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150
MAHÂVAGGA.
VII, 1, 3.
they have completed their Vassa. And five things are allowable to you, O Bhikkhus, after the Kathina ceremony has been held-going for alms to the houses of people who have not invited you", going
if any one did offer a Kathina, and the ceremony was duly performed, then each Bhikkhu had a right to supply his actual needs from the robes made out of the Kathina. He need not do so at once. His want might not be pressing, or might not even arise till afterwards. During such an interval the five privileges (Ânisamsa) mentioned in this section (3) are accorded to the Bhikkhus, though they would be against the rules in force during the rest of the year.
But if the Bhikkhu kept on postponing his choice would the privileges accorded by this section hold good even during the whole year? Could the Bhikkhu, by his mere abstention, thus bring about a practical abrogation of the general rules? Not so, for the five privileges are in their turn suspended by any one of the eight things mentioned below in $ 7.
We may add that at the present time in Burma and Ceylon, the robes for the Bhikkhus are usually provided in accordance with the rules regulating gifts to particular Bhikkhus. But the gift of a Kathina is still by no means uncommon. See Spence Hardy's
Eastern Monachism,' pp. 121 and foll. There is probably, however, very seldom any necessity for the Bhikkhus to avail themselves of any of the five privileges, except the last.
i This privilege is one of the exceptions allowed, in the Patimokkha, to the 46th Pakittiya. Bhikkhus were allowed, as a general rule, to pass through a village, with their alms-bowls in their hands, in order to give any disciple who wished to do so the opportunity of giving them food. (To describe this procedure by our word
begging,' as is so often done, is, to say the least, misleading.) The 46th Pâkittiya lays down, in certain circumstances, a restriction on this general rule. The present section removes that restriction during the period of Kathin-atthâra; in order, according to Buddhaghosa (see the note on Påk. 46), to prevent the stock of robes falling short. That is, apparently, with the hope that a freer intercourse than usual between Bhikkhus and laity might lead to a gift of a Kathina when it was urgently required.
Here Buddhaghosa says simply, 'Anâmanta-karo 'ti yâva kathinam na uddhariyati tâva anâmantetvå. Amanteti must be equal to âpukkhati. Compare Böhtlingk-Roth under âmantrana.
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| SR No. | 007684 |
| Book Title | Vinaya Texts |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2523 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 47 MB |