Bu Pd 33. Receiving food from a designated family
Pāli / Sanskrit:Tatiyapāṭidesanīya
A monk who receives food from anyone designated as “in training” must acknowledge the offense.
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Explanation of Tatiyapāṭidesanīya — The Third Rule on Receiving Food from a Designated Family
Background
The Tatiyapāṭidesanīya is the third disciplinary rule within the Pāṭidesanīya (Pātidesanīyasikkhāpada), one of the four categories of training rules in the Theravāda Vinaya tradition. This code of discipline is set forth in the Bhikkhunī Vibhaṅga (the Nuns' Analysis) and has a corresponding counterpart in the Bhikkhu Vibhaṅga (the Monks' Analysis).
The Pāṭidesanīya rules were established by the Buddha to cultivate in monastics the qualities of self-restraint and humility in the life of practice. They are not grave offenses such as Pārājika or Saṅghādisesa, but rather trainings meant to build noble character and to engender respect from the lay community. Upon committing a transgression, the monastic need only acknowledge the offense before the Sangha and is not expelled from the community.
Principal Content
This rule concerns the situation in which a family has been designated as a provider of food for a monastic. The term "designated" (pāṭidesanīya) here signifies that such a family has been publicly acknowledged, either by the monastic or by the Sangha, as the one who will supply provisions for that individual. If a monastic receives food from a family other than those already designated, or if a monastic accepts food in a manner that exceeds the defined boundaries, that monastic commits the offense of Tatiyapāṭidesanīya.
The transgressive act occurs when a monastic actively requests or seeks to obtain food from a non-designated family. Such conduct is considered improper because it violates the principle of "taking only what is given" (anusāsanikā), a fundamental virtue of Buddhist monastics. At the same time, it reflects a lack of restraint over desire and an attitude of greed — factors regarded as obstacles to the progress of practice.
When this offense has been committed, the monastic must publicly acknowledge the wrongdoing (paṭidesanā) before the Sangha, or at the very least before one other bhikkhu.
🌏 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.