San Sarv Bi Pm Tf 44 Pd 1Asking for Milk

Khīraviññāpana Sutta (The Sutta on Asking for Milk)

Background

The Khīraviññāpana Sutta is found in the Vinaya Pitaka, in the Bhikkhuni Pātimokkha section (the precepts of bhikkhunis), concerning a particular case related to requesting permission and the rules of conduct between bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. In the historical context of the early Sangha, this sutta reflects a specific situation that occurred at Sāvatthi, where the Blessed Buddha was residing together with the Sangha.

During this period, the management of the community of women monastics began to receive more detailed regulations, in order to protect purity and order in practice. The rules were not mechanical constraints, but arose from actual events and were created by the Blessed Buddha to guide the ethics of the Sangha. The Sutta on Asking for Milk is one typical example of how the Buddha met practical problems and offered suitable solutions.

Main Content

The specific content of this sutta has not been fully translated in the existing materials. However, based on the title Khīraviññāpana (khīra = milk; viññāpana = request, petition), this sutta concerns a case in which a bhikkhuni or bhikkhu needs to ask for milk, and from that arise questions concerning the requesting of food, proper conduct, and observance of the training rules in particular situations.

In the Theravada Vinaya tradition, suttas about “requesting” often relate to an important principle: bhikkhunis should not arbitrarily request particular things from bhikkhus, or conversely. Instead, both communities must follow the established rules, in order to maintain mutual respect and avoid creating situations inappropriate to the pure conduct of the Sangha.

Vinaya texts of this kind also reflect the spirit of the Vinaya Pitaka: not absolute prohibition, but practical guidance so that the Noble Eightfold Path may function flexibly while still preserving principle.