Cullavagga, Khandaka 5, Chapter 23

1. Now at that time a mosquito-fan had come into the possession of the Saṃgha.

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

'I allow you, O Bhikkhus, the use of mosquito-fans.'

A chāmara (a tail of the Bos Gruniens or Tibetan ox, mounted on a stick, to be used by an attendant to whisk off flies) had come into the possession of the Saṃgha.

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to make use of a chāmara. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa^[1]. I allow, O Bhikkhus, three kinds of flywhisks—those made of bark, those made of Usīra-grass, and those made of peacocks' tails^[2].'

2. [Similar paragraph ending]

'I allow you, O Bhikkhus, the use of sun-shades^[3].'

Now at that time the Chabbaggiyas went about with sun-shades up. And at that, time a certain Upāsaka went to a garden with a number of men who were followers of the Ājīvakas (naked ascetics). And those followers of the Ājīvakas saw the Chabbaggiya Bhikkhus coming along in the distance with sun-shades held over them; and on seeing them, they said to that Upāsaka:

'Are these, Sir, the men whom you reverence coming along, like lords of the treasury, there with sun-shades held over them?'

'No, Sirs. These are not Bhikkhus; they are Paribbājakas (wandering mendicants).'

So they made a bet whether they were Bhikkhus or not. And when that Upāsaka recognised them, when they came up, he murmured, was annoyed, and was indignant, saying, 'How can their reverences go about with sun-shades held over them?'

The Bhikkhus heard of that Upāsaka's thus murmuring, &c. And those Bhikkhus told the matter to the Blessed One.

'Is it true, O Bhikkhus, as they say?'

'It is true, Lord.'

The Blessed Buddha rebuked them, saying (&c., as usual, see I, 1, 2, 3). And when he had rebuked them, and had delivered a religious discourse, he, addressed the Bhikkhus, and said:

'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to have sun-shades held over you. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa.'

3. Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu was sick, and without a sun-shade (being held over him) he was ill at ease.

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

'I allow, O Bhikkhus, a sun-shade for the sick.'

Now at that time the Bhikkhus, thinking, 'It is for the sick only that sun-shades have been allowed by the Blessed One, and not for those who are not sick,' were afraid to use sun-shades in the Ārāma, or in the precincts of the Ārāma.

They told this matter to the Blessed One.

'I allow, O Bhikkhus, either a sick man, or one who is not sick, to have a sun-shade held over him either in the Ārāma, or in the precincts of the Ārāma^[4].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Probably because this, like a white umbrella, was considered an appanage of royalty.

[2]:

Mora-piñcha. This word is spelt piñja by Childers, and by Fausböll, Jātaka I, 38, 207.

[3]:

See the note at the end of the chapter.

[4]:

There is an ambiguity, either in the use of the word chatta, or in the use of the verb dhāreti, or both, running through this chapter. As a matter of fact, the Bhikkhus now use sun-shades (usually those made of paper in China) of the same shape as the umbrellas now used in England; and they make no distinction as to the place in which they use them. But there is another shape for shades, to be carried by a dependant walking behind the person to be shaded, in which the handle is fastened to the rim at the side of, and not in the middle underneath that part of it which actually keeps off the sun. Both kinds are figured on the most ancient Buddhist sculptures. The Old Commentary on the corresponding rule for the nuns (Bhikkhunī-vibhaṅga, Pācittiya LXXXIV, 2, 1) says that suit-shades are either white, or made of matting, or made of leaves (doubtless of the talipot palm); and it adds that they are either maṇḍala-baddhaṃ or salāka-baddhaṃ, which apparently refers to these two ways in which the handle was joined on to the shading-part. In the 57th Sekhiya (compare also the 23rd and the 67th), and in Cullavagga VIII, 1, 1, will be found rules of etiquette which show that it was a sign of courtesy or of respect to put down a sun-shade.