Xct Mu Bi Pm Np 22Out-of-Season Robe Cloth

SUTTA ON OUT-OF-SEASON ROBE CLOTH

Background

The Akālacīvara Sutta (Out-of-Season Robe Cloth) is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, specifically in the Nisaggiya Pācittiya section, the rules involving forfeiture of property and confession. These are detailed regulations intended to govern the lives of bhikkhus in the early Buddhist Sangha.

The background of this sutta reflects a practical situation in the monastic community. Robe cloth (cīvara) is one of the requisites of bhikkhus, but possessing too much cloth beyond need or outside the prescribed season leads to calculation, greed, and inequality in the Sangha. Therefore, the Buddha established specific rules for managing possession and use of cloth, in order to nurture non-greed, simplicity, and harmony in the Sangha.

Main Content

The sutta stipulates that bhikkhus should not actively seek to obtain additional cloth outside the prescribed time (akāla = out of season). Specifically, dyed robes of bhikkhus may be kept only for a certain period of the year. If a bhikkhu exceeds this period while still keeping cloth or seeks to obtain additional cloth, this is a violation.

This rule includes specific cases: if a bhikkhu already has the three robes (ticīvara), the inner robe (antara-vasaka), the outer robe (uttara-sanga), and the double robe (saṅghāṭī), but still tries to prepare additional cloth out of season or keeps cloth beyond the permitted period, this is a violation of nissaggiya pācittiya, the rules requiring forfeiture of property together with confession.

The penalty is not merely confession, but also the handing over (nisaggiya) of the cloth or property wrongly possessed to the Sangha. This ensures that no bhikkhu can accumulate excessive possessions or create unfair differences within the community.