四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.237

2.237

In the first section, the *Pañcavargika-vinaya* states: Before the Buddha instituted this, the bhikṣus did not receive food [formally]. Laypersons reproached them, saying: 'I dislike seeing people wearing cut-and-dyed robes who eat food without having received it; this is taking what is not given.' The *Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā* gives five reasons: 1. to sever conditions for theft; 2. to serve as a witness; 3. to stop slander; 4. to accomplish having few desires and knowing contentment; 5. to generate faith in beings and cause tīrthikas to gain benefit. In the past, there was a bhikṣu walking together with a tīrthika, who stopped beneath a fruit tree. The bhikṣu did not climb the tree, did not shake down the fruit, and also refused to pick them up from the ground, answering each time that the Buddha did not allow him to do so. The tīrthika realized the purity of the Buddha's Dharma, thereupon went forth following the Buddha, and soon attained the exhaustion of effluents.