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310
MAHÂVAGGA.
III, 6, 26.
to ask concerning Vassa. If he sends .... (saying to yourselves): "I will ask him or I will tell it to him.” Within seven days you ought to return.
26. 'In case, O Bhikkhus, a sâmanera who desires to receive the upa sam padâ ordination (&c., see s 23).
27, 28. 'In case, O Bhikkhus, a sâmaneri is sick (&c., see $$ 24–25).
29. 'In case, O Bhikkhus, a sâmaneri desires to take upon herself the precepts. If she sends .... &c., you should go (saying to yourselves): "I will take care that she may take upon herself the precepts." Within seven days you ought to return.'
1. At that time the mother of a Bhikkhu was sick. She sent a messenger to her son (saying), 'I am sick ; might my son come to me; I long for my son's coming. Now that Bhikkhu thought :
The Blessed One has allowed (a Bhikkhu) to go, if the affair for which he goes can be accomplished within seven days, and if he is sent for, but not if he is not sent for, by a person of any one of the seven classes; (and he has also allowed to go), if the thing he goes for can be accomplished within seven days, even if he is not sent for, and much more if he is sent for, by a person of any one of the five classes. Now my mother is sick ; she is not a lay-devotee (upasika). What am I, therefore, to do ?'
1 The technical meaning of vassam pukkhitum (to ask after Vassa?) is unknown to us.
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