Vinaya (3): The Cullavagga

by T. W. Rhys Davids | 1881 | 137,074 words

The Cullavagga (part of the Vinaya collection) includes accounts of the First and Second Buddhist Councils as well as the establishment of the community of Buddhist nuns. The Cullavagga also elaborates on the etiquette and duties of Bhikkhus....

Go directly to: Footnotes.

Cullavagga, Khandaka 6, Chapter 12

1. Now the venerable Upananda the Sākyan, after having had a lodging allotted to him in Sāvatthi, went to a certain country-place where a community of the Saṃgha resided, and there also had a lodging allotted to him. Then the Bhikkhus there thought, 'Now this brother, Upananda the Sākyan, is a maker of strife, quarrelsome, a maker of disputes, given to idle talk, a raiser of legal questions in the Saṃgha[1]. If he should spend the rainy season here, then shall we all dwell in discomfort. Come, let us question him.' And they asked the venerable Upananda the Sākyan:

'Have not you, friend Upananda, had a lodging allotted to you in Sāvatthi?'

That is so, Sirs.'

'What then do you, friend Upananda, being one, yet take exclusive possession of two (lodging-places)?'

'Well, I do now, Sirs, set (the lodging) here free, and take the one there.'

Those Bhikkhus who were moderate murmured, &c., and they told the matter to the Blessed One. Then the Blessed One, on that occasion and in that connection, convened a meeting of the Bhikkhu-saṃgha, and asked the venerable Upananda the Sākyan:

'Is it true, Upananda, that you, being one, have taken possession of two places?'

'It is true, Lord.'

Then the Blessed One rebuked him, saying, 'How can you, O foolish one, do such a thing? What you took there, O foolish one, has been lost here; what you took here, has been lost there[2]. Thus, O foolish one, you are deprived of both.' And when he had delivered a religious discourse, he said to the Bhikkhus:

'One man is not, O Bhikkhus, to take two lodging-places. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkaṭa.'

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

These are the acts which render a Bhikkhu liable to the Tajjaniya Kamma. See Cullavagga I, 1, 1.

[2]:

That is, by taking a lodging here you ipso facto renounced your right to a lodging there, and by taking one there you ipso facto renounced your right to get one here.

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