Lzh Sarv Bi Pm Ss 4Receiving Food With Lust
Pāli / Sanskrit:Avassutā avassutassa
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Receiving Food with Lust Sutta (Avassutā avassutassa)
Background
This discourse belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka in the Pāli Canon of the Early Buddhist tradition. The Vinaya Piṭaka is the collection of rules of practice and communal discipline for monks and nuns, established by the Buddha to protect the purity of the fourfold assembly: bhikkhus, bhikkhunīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās.
The matter addressed in this discourse concerns the mental attitude when receiving food, especially when lust or craving (rāga) appears in the process of receiving it. This is not a trifling matter, but a profound dimension of how those gone forth govern their mindfulness in daily actions, especially in nourishing the body.
Main Content
This discourse teaches about the condition called “avassutā avassutassa”: when the one receiving food has a mind that is not fully clear (avassutā = not containing a thoroughly clarified mind), they receive food with a mind of lust (avassutassa = of one whose mind is not lucid). This is a subtle violation in Buddhist discipline.
Food received is not merely nourishment for the body. In the Buddha Dharma, food is regarded as a medicine (osadha), a tool for sustaining life so as to continue on the path of practice, not for satisfying desire or forgetting the purpose of going forth.
When a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī receives food with a mind of lust, they have allowed impurity (asucaka) to enter the mind from the very beginning of the receiving. This means that the object of reception, in this case food, is not handled as a neutral tool but is surrounded by craving (taṇhā): craving to enjoy, craving for the mind to be satisfied, or even craving to form habits from sensory pleasures.
Practical Meaning
This discourse teaches Buddhist practitioners a precious lesson about mindfulness in everyday actions.
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