Bi Np 1515. Keeping extra robe-cloth beyond a month

Akālacīvara — Keeping a Robe Received Outside the Proper Season

Background

The Vinaya Piṭaka is the body of scripture governing the disciplinary training of Buddhist monks and nuns, recorded in detail in such texts as the Bhikkhu Pātimokkha and the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha. The Akālacīvara rule belongs to the Bhikkhunī Nissaggiya Pācittiya — the rules of which a violation requires a nun to relinquish the item concerned and then confess the offense before the Saṅgha.

This rule arose from specific situations within the community of nuns during the time of the Buddha. Nuns needed to maintain three sets of robes (sabbāṇṇa-cīvara) so as to have sufficient clothing for wearing, washing, and drying in the sun. A problem arose, however, when some individuals kept more extra robe-cloth than their actual needs required, or retained it indefinitely on the pretext of waiting for new robes to arrive. The Buddha therefore established a rule: extra robe-cloth may be kept only for a reasonable period of time.

Main Content

Under this rule, a nun is permitted to keep one additional set of robes beyond her standard three sets, provided she is awaiting new robes from a female supporter or from another person. The time limit for retaining such extra robe-cloth is one month (uposatha āvāsa — one observance-day cycle). If the robes have not arrived after one month, the nun must choose:

Either to return the extra robe-cloth to its original donor, or to voluntarily relinquish ownership of it before the Saṅgha. If she retains it beyond the one-month limit without relinquishing it, this constitutes an act of Akālacīvara — keeping a robe outside the proper time — and is regarded as a Nissaggiya Pācittiya offense. The nun must forfeit that robe to the Saṅgha or to another nun, and then confess the offense before three or more bhikkhunīs.

This rule emphasizes not an outright prohibition on keeping spare robes, but rather a clear limit on the duration and justification for doing so. The Buddha understood that monastics have practical needs — robes wear out and must be washed and dried — yet they should not accumulate beyond what is necessary, for such accumulation leads to greed, difficulties in management, and conflict within the community.