四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.159

2.159

Second, clarifying the allowances for keeping them. The prohibitions in the sūtras are severe, as clarified below. In the Vinaya, it is concerned with concrete affairs, and because those of lesser capacity have narrow horizons, many allowances for keeping them are made. Regarding the first impurity: fields obstruct the Way, so an individual is not permitted [to keep them]; a single small room is essential for sustaining the Way, so based on the above, one is permitted to keep it. The Vinayamātṛkā says: 'Pilindavatsa was honored by the people of the country and was given a small monastery; silk canopies, wagons, carriages, camels, donkeys, and other livestock needed by the monastery were allowed to be accepted.' In the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya: 'For the sake of the saṃgha, they may be accepted.' The Samantapāsādikā says: 'If a householder gives land and fields, an individual must not use them; if offered to the saṃgha, they may be accepted.' The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā says: 'If a dānapati wishes to build a large residence, one should explain and instruct him to make it small, in accordance with the principle of few desires; if it is built to accommodate many people, one should not oppose his intention.' The Pañcavargika-vinaya says: 'If someone offers the saṃgha fields, residences, and shop fronts, they are permitted to be accepted; have a kappiyakāraka manage them.' The Samantapāsādikā says: 'If someone gives a pond to the saṃgha to provide for washing and to allow all sentient beings to drink and use, it may be accepted as desired.' (2) Planting roots and cuttings: If, as in the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya, it is managed on behalf of the saṃgha, it is permitted. An individual is not permitted; that is, in the rule on corrupting families, planting by oneself or instructing others [to do so] is entirely inadmissible, except when making offerings to the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha. The rest is as spoken in the miscellaneous matters. (3) Storing grains and fabrics: In former times it was said that in times of famine thirty-six piculs were allowed, citing the Sujāta-sūtra; I personally perused both the authentic and spurious versions, and neither contains it—it is a dream passed along by the whole world. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'As for the śrāvaka-saṃgha, there is no accumulation; namely, male and female slaves, servants, storehouses, grain and rice, salt and fermented beans, sesame, large and small beans; or preparing food with one's own hands, milling by oneself, pounding by oneself, because these are various unlawful matters. If anyone says that the Tathāgata permits keeping unlawful things, their tongue will shrivel up.' The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya says: 'If a bhikṣu, when purchasing grain, thinks: "Later on, it may become expensive; if I buy this grain now, relying on it I will be able to recite sūtras, sit in meditation, and practice the Way," yet does not specify the amount. One estimates provisions for one summer [retreat], also reckoning whether it is an abundant or scarce time.' For salt, one estimates according to the previous grain amount; performing the procedure for life-long medicine is also permitted. In the Vinaya: 'When a bhikṣu was traveling and received barley, wheat, speckled beans, and non-glutinous rice, the Buddha allowed him to accept them; placing them inside a bag or bundle, they should be ritually offered (pratigrāhita/purely transferred).' Therefore, the text states that when bhikṣus received provisions on the road, they were allowed to accept them, and a kappiyakāraka would store and lift them up. The later fascicle fully contains the method for declaring purification. (4) Keeping various boy servants and slaves: The Ekottarika-āgama says: 'An elder brought a woman to give to the Buddha; the Buddha did not accept her. If one accepts them, grave offenses gradually arise,' whereupon he spoke on the faults of desire, rākṣasī demons, and such matters. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya: 'If someone says they give the saṃgha a male slave, or a servant, or a garden worker's wife, none of them should be accepted; if they say they give them to serve the saṃgha, a male kappiyakāraka is permitted to be accepted. If given to an individual, it is entirely impermissible; if given as a kappiyakāraka to manage affairs for the saṃgha, an individual may accept them. If given to the bhikṣuṇī-saṃgha or an individual [nun], it is the reverse of the former, differing only in specifying a female kappiyakāraka.' Nowadays, many monasteries keep women or buy and sell male and female slaves; who can speak of the filth and defilement among them! How could it only be the offense of unchastity? Stealing is also universally committed. Knowing deeply that the holy prohibition does not permit it, how could ordinary mortals force it? The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya: 'Pilindavatsa was plastering his room in a village by himself; the king offered him a servant, which he refused three times, saying: "If he can uphold the five precepts and observe the fast for his entire life, only then will I accept him."' The Daśādhyāya-vinaya: 'There were five hundred people guarding the Veṇuvana Monastery in Rājagṛha.' There are ten kinds of gifts that yield no merit: the first is giving women; second, toys/games; third, pictures of men and women copulating; fourth, alcohol; fifth, unlawful speech; sixth, weapons; seventh, broadswords; eighth, poison; ninth, vicious bulls; and tenth, instructing others to make such gifts. (5) Keeping animals: In the Vinaya, bhikṣus are not permitted to keep kittens, puppies, or even various birds. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya: 'If someone offers any sentient being to the saṃgha, none should be accepted. "Sentient beings" refers to horses, donkeys, pigs, sheep, roe deer, and deer, and all such remaining wild birds and beasts. If they see that the bhikṣu will not accept them and say, "I will slaughter them," one should tell them to provide water and grass themselves, guarding them so that no harm is done; one must not clip their wings or cage them; if they can fly and survive on their own, release them and do not detain them.' The Samantapāsādikā: 'If cows and sheep are given, they must not be accepted; if they say they give the five flavors such as milk and curds, they may be accepted. It is also thus for all other animals.' In the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra: 'According to the Dharma of a bhikṣu, one must not buy or sell living beings, and so forth.' The Vinayasaṃgraha: 'For the sake of a stūpa, one may accept camels, horses, and donkeys.' Nowadays, some people offer animals to the households of the Buddha and Dharma, and the managers sell them; none of this conforms to the holy teaching. The Daśacakra-sūtra: 'If one gives things of the cāturdiśa-saṃgha, fields, residences, and kappiyakārakas, not to precept-holders but instead to precept-breakers; and they freely use them and eat together with laypeople; on this account, kṣatriyas and householders all enter Avīci [Hell].' The Sūryagarbha section says: 'In my Dharma, even if done according to the Dharma, from one person up to four persons are not permitted to accept permanent saṃgha property such as fields, residences, gardens, groves, carriages, horses, or male and female slaves; only if there are a full five persons may they accept them.' The Mahāsaṃnipāta is also the same. In the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, under the precept on riding in a vehicle, the elderly and sick are permitted to ride a male vehicle, and nuns ride a female vehicle, as in the rules on nursing the sick. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya: 'Vehicles such as boats, carts, oxen, and horses are not admissible without illness; only travel by boat over water is permitted.' (6) Keeping coins and precious treasures: If originally done with the intention of keeping them for oneself, it is impermissible; if intended to be ritually surrendered to another, it is permitted according to the Vinaya text. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya, Daśādhyāya-vinaya, and Samantapāsādikā say: 'If a sick person receives them, have a kappiyakāraka keep them for purchasing medicines. If many people give the money value of medicines, it may be placed under a felt rug; if in dim light at an improper time one's hand touches it, checking whether it is there or not, it is not an offense.' It also says: 'Queen Mallikā gave the saṃgha posadha money; the Buddha said it was permitted to be accepted.' In accordance with the principle, it is entrusted to another. Furthermore, if a householder takes gold and silver and gives it to the saṃgha to build a monastery, dining hall, or garden and fields, a bhikṣu must not accept it, committing a duṣkṛta; it should be handed over to a kappiyakāraka, and [the bhikṣu] may verbally direct it. If given to provide food, drink, robes, medicines, or bedding, he likewise does not accept it himself. If after accepting it he uses it to make clothing, he incurs a duṣkṛta; it should be handed over to a kappiyakāraka. The Saṃyuktāgama says: 'From this day forth, if you need wood, directly ask for wood, up to if you need laborers and so forth, directly ask for them as well; be careful not to receive and take gold and precious things for yourself.' This refutes the Dharmaguptaka interpretation. The Vinaya says: 'If for the sake of constructing a room one seeks timber, bamboo, grass, and tree bark, one is permitted to accept them; one should not accept them for one's own body' (if the text is not clear, quoting the sūtras clarifies it of itself). The rest is as in the primary explanation. (7) Permitted keeping of heavy goods: The Vinayamātṛkā: 'An individual is permitted to accept a large carved bed, excluding only gold and precious treasures. If it is a cotton rug that was already completed when given by another, the Daśādhyāya-vinaya allows it to be accepted.' The Vinayamātṛkā and Dharmaguptaka Vinaya: 'If woolen rugs and so on are given by others, they are permitted to be accepted; three cubits wide and five cubits long, they are kept through pure surrender. If they are utensils such as iron or earthenware flasks, bronze basins, and bronze bowls, an individual may accept them.' (8) Those which the Buddha did not allow: The Samantapāsādikā says: 'One must not grasp any grain, except rice. If weapons are given, the saṃgha should break them; they must not be sold. If musical instruments are given, they must not be handled; they may be sold.' The Ekottarika-āgama says: 'If one receives a gift of gold and treasures, after chanting the dhāraṇī/blessing, one returns it to the donor.' The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'If someone says: "The Tathāgata, pitying all sentient beings, well knows what is appropriate for the time, declaring the light to be heavy and the heavy to be light. Observing and knowing that among my disciples there are those who have people providing for them, with no lack of necessities—such persons the Buddha does not permit to accept or keep any of the eight impure things. If my disciples have no one to provide for their necessities, and in times of famine food and drink are hard to obtain, then wishing to protect, uphold, and establish the true Dharma, I permit my disciples to accept and keep male and female slaves, gold and silver, vehicles and carriages, fields and residences, and grain and rice, to sell and exchange for what they need; although they are permitted to accept and keep such things, they must necessarily be purified and transferred to a faithful dānapati. Such four principles are what should be relied upon; I speak of these four reliances for sentient beings with fleshly eyes, never for those with the wisdom-eye; if there is a Tripiṭaka master who speaks contrary to the above, he likewise should not be relied upon."' It also discusses the eight impure riches; in more than ten passages of text, it completely destroys and censures them, not allowing them to be kept or used. It also says: 'If an upāsaka knows that this bhikṣu breaks the precepts and accepts and keeps the eight things, he should not provide or give to him; nor should he, on account of the kāṣāya, pay homage or revere him; if he joins in saṃgha affairs [with him], upon death he falls into hell.' What the Daśacakra-sūtra says is based on those who do not know observance and transgression; all must be revered. Furthermore, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'As the ultimate and final teaching, not using them is also acceptable; for the sake of protecting the Dharma, minor matters are not essential.'