Lzh Mu Bu Pm Np 6Asking an Unrelated Person for Robes
Pāli / Sanskrit:Aññātakaviññatti
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The Sutta on Asking for a Robe from an Unrelated Person
(Aññātakaviññatti — Vinaya Piṭaka)
Background
This text appears in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, specifically the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha, the discipline for women monastics. It is a practical rule concerning the exchange of monastic robes among members of the Sangha.
In the time of the Buddha, the Sangha grew to include thousands of disciples, among whom were people without blood relations or close personal ties. The issue of distributing communal robes (cīvara), the common property of the monastic community, became an ethical matter requiring careful regulation. The Vinaya Piṭaka records these rules in order to protect purity and avoid misunderstandings about personal motives in the giving of property.
The “Aññātaka” text, concerning an unrelated person or someone outside the Sangha, was established to address the situation in which a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī wishes to ask for a robe from someone who is not a member of the Sangha or closely related to them. This must follow certain rules in order to protect the purity of the act.
Main Content
The core regulation of this text concerns the exchange of communal robes by means of “notification” (viññatti), that is, through a public declaration before the Sangha or witnesses. This differs from giving a robe privately between two individuals.
When a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī wishes to request a robe from an “unrelated” person (aññātaka), someone who has no close relation and is not a blood relative, they must publicly express this intention before the Sangha or before suitable witnesses. This is not to forbid the act outright, but to make it transparent and unconcealed, thereby removing any possibility of suspicion about impure motives.
This rule emphasizes that the giving of monastic property must be carried out openly and sincerely, not through hidden channels or concealed motives.
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