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Suka then wanted to know what was meant by 'avyäbädha'. Sthapatyaputra explained : 'When the diseases caused by wind, phlegm, or bile or the derangement caused by all of them together in the humours of the body do not disturb, it is termed as, "avy,bádha"- freedom from obstruction. Suka then wanted to know what was meant by 'prāsuka-vihāra'. Sthapatyaputra explained: We aim at purity and through our rule of not residing at one place but wander from one place to the other we achieve it. When we stay, say, in a park or a temple or in (assembly.) hall or at a watering place (prapa) where women, beasts or eunuchs don't come and when we make use of articles such as a seat, a board, or a mat or a bed which we can return to the manager'or owner) we are, in fact, living a life of purity. Suka then quizzed him: 'Are 'sarisavaya' eatable or not?' Sthāpatyäputra answered:'Yes and No' - Depends on what you mean by 'sarisavaya'. It could mean 'friends' or a kind of grain-mustard. When you take it to mean mitras or friends they could be of three kinds: 1. those that are born together, 2. those that have been brought up together and 3. those that have played together in dust. Well, monks don't eat them. But if you mean the mustard seeds by 'sarisavayā', they are of two kinds: 1. those that change when they are processed with the help of the usual implements like grinding stone or pestle and 2. those that don't change. Monks don't eat these. The grains that change can be pure or impure. Rule out the impure -- we don't eat them, also the pure ones that don't come to us as alms. But again all the pure ones that are obtained as alms are not eatable. There is a variety that we know as acceptable and if we get it as alms we eat
it
The same question was then asked regarding two other cereals 1. 'kulattha', and 2. māsaApparently they are edibles --- permitted to the monks. But Sthāpatyāputra saw the ambiguity in the two words: 1. Kulattha' means a kind of pulse as well as a bride or a married woman from a respectable family; 'màsa' may mean- 1. one of the twelve months of a year, 2. or a measure of weighing metals like gold and silver and 3. a kind of beans. If you mean by kulattha' and 'māsa'pulses or beans, they are edibles - provided, of course, the usual conditions are satisfied.
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