Studies in Buddhist and Jaina Monachism

Author(s): Nand Kishor Prasad
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 176

NISSAYAS
155
the sole right over the robes given to the Sangha till the kathina was not performed. But the robes offered to in seasons other than the rains was to be distributed to the members of the Order present there. The robes were to be appropriated by the monks offered to, if there was no Sangha. The in.coming monks too were entitled to get an equal share, if they arrived before the robes had been appropriated. But to give an equal share or not to give at all depended solely on the discretion of the monks appropriating the robes, if the in-coming monks came after the robes had been appropriated."
. The monks who have assisted a group of monks in getting pamsukülas either by waiting aside or by going with them to the cemetery must be given his due share, even if there had not been such agreement about the distribution of the robes. But monks who neither waited nor went to the cemetery in time ought not to get any share in the barsukūlas thus procured."
Robes sent by a monk with the words 'give this robe to such and such a monk' (imam civaran itthanamassa dehi ti) is said to have rightly been appropriated by the messenger-inonk, if it has been appropriated in the name of the sender. To be very clear, appropriated in good faith in the sender, or taking it as the robe of a deceased monk having come to know that the sendee is dead, or in good faith in the sender having come to know that the sendee is dead, or taking it as the robe of a deceased monk, that is, in the name of the sender having come to know that both are dead. But if it is sent with the words 'I give the robe to such and such a monk' (imam civaran itthana massa dammi ti), then it ought to be appropriated in the sendee's name. A monk, as a rule, has got no right over a robe, if it has already been given by him to any other member of the Order.
A gift of robes, offered to by a lay-devotee to both the Sanghas (of the monks and of the nuns), was to be distributed equally to all the members, monks as well as nuns. An equal share was to be given to both the Orders, the Bhikkhusangha and the Bhikkhunīsangha, even though the number of monks and nuns constituting either of the Orders was as less as one. After the demise of a monk or a nun, the Bhikkhusangha or the Bhikkhunīsangha, as the case might be, was
1. MV, 8. 20. 38, pp. 314-15. 2. Ibid, 8. 10. 16, pp. 299f. 3. Ibid, 8. 29. 52-53, pp. 323-24. 4. Ibid, 8. 30. 54, pp. 324-25.