Shikshasamuccaya 245

245

No notion of ownership is to be entertained regarding any object whatsoever. Even a very small matter should be done by the consensus of the Saṃgha, not according to one's own opinion, down to the rule that what belongs to the local Saṃgha should not be mixed with what belongs to the Saṃgha of the four directions. Thus, conversely, a mutual commingling with what belongs to the stūpa is likewise prohibited. If there should be a lack in the Saṃgha of the four directions and the property belonging to the local Saṃgha is abundant, that steward monk, having brought the Saṃgha of monks to a single mind, should perform the work of the Saṃgha of the four directions from the revenue belonging to the local Saṃgha. Likewise, even when a stūpa is dilapidated, this very procedure applies: it should be restored after exhorting donors or benefactors—such is the rule. If, however, Kāŕyapa, the property belonging to the stūpa should be ever so abundant, it must not be transferred to the Saṃgha of the four directions by the steward monk or by the Saṃgha. For what reason? Even a single thread given to the stūpa by the faithful, filled with serene trust, is a shrine for the world with its gods. What need is there to mention a jewel or what is deemed a jewel? And whatever robe has been presented to the stūpa, let that wear away right there on the Tathāgata's shrine through wind, sun, and rain; but the robe belonging to the stūpa must not be exchanged for a price in gold. For nothing belonging to a stūpa has any price, nor does a stūpa suffer any lack. For whichever steward monk, Kāŕyapa, with an angry mind, issues commands over virtuous, worthy recipients out of lordship, he goes to hell through that unwholesome karma. If he returns to the human realm, he becomes a slave, a servant of others, and receives violent beatings, slaps, and blows. [...] He makes a monk intimidated by the fear of punishment, sends him at improper times, and gives orders at improper times. Through that unwholesome karma, his rebirth occurs in an isolated hell called Many Stakes, where his body is pierced by thousands [of stakes], ablaze, blazing up, and fully ignited. [...] His tongue becomes a hundred yojanas in width; many hundreds of thousands of blazing iron stakes are driven into his tongue organ there. For whichever steward monk, Kāŕyapa, hoards the property of the Saṃgha as it arrives, does not give it in due season, gives it only after humiliating and tormenting [them], and does not give it to some—through that unwholesome root his rebirth occurs in the realm of hungry ghosts called Jaṅghā, [who feed on] dung and clay. There other hungry ghosts take food and show it to him; being humiliated, looking at that food with unblinking eyes, overwhelmed by hunger and thirst, he experiences painful sensations, and even in a thousand years he does not obtain that food. Even if at some time or other food is obtained, it turns into excrement or pus and blood.