San Sarv Bu Pm Tf 11 Sk 68Round Mouthful

Round Mouthful (Parimaṇḍala)

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Source Status

This record belongs to the Sanskrit Comparative Vinaya system and is marked according to the sectarian classification system with the code San Sarv Bu Pm Tf 11 Sk 68. The full original Sanskrit source of this legal item has not yet been directly collated in the present database; therefore, the exposition below is not a translation from the original text, but an explanation built on the basis of the available descriptive information, combined with general understanding of the relevant genre of Buddhist Vinaya literature. Readers and researchers should consult scholarly editions of the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya in Sanskrit, the Chinese canon, or Tibetan sources for fuller and more accurate comparison.

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Background

This legal item comes from the Sarvāstivāda tradition, one of the important Buddhist schools of the period of sectarian Buddhism (Nikāya Buddhism), which once had broad influence in North India, Central Asia, and spread to Tibet and East Asia. The Vinaya of this tradition has been preserved in various forms: Sanskrit versions, some of which have been discovered among East Turkestan manuscripts; Chinese translations; and certain passages in Tibetan.

The marker Bu in the code suggests that this is a rule related to bhikkhus/bhikṣus, that is, the legal section for the male monastic community. The marker Pm may be related to a group of clauses concerning conduct in daily life, often appearing in the Sekhiya section or among minor rules of conduct (training rules, rules to be learned) in the Vinaya. Tf 11 and Sk 68 are ordinal numbers locating the item within the comparative sectarian classification system.

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Content Identifiable from the Descriptive Information

The name of this legal item is Parimaṇḍala, a Sanskrit compound from pari (around, completely, fully) and maṇḍala (circle, round form, round disk). The Vietnamese title is Miếng Ăn Tròn, and the English title is Round Mouthful. This is a term that appears fairly commonly in Vinaya sections related to the deportment of eating (bhojana-sikkhāpada) for bhikkhus.

In the context of Buddhist legal literature, Parimaṇḍala usually refers to a rule concerning the way food is brought to the mouth in a rounded, neat, not overly large manner, that is, taking a suitable mouthful, not opening the mouth unnecessarily wide, and not taking too much food at one time. This rule reflects the spirit of deportment in the Vinaya: every bodily action of the practitioner, from the smallest to the largest, has educational meaning and serves self-discipline.

In the context of comparative sectarian study, this item is recorded as a point of comparison between the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya system (Sanskrit) and other schools such as Theravāda (Pāli), Dharmaguptaka (Four-Part Vinaya), Mahāsāṃghika, and so forth. The presence of the same rule under equivalent names in many traditions shows that this was a training rule with very early roots in the history of the Buddhist Sangha.

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Meaning for Practice

Although brief, the rule on the round mouthful contains considerable depth for practice:

First, deportment is an expression of mind. In the philosophy of Buddhist practice, body and mind interact closely. When the practitioner maintains a dignified and calm bodily bearing even during a meal, without haste, greed, or carelessness, the mind is thereby settled. A small, rounded, neat mouthful is the outward sign of the inner disciplining of sensual desire.

Second, control in eating is a foundation of meditation. In traditional systems of practice, moderation in eating (āhāre mattaññutā) is regarded as one of the basic conditions for the mind to abide in meditation. One who eats without deportment often has a scattered mind; one who keeps rules in eating more easily attains balance of body and mind.

Third, a small rule expresses a great spirit. The fact that the Vinaya records details even down to how one takes a mouthful of food shows that the spirit of Buddhist discipline is not external coercion, but comprehensive training in every aspect of life. Nothing is so minor that it is unworthy of attention; and precisely this continuous attention, in every mouthful and every step, is the foundation of mindfulness (smṛti/sati).

Fourth, the agreement among the schools concerning this rule is evidence that, although the Sangha divided into many schools in matters of doctrine and organization, the basic rules of living and deportment were still preserved consistently, showing a deep common inheritance from the time when the Buddha was alive.

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Comparative Note

Because the full Sanskrit source of this item has not yet been directly collated, all specific judgments about wording, sentence structure, or the accompanying explanatory section (vibhaṅga) of the training rule need to be verified through specialized scholarly editions. Researchers interested in the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya system should consult the corresponding Chinese translations preserved in the Taishō Canon in order to gain a more comprehensive view of this training rule and its place within the whole system of eating deportment in the Northern tradition.