金光明經文句記 6.35

6.35

Second, relying on Buddhist methods. In one year there are three seasons, taking four months as one season. Why is the autumn season omitted? From "in order to break" downward, there are two points in all: first, in order to break the view of permanence; second, in order to inaugurate the kāthina. Because autumn is the harvest when all things bear fruit and it is easy to generate attachment, autumn is not spoken of. Inaugurating the retreat means that for the practitioners of the later retreat, it continues the binding to bring about its completion, and for practitioners of the earlier retreat, it inaugurates the month of kāthina. In the Vinaya there are three kinds of retreats: namely earlier, middle, and later. The sixteenth day of the fourth month is the earlier retreat; from the seventeenth up to the fifteenth day of the fifth month is called the middle retreat; the sixteenth day of the fifth month is the later retreat. If bound on the sixteenth day of the fourth month, when the night portion of the fifteenth day of the seventh month is exhausted, it is called the end of summer. When the sign of dawn emerges after the sixteenth day up until the fifteenth day of the eighth month, this is called the month of kāthina. The Vinayavibhāṣā says: "Originally it was called kāthina; for the sake of brevity, it is just called kadi. Here it is translated as the robe of merits. Because practitioners of the earlier retreat who sat the summer have merit, five benefits reward their virtue, and this robe is received in the Vinaya: first, keeping surplus property; second, sleeping away from one's robes; third, dining apart upon separate invitation; fourth, eating separately from the community; fifth, going to another family's home before and after meals." The Western Regions Record translates kāthina as the Pleiades (Kṛttikā), because the Pleiades correspond to this month. Because one receives the robe of merits during the Pleiades month, we know that if autumn were not omitted, the middle and later retreats could not be called sitting the summer, since practitioners of the later retreat only conclude on the fifteenth day of the eighth month.