Lzh Mi Bu Pm Np 7Accepting Too Many Robes
Pāli / Sanskrit:Tatuttari
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Discourse on Accepting Too Many Robes
(Tatuttari - A Regulation on Robes)
Background
This text belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically the Pātimokkha Nuns’ Rules of the Theravāda tradition, where the training rules for bhikkhunīs are recorded. In the early period of the Buddhist community, when the Buddha was still alive, bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs lived according to practical guidance on how to live simply, step by step.
Disputes and problems arising in the monastic community led the Buddha to establish rules, the Vinaya. The matter of clothing, especially the robe (cīvara), is one of the important aspects because it is directly connected with simplicity, renunciation, and observance of communal discipline.
Main Content
Tatuttari deals with the situation in which a bhikkhunī accepts more robes than the prescribed number. According to the Vinaya, each bhikkhunī is permitted to possess three robes (tisacīvarika): the upper robe (uttarāsaṅga), the lower robe (antarvāsaka), and the outer robe (saṅghāti). This is not an arbitrary restriction but an expression of the Buddhist path, preserving simplicity and abandoning all desire for material things.
This text records a specific situation in which a bhikkhunī exceeded this limit. Such an act is considered a Pācittiya offense, a type of fault requiring confession and correction. The fault lies not only in the act of possession, but also in the attitude of desire and acquisitive craving. The Buddha established this rule to protect the spirit of training and maintain unity in the Sangha, the monastic community.
Accepting too many robes reflects greed, one of the three poisons (lobha), and this is the very root of suffering that the Buddha’s teaching seeks to eradicate.
Practical Meaning
For Theravāda practitioners today, this text is not only an administrative rule but a profound lesson in self-examination.
🌏 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.