in which bhikkhunis are permitted not to observe certain ordinary rules regarding the receiving of almsfood (bhojane pāṭidesanā). These are conditions that are "to be publicly acknowledged" (pāṭidesanīya)—meaning that bhikkhunis must themselves admit and openly declare to the community that they have not followed the rule in such a case, so that the community may be informed. The word pāṭidesanīya means "that which is to be publicly acknowledged."
The four cases typically concern: (1) a region afflicted by disease or severe scarcity of food; (2) circumstances in which bhikkhunis are stranded or isolated; (3) places where danger arises from wild animals or violent persons; and (4) other similar circumstances.
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