四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.229

2.229

Precept 37: Eating at improper times. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa asks: 'If phenomena are without inherent time, why is eating at the proper time permitted, and why is prohibiting eating at improper times made into a precept?' It answers: 'I have already explained that names in the world exist conventionally and phenomena are not ultimately real; you should not raise this objection. Furthermore, the precepts established in the Vinaya genuinely exist within the conventional world to prevent censure from the multitude, as well as to protect the Buddha-Dharma so that it lasts long, and to determine the etiquette and norms for the Buddha's disciples. When the Buddha, the Bhagavat, established the precepts, one should not investigate whether there are corresponding or non-corresponding names and so forth.' If so, why speak only of conventional time? The answer: 'The Vinaya does not speak of ultimate time because laypersons and tīrthikas must not hear of it, for hearing it would give rise to wrong views; conventional time is spoken of because it applies to the majority.'
Today there are those falsely studying the Great Vehicle who, out of excessive greed and craving for food at improper times, are cited these admonitions in full. A sūtra states: 'Early morning is when the gods eat; midday is when the Buddhas of the three times eat; the afternoon is when animals eat; dusk is when ghosts and spirits eat.' The Buddha instituted this to sever the causes of the six destinies and make disciples equal to the Buddhas of the three times.
The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā gives four explanations: First, from dawn to midday, the light progressively brightens, which is called the proper time; after midday the light fades, which is called the improper time. Second, from dawn to midday is the season for preparing food, so begging causes no annoyance; from midday onward, the reverse is true, as is known. Third, before midday laypeople are occupied with affairs, and lustful afflictions have not yet arisen; after midday they are at leisure, and entering villages to beg for food will mostly invite mockery and slander. Fourth, before midday begging for food supports the body; past midday one settles external conditions to cultivate the Path, which is not the time for begging and is therefore called improper time.
It also states: Day and night are each divided into nine units of time, functioning like a muhūrta; as the sun descends closer to the earth, heat diminishes and cold intensifies, and the nights lengthen. In the Āgama, the Sūtra on Proper and Improper Times fully clarifies the signs of the twenty-four half-months, corresponding to the twenty-four solar terms of secular reckoning.
The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya requires knowing the seasonal periods: if by measuring the shadow of the feet, it functions identically to the above sūtra; if by water clock (the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya is also like this), when the days are longest, daytime is eighteen muhūrtas and night is twelve; when nights are long, it is the reverse.
Four conditions: first, it is an improper time; second, the perception that it is an improper time; third, it is timely food; fourth, each swallow incurs a pāyattika.
The Vinaya states: 'The proper time is from the appearance of dawn until midday; taking this time as the norm, it is also like this across the four continents. The improper time is from midday until dawn has not yet appeared.' The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: 'When the sun is precisely at midday, it is termed the border of the proper and improper times; eating then incurs a duṣkṛta. Once the time has passed by even an instant or a hair's breadth, eating incurs a pāyattika.'
The Vinaya states: If a bhikṣu receives food at an improper time, each swallow incurs a pāyattika. If improper-time juice is kept until dawn appears, or if seven-day medicine exceeds seven days, it also incurs a pāyattika. If lifetime medicine is taken without cause, it incurs a duṣkṛta (because a verbal rite was performed, it is not permitted to take it without illness. The offense has lighter and heavier degrees, both referring to medicines that underwent the verbal rite; if no rite was performed, taking them during the improper time incurs a pāyattika for all four medicines; hence the Prātimokṣa Sūtra excludes only water and tooth-sticks). The Pañcavargika-vinaya states: One may taste food, but must not swallow it. The Daśādhyāya-vinaya states: Teaching someone to eat at improper times, to kill living plants, to light a fire on open ground, to handle gold and silver with hands, to dig the earth, or to eat leftover overnight food—whether for oneself or not, if done, both parties incur a pāyattika. The Five Hundred Questions states: 'Past midday, no material object possessing form may enter the mouth. Having eaten, one must rinse the mouth with a tooth-stick or ash; if not, it incurs a pāyattika.'
Under the Vinaya, there is no transgression if: one makes black honey mixed with rice, because such is the rule. A sick person may take emetic or purgative medicines; if the proper time is about to pass, one may boil barley so that its husk does not break, strain the juice, and drink it. If something is retched up into the throat and swallowed back down, there is no transgression. The Samantapāsādikā states that if it comes out of the throat and is swallowed back down, it incurs a pāyattika.