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....
Cullavagga, Khandaka 10, Chapter 11
1. Now at that time a certain Bhikkhunī, when on her death-bed, said: 'After I am gone, let my set of necessaries[1] belong to the Saṃgha.' Then the Bhikkhus and the Bhikkhunīs disputed as to it,' saying: 'It belongs to us; it belongs to us.'
They told this matter to the Blessed One.
'If, O Bhikkhus, a Bhikkhunī, or a novice under training to become one (a Sikkhamānā), when on her death-bed, should say: "After I am gone, let my set of necessaries belong to the Saṃgha," then it is the Bhikkhunī-saṃgha it belongs to; the Bhikkhu-saṃgha is not the owner thereof. If a Bhikkhu, O Bhikkhus, or a novice under training to become one (a Sāmaṇera), when on his death-bed, should say: "After I am gone, let my set of necessaries become the property of the Saṃgha," then it is the Bhikkhu-saṃgha it belongs to; the Bhikkhunī-saṃgha is not the owner thereof[2]'
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Parikkhāro; that is, the eight things over which a member of the Buddhist Order was allowed proprietary rights--the three robes, the alms-bowl, razor, needle, girdle, and water-strainer.
[2]:
By the rule laid down in the Mahāvagga VIII, 27, the set of robes and the bowl are to be assigned by the Saṃgha to those that waited on the sick--at least in the case of Bhikkhus,--and the analogy would doubtless hold good of the Bhikkhunīs also.