Upp Np 7Accepting Too Many Robes

EXPOSITION OF THE TATUTTARI SUTTA

Accepting Too Many Robes

Context

Tatuttari, or “Accepting Too Many Robes,” is part of the Nissaggiya Pācittiya, the rules concerning forfeiture, within the Pātimokkha, the fundamental code for monks and nuns in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the early tradition. These rules arose from specific situations in the early Sangha, when the Buddha and his disciples lived, studied, and practiced together.

This discourse is recorded in the Upasampada Nissaggiya, an important chapter on offenses connected with excessive possession in monastic clothing. The context appears when certain monastics, through greed or lack of vigilance, accepted too many robes beyond the actual needs of a practitioner. This violated the spirit of the Vinaya: reducing attachment to material things and focusing on the practice of liberation.

Main Content

The specific rule in Tatuttari concerns the number of robes that a monk or nun is permitted to possess. According to the early tradition, a monastic may accept at most three sets of ochre robes (cīvara) for replacement and washing. If a monk or nun accepts beyond this limit without following the proper procedure for handling it, such as failing to relinquish the extra robe within the prescribed time, that person commits a Pācittiya offense, an offense requiring acknowledgment and confession before the Sangha.

This rule does not arise from barrenness, but from wisdom in protecting the practitioner’s mind. The fewer material things there are, the more the sentimental mind is released. When monks and nuns accept too much clothing, they create conditions for ambition, fear of loss, and jealousy to arise. These feelings are basic chains of suffering (dukkha) according to the Buddha-Dharma.

This principle also expresses the spirit of the Sangha as a sharing community, where resources are used commonly and fairly. If one monastic stores up too much, this means taking away from other monastics, violating community and fairness.