Lzh Mu Bu Vb Np 4Out-of-Season Robe Cloth
Pāli / Sanskrit:Akālacīvara
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The Sutta on Out-of-Season Robe-Cloth (Akālacīvara)
Background
The Akālacīvara Sutta, “out-of-season robe-cloth,” is one of the rules belonging to the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically in the Bhikkhunī Vibhaṅga of the Pāli tradition. This is the legal section regulating the use of cloth for sewing the robes of bhikkhunīs.
The background of this Vinaya sutta is connected with concrete situations in the community of monks and nuns while the Buddha was still alive. Bhikkhunīs, like bhikkhus, needed to follow strict rules regarding property and consumption. This was intended to train the mind in non-greed and non-attachment to material things, so that each bhikkhunī could devote herself fully to the path of practice.
The Vinaya Piṭaka is the most important sacred collection in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition because it is the foundation of the wisdom of renunciant life. Every rule, however small, contains a profound ideal of discipline and orientation of mind.
Main Content
The Akālacīvara Sutta states that bhikkhunīs are not permitted to use or store robe-cloth outside the prescribed seasons. According to tradition, each year has certain periods considered suitable for preparing and sewing outer robes. Using cloth outside these times is considered a violation.
The deeper reason for this rule lies in the spirit of voluntary simple living. Bhikkhunīs should not be drawn into storing up or worrying about clothing before the necessary time. This can lead to greed, attachment, or excessive anxiety, mental states contrary to the pure mind of one who has gone forth.
Specifically, a bhikkhunī violates Akālacīvara if she uses, stores, or allows another person to prepare robe-cloth outside the periods prescribed in the rule. This Vinaya rule is one of the lighter pācittiya offenses in the system of rules for bhikkhunīs, but a violation still needs to be confessed and remedied before the Sangha.
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