San Sarv Bu Pm Tf 11 Sk 88Washing Water With Rice
Pāli / Sanskrit:Sasitthaka
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
EXPOSITION OF THE SASITTHAKA SUTTA
(The Sutta on Rice-Washing Water)
Background
The Sasitthaka Sutta is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition and reflects detailed rules concerning the life of practice of bhikkhus in the early Sangha. The Vinaya Piṭaka is not merely a collection of prohibitions, but practical guidance that helps renunciants maintain purity, discipline, and harmony within the monastic community.
This sutta is recorded in the detailed legal collections (the Pāṭimokkha and expanded sections such as the Suttavibhaṅga), where the Buddha Śākyamuni set forth guidance concerning the use of rice-washing water. Although the title may seem simple, this sutta contains deep principles concerning the use of monastery property, frugality, and not wasting precious resources.
The historical context shows that this was a period when the Sangha was developing and needed to establish clear rules in order to avoid disputes, waste, and actions unworthy of the practice of renunciants.
Main Content
The Sasitthaka Sutta revolves around the question of how to handle rice-washing water in the community of practice. According to the rule in the sutta, rice-washing water (sasitthaka, water containing grains or residue of rice) is regarded as property of the monastery and must not be wasted. Bhikkhus are encouraged to use this water for reasonable purposes, such as watering plants, cleaning, or feeding animals.
The Buddha Śākyamuni emphasizes in this sutta that even though it is only rice-washing water, it is still property of the Sangha, offered by sincere laypeople. Wasting it is an abuse of the trust of outsiders. The sutta makes clear that anyone who throws away rice-washing water without a proper reason is violating the spirit of conservation and wise use of donated resources.
The specific guidance in this sutta includes: rice-washing water should be given to livestock if there are any, or used to water plants if appropriate, and should not be discarded without cause.
🌏 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.