Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Dh Pc 149Sunshades and Sandals
Pāli / Sanskrit:Chattupāhana
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Chattupāhana Discourse: Sunshades and Sandals
Background
The Chattupāhana discourse (sunshades and sandals) is found in the Pātimokkha Dhamma, in the Pācittiya section (offenses requiring confession) of the Vinaya Piṭaka, the collection of detailed prohibitions for monastics and bhikkhunīs. The background for the appearance of this discourse concerns the daily life of the Sangha community when Buddhism was still young in ancient India.
The Teacher, the Sage of the Śākyas, emphasized that the Vinaya rules are not rigid and unchanging regulations, but teachings arising from specific situations in the community of practice. Chattupāhana reflects the Buddha’s concern for self-mastery, simplicity, and avoiding disturbance to the practice of renunciants.
Main Content
This discourse provides that a bhikkhu must not actively ask laypeople to provide him with objects such as a sunshade (chatta) or sandals (pāhana). If a monk personally asks for them, or subtly hints so that others bring these things, he commits a Pācittiya offense, an offense requiring confession.
However, the discourse does not completely forbid possessing such articles. If laypeople offer them voluntarily, or a bhikkhu receives them from others without an intention of seeking them, there is no offense. For example, if a bhikkhu is suffering from excessive sun, and a layperson sees this and of his own accord sets up a shade for him, that is not an offense.
The purpose of this rule is to protect the spirit of "the requisites of one gone forth" (pabbajjitassa paccaya), that is, the minimum necessities for a renunciant. In the Vinaya, a bhikkhu is permitted to have two robes, an alms bowl, bedding, a belt, and a few other daily necessities. Sunshades and sandals lie outside the list of essentials; therefore, actively accumulating them violates the spirit of simplicity.
Practical Meaning
The Chattupāhana discourse teaches a profound lesson about the difference between true need and endless desire.
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