Mpt Pc 40Asking for Fine Foods
Pāli / Sanskrit:Paṇītabhojana
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
The Discourse on Asking for Fine Food (Paṇītabhojana)
Background
The Discourse on Asking for Fine Food (Paṇītabhojana) is found in the Pātimokkha, in the Pacittiya section (Penance Rules), the rules of the Vinaya that govern the communal life of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. This discourse addresses a practical issue in early Buddhist society: monastics asking for unusual kinds of food (paṇīta-bhojana).
The historical context shows that during the Buddha's lifetime, bhikkhus had to live on whatever they received through almsround. However, some monastics began actively asking for tasty and nourishing foods, such as ghee, butter, fish, and meat, from people close to the monastery or from wealthy householders. This created problems: others could be prompted to bring valuable foods to the monastery, producing inequality and greed within the monastic community.
The Pātimokkha was compiled to preserve the spirit of practice and ensure equality and freedom from greed in the monastic community.
Main Content
According to Pācittiya rule number 40, a bhikkhu is not permitted to actively ask or hint that others should bring superior foods (paṇīta-bhojana). These foods include ghee, butter, oil, honey, molasses, fish, and meat.
If a bhikkhu directly asks or hints to a householder to bring these kinds of food, that bhikkhu commits a Pācittiya offense, that is, an offense requiring confession. This distinction is made not in order to reject good foods, but to eliminate greed, preference, and discrimination within the community of practice.
The discourse does not forbid a bhikkhu from receiving and eating these foods if someone voluntarily brings them. The essential point is: do not actively ask, do not prompt, do not be greedy.
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.