Xct Mu Bi Pc 146Giving Robes

Sutra on Giving Robes - Cīvaradāna

Background

In the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, robes (cīvara) are not merely ordinary daily-use items, but one of the essential requisites that lay followers offer to bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. The Sutra on Giving Robes belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka, in the Pācittiya section, offenses requiring confession, recording specific rules on the offering and use of robes in the monastic community.

The background from which this text arose is connected with specific situations in the early life of practice. As the monastic community expanded, devotees from different regions offered robes with different motivations and in different ways. Therefore, the Buddha established detailed principles to avoid abuses such as competing for robes, excessive use, discrimination among bhikkhus, or using robes as a means of accumulating personal property. These regulations were intended to preserve the purity of the monastic community and to carry out the spirit of humility and fewness of wishes (appicchata) on the path of practice.

Main Content

The Sutra on Giving Robes stipulates that when lay followers offer robes to a specific bhikkhu, that person must receive them clearly according to the proper ritual (tikkhhandaka, threefold confirmation). A bhikkhu must not bargain over the quality of the robes, nor refuse them if the offered robes do not accord with his personal preference. More importantly, when receiving robes, the bhikkhu must reflect that he accepts them only for protection from illness, resistance to cold, and in respect for the regulations of the Order.

This rule also clearly stipulates the matter of authority: only the Karmavācā, the assembly of the Sangha, or properly authorized teachers of long-established monasteries have the authority to distribute communal robes. An individual bhikkhu may not take or give robes to others on his own without going through the community, because this may lead to unfairness and damage the trust of lay followers.