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98
ÂRÂRÂNGA SÚTRA.
crowded assembly, so that a wise man may enter or leave, &c.(2)
A monk or a nun desirous to enter the abode of a householder, should not do so, when they see that the milch cows are being milked, or the food, &c., is being cooked, and that it is not yet distributed. Perceiving this, they should step apart and stay where no people pass or see them. But when they conceive that the milch cows are milked, the dinner prepared and distributed, then they may circumspectly enter or leave the householder's abode for the sake of alms. (3)
Some of the mendicants say to those who follow the same rules of conduct, live (in the same place), or wander from village to village: “This is indeed a small village, it is too populous, nor is it large; reverend gentlemen, go to the outlying villages to beg alms?.'
Some mendicant may have there kinsmen or relations, e. g. a householder or his wife, or daughters, or daughters-in-law, or nurses, or male and female slaves or servants. Such families with which he is connected by kindred or through marriage, he intends to visit before (the time of begging): 'I shall get there (he thinks) food or dainties or milk or thick sour milk or fresh butter or ghee or sugar or oil or honey or meat or liquor, a sesamum dish, or raw sugar, or a meal of parched wheat“, or a meal of curds and sugar with spices B; after having eaten and drunk, and having cleaned and rubbed the alms-bowl, I shall,
* This precept applies, according to the commentator, only to sick monks, or such as can get nothing elsewhere.
· The just arrived monks should do as they are bidden. 3 Samkuli.
· Pûya.
o Sikharini.
