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172
AKÂRANGA SUTRA.
(see II, 1, 8, § 2), having reflected (on its fitness for a stay); he should ask permission to take possession of it from him who is the landlord or the steward of that place: 'Indeed, O long-lived one! for the time, and in the space which you concede us, we shall dwell here. We shall take possession of the place for as long a time as the place belongs to you; and of as much of it as belongs to you; for as many fellowascetics (as shall stand in need of it); afterwards we shall take to wandering?' (2)
Having got possession of some place, a mendicant should invite to that food, &c., which he himself has collected, any fellow-ascetics arriving there who follow the same rules and are zealous brethren; but he should not invite them to anything of which he has taken possession for the sake of somebody else. (3)
Having got possession of some place (in a traveller's hall, &c.), a mendicant should offer a footstool or bench or bed or couch, which he himself has begged, to any fellow-ascetics arriving there who follow other rules than he, yet are zealous brethren; but he should not offer them anything of which he has taken possession for the sake of somebody else. (4)
Having got possession of some place in a traveller's hall, &c., a mendicant might ask from a householder or his sons the loan of a needle or a Pippalaka? or an ear-picker or a nail-parer, he should not give or lend it to somebody else; but
Compare the corresponding precept in II, 2, 3, $ 3. * The Guzerati commentator only says that pippalaka is some utensil. The older commentators do not explain this passage.
