Lzh Sarv Bi Vb Ss 5Encouraging Receiving Food From One With Lust
Pāli / Sanskrit:Kiṁ te avassuto vā anavassuto vā
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Explanation of the Sutta: Encouraging Receiving Food from One with Craving
Background
This text is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, among the detailed regulations concerning the way of life of bhikkhunīs. It is not an independent discourse, but a disciplinary passage related to a practical issue in the Buddhist community: whether female practitioners may receive food from those who have sensual desire (chanda, craving or lust) without violating the conduct of diligence.
The background arises from a practical question in the early community of practice. Some members of the community had doubts about the legitimacy of receiving support from people still bound and entangled with elements of craving. The question is similar to the Pāli title of the text: “Kiṁ te avassuto vā anavassuto vā,” “Is that person bound or not bound?” It raises the relationship between the mental state of the donor and the purity of the receiver.
Main Content
This disciplinary text establishes an important principle: the purity or impurity of a bhikkhunī does not depend on the mental state or motive of the donor, but on the way the monastic receives and uses the food. The donor may have sensual desire (ratī, desire), but this does not defile the virtue of the receiver if she practices right view regarding impermanence, suffering, and non-self.
The core teaching of this disciplinary passage is that a bhikkhunī should not refuse food on the grounds that the donor “has craving.” Instead, she should focus on maintaining clear awareness (sampajañña) and right concentration (samādhi) when receiving and consuming the food. This reflects a basic principle of Theravāda Buddhism: it is not the nature of external things, but the way we use them, that determines our karma.
The disciplinary text also implicitly contains a message about humility and non-discrimination in the community. Refusing offerings from certain people can create division and self-conceit.
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