San Mu Bu Pm GBM 3 Np 27Keeping Robes while Staying in Risky Regions
Pāli / Sanskrit:Sāsaṅka
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The Sāsaṅka Sutta: Keeping the Robe in Dangerous Regions
Background
The Sāsaṅka Sutta is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically within the section on the Pātimokkha and the disciplinary rules of the Sangha. The name "Sāsaṅka" is connected to the image of the moon (sāsaṅka = the hare on the moon in Indian legend), a metaphor for wisdom and careful conduct. This sutta has been transmitted from the time of Śākyamuni Buddha, when bhikkhus traveling on almsround or practicing the Dharma passed through dangerous regions—places inhabited by bandits, wild animals, or localities where Buddhism was not respected.
Bhikkhus customarily wear the robe (cīvara) to signify renunciation, enabling others to recognize them easily as monastics. However, in remote and dangerous lands, the robe could become a source of danger—for it makes a monastic readily identifiable, easily tracked, or liable to be attacked and robbed by those of ill intent.
Main Content
The Sāsaṅka Sutta teaches that when a bhikkhu must pass through regions where safety cannot be assured, he is permitted to conceal his robe beneath ordinary cloth (ucchāsa-patta). This does not constitute a violation of the disciplinary rules, since the purpose is self-protection and the preservation of one's life—and a fundamental aspect of sīla (moral conduct) is safeguarding one's own well-being and life.
The Buddha teaches that a monastic should not actively seek to draw attention to himself or demonstrate that he is a bhikkhu if doing so would place him in a situation where his life is threatened. The discipline of the Sangha was established to support the members' practice, not to cause them harm. Therefore, appropriate flexibility (atthakāma) in exceptional circumstances is recognized by the Buddha.
Nevertheless, the sutta also emphasizes that this applies only in cases of genuine danger.
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