Vinaya (2): The Mahavagga

by T. W. Rhys Davids | 1881 | 156,382 words

The Mahavagga (part of the Vinaya collection) includes accounts of Gautama Buddha’s and the ten principal disciples’ awakenings, as well as rules for ordination, rules for reciting the Patimokkha during uposatha days, and various monastic procedures....

Mahavagga, Khandaka 8, Chapter 24

1. Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu kept Vassa[1] alone. The people then gave him robes, saying, 'We give them to the Saṃgha.'

Then that Bhikkhu thought: 'It has been laid down by the Blessed One that the lowest number which can constitute a Saṃgha is four[2]. Now I am by myself, and these people have given the robes, saying, "We give them to the Saṃgha." I had better take these robes, which are the property of a Saṃgha, to Sāvatthi.'

So that Bhikkhu did so, and told the matter to the Blessed One.

'These robes are your own, O Bhikkhu, until the Kaṭhina ceremony shall have been performed[3].'

2. 'Now in case, O Bhikkhus, a Bhikkhu keep Vassa alone, and the people of the place give him robes, intending them for the Saṃgha,—I prescribe, O Bhikkhus, that those robes shall be his until the Kaṭhina ceremony shall have been performed.'

3. Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu spent the rest of the year (besides the rainy season)[4] alone. The people there (&c., as before, in the first paragraph of 24. 1, down to the end).

So that Bhikkhu did so, and told the matter to the Bhikkhus. They told the matter to the Blessed One.

'I prescribe, O Bhikkhus, that you are to divide such robes with the Saṃgha (whether large or small in number) that may be present there.

4. 'Now in case, O Bhikkhus, a Bhikkhu spend the rest of the year (besides the rainy season) alone, if and the people of the place give him robes, intending them for the Saṃgha,—I allow, O Bhikkhus, that that Bhikkhu should appropriate those robes to himself[5], saying, "These robes are for me." If another Bhikkhu should arrive before those robes have been appropriated to that Bhikkhu, an equal share is to be given (to the in-coming Bhikkhu). If while the robes are being divided by those Bhikkhus, and before the lot has been cast, another Bhikkhu should arrive, an equal share is to be given to him. If while the robes are being divided by those Bhikkhus, and after the lot has been cast, another Bhikkhu should arrive, an equal share need not, if they do not wish it[6], be given to him.'

5. Now at that time two Theras, who were brothers, the venerable Isidāsa and the venerable Isibhatta, having spent the rainy season in Sāvatthi, went to take up their abode in a certain village. The people there, thinking, 'It is long since these Theras have arrived here,' made gifts of both food and robes.

The Bhikkhus who resided there asked the Theras, saying, 'These robes, Sirs, which are the property of the Saṃgha, have come to us through the Theras' arrival[7]. Will the Theras accept a share?'

The Theras answered: 'As we understand the rule laid down by the Blessed One, these robes belong to you alone until the K a Mina [Kaṭhina?] ceremony shall have been performed[8].'

6. Now at that time three Bhikkhus spent the rainy season at Rājagaha. The people there made gifts of robes, saying, 'We give them to the Saṃgha.'

Then those Bhikkhus thought thus: 'It has been laid down by the Blessed One that the smallest Saṃgha shall consist of four persons, and we are only three, and these people have made gifts of robes, intending to give them to the Saṃgha. What now ought we to do with them?'

Now at that time there were staying in Pāṭaliputta, at the kukkuṭārāma, a number of Theras—the venerable Nilavāsi, and the venerable Sāṇavāsi[9], and the venerable Gopaka, and the venerable Bhagu, and the venerable Phalika-sandāna. And those Bhikkhus went to Pāṭaliputta, and asked the Theras what they should do.

The Theras answered: 'As we understand the rule laid down by the Blessed One, these robes belong to you alone until the Kaṭhina ceremony shall have been performed.'

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

That is, spent the rainy season.

[2]:

This is laid down in Mahāvagga IX, 4, I.

[3]:

And thereby the Kaṭhina license suspended. Compare the 1st, and, and 3rd Nissaggiyas, and our note on p. 18.

[4]:

Buddhaghosa says, Utukālan ti vassānato aññaṃ kālaṃ, where vassāna means the rainy season. See Abhidhānappadīpikā, verse 79.

[5]:

On this sense of adhiṭṭhātuṃ, see above, Mahāvagga VIII, 20, 2.

[6]:

Akāmā; on which compare II, 27, 15, and especially II, 34, 3, and IV, 17, 6.

[7]:

Āgamma, which is here nearly the same as uddissa. To give the full import of the expression it would be necessary to say, have come to us in consequence of the inducement offered to the givers by the presence of the Theras here.'

[8]:

See our note above on § 1.

[9]:

There is a Sāṇavāsi who takes a prominent part at the Council of Vesālī (Cullavagga XII, 1, 8; XII, 2, 4). He is probably meant to be considered the same as this one. person you are, friend Upananda. Plenty of robes have come into your possession!'

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