Lecture 1, Lesson 1

[First lecture (uddesaya, uddeśaka): Begging for food (piṇḍaiṣaṇā)]

WHEN a male or a female mendicant, having entered the abode of a householder with the intention of collecting alms, recognises^[1] food, drink, dainties, and spices as affected by, or mixed up with, living beings, mildew, seeds or sprouts, or wet with water, or covered with dust--either in the hand or the pot of another^[2]--they should not, even if they can get it, accept of such food, thinking that it is impure and unacceptable^[3]. (1)

But if perchance they accept of such food, under pressing circumstances^[4], they should go to a secluded spot, a garden, or a monk’s hall--where there are no eggs, nor living beings, nor sprouts, nor dew, nor water, nor ants, nor mildew, nor drops (of water), nor mud, nor cobwebs--and rejecting (that which is affected by), and cleaning that which is mixed up (with living beings, &c.), they should circumspectly eat or drink it. But with what they cannot eat or drink, they should resort to a secluded spot, and leave it there on a heap of ashes or bones, or rusty things, or chaff, or cowdung, or on any such-like place which they have repeatedly examined and cleaned. (2)

A monk or a nun on a begging-tour should not accept as alms whatever herbs they recognise, on examining them, as still whole, containing their source of life, not split longwise or broadwise, and still alive, fresh beans, living and not broken; for such food is impure and unacceptable. (3)

But when they recognise after examination that those herbs are no more whole, do not contain their source of life, are split longwise or broadwise, and no more alive, fresh beans, lifeless and broken, then they may accept them, if they get them; for they are pure and acceptable. (4)

A monk or nun on a begging-tour should not accept as alms whatever flattened grains, grains containing much chaff, or half-roasted spikes of wheat, &c., or flour of wheat, &c., or rice or flour of rice, they recognise as only once worked^[5]; for such food is impure and unacceptable. (5)

But when they recognise these things as more than once worked, as twice, thrice worked, then they may accept them, if they get them; for they are pure and acceptable. (6) A monk or a nun desiring to enter the abode of a householder for collecting alms, should not enter or leave it together with a heretic or a householder; or a monk who avoids all forbidden food, &c., together with one who does not. (7)

A monk or a nun entering or leaving the out-of-door places for religious practices or for study^[6] should not do so together with a heretic or a householder; or a monk who avoids all forbidden food, together with one who does not. (8)

A monk or a nun wandering from village to village should not do so together with a heretic or a householder; or a monk who avoids all forbidden food, together with one who does not. (9)

A monk or a nun on a begging-tour should not give, immediately or mediately, food, &c., to a heretic or a householder; or a monk who avoids all forbidden food, to one who does not. (1o)

A monk or a nun on a begging-tour should not accept food, &c., from a householder whom they know to give out of respect for a Nirgrantha, in behalf of a fellow-ascetic, food, &c., which he has bought or stolen or taken, though it was not to be taken nor given, but was taken by force, by acting sinfully towards all sorts of living beings; for such-like food, &c., prepared by another man^[7] or by the giver himself, brought out of the house or not brought out of the house, belonging to the giver or not belonging to him, partaken or tasted of, or not partaken or tasted of, is impure and unacceptable.

In this precept substitute for ‘on behalf of one fellow-ascetic,’ (2) on behalf of many fellow-ascetics, (3) on behalf of one female fellow-ascetic, (4) on behalf of many female fellow-ascetics; so that there will be four analogous precepts. (11)

A monk or a nun should not accept of food, &c., which they know has been prepared by the householder for the sake of many Śramaṇas and Brāhmaṇas, guests, paupers, and beggars, after he has counted them, acting sinfully towards all sorts of living beings; for such food, whether it be tasted of or not, is impure and unacceptable. (12)

A monk or a nun should not accept of food, &c., procured in the way described in § 1I for the sake of the persons mentioned in § 12, if the said food, &c., has been prepared by the giver himself, has been brought out of the house, does not belong to the giver, has not been partaken or tasted of; for such food, &c., is impure and unacceptable; but if the food, &c., has been prepared by another person, has been brought out of the house, belongs to the giver, has been partaken or tasted of, one may accept it; for it is pure and acceptable. (13)

A monk or a nun wishing to enter the abode of a householder with the intention of collecting alms, should not, for the sake of food or drink, enter or leave such always liberal, always open houses, where they always give a morsel, always the best morsel, always a part of the meal, always nearly the half of it.

This certainly is the whole duty of a monk or a nun in which one should, instructed in all its meanings and endowed with bliss, always exert oneself.

Thus I say. (14)

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

This is the typical beginning of most precepts or sūtras in this cūḍā: se bhikkhū vā bhikkhuṇī vā gāhāvaikulaṃ piṃḍavāyapaḍiyāe aṇupaviṭṭhe samāṇe se jjaṃ puṇa jāṇejjā. In the sequel I have shortened this rather lengthy preamble.

[2]:

By the other is meant the householder or the giver (dātṛ).

[3]:

This is the typical conclusion of all prohibitions: aphāsuyaṃ aṇesaṇijjaṃ ti mannamāṇe lābhe saṃte no paḍiggāhejjā. In the translation the plural is used throughout, in order to avoid the necessity of always repeating 'he or she.'

[4]:

As e. g. total want of another opportunity to get suitable food during famine and sickness.

[5]:

Pounded or cooked or roasted, &c., because after only one operation sperms of life might still be left.

[6]:

These are the vicārabhūmi and vihārabhūmi.

[7]:

Purisaṃtarakaḍa. I have rendered this word according to the interpretation of the commentators; but in a similar passage, 8, 3, §§ 2 and 3, they understand the word to mean appropriated by another person.