四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.291

2.291

Precept 84: Exceeding the standard measure for bed legs. Five conditions: first, it is a bed; second, it is a Saṃgha bed or one's own; third, it exceeds the measurement; fourth, making it oneself or having someone make it; fifth, completion constitutes the offense. If originally intended to be cut down, the offense is incurred only when one fails to cut it down. The Vinaya says: The height is eight Tathāgata finger-widths. The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā states: If a wooden bed is high and large, all are offenses; the eight precepts for laypeople are the same. Eight finger-widths means two inches per finger, which is one foot six inches by the Ji-Zhou ruler, and a little over one foot three inches by the Tang ruler. The Pañcavargika-vinaya states: If offered a high bed, make the intention beforehand to cut it down, and then one may accept it; otherwise, it is a pāyattika. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: [Using] a Saṃgha bed is also an offense. If fearing the donor will be displeased, place the legs in wooden hollows and bury them. Even using the wood cut from the legs to support the bed legs constitutes an offense; each time one sits or rises, each is a pāyattika. In a low and damp place, using an eight-finger-width piece of wood to prop up the legs is permitted (based on this, for a bed propped up in a low and damp place, an exception should allow one to pay homage to the Buddha upon it; but propping it higher is improper). A high bed in a layperson's house incurs no offense (the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya is the same). The Daśādhyāya-vinaya says: Once cut, repent the offense within the Saṃgha. 'Eight finger-widths' is measured by 'my' [the Buddha's] fingers (the above allowance for leg-propping wood uses the measure of a human's eight finger-widths), with the third part entering the mortise. Based on this, commentators on the Daśādhyāya-vinaya take eight inches as the measure, dividing it into four equal parts. It also says: A long bed at its smallest accommodates seating for four bhikṣus; a sleeping bed exceeds three cubits. Those four years junior may sit together; if fewer years apart, they must not sit together. A bed one and a half cubits long can accommodate two persons sitting together. The bed supports must not exceed eight finger-widths. In the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, non-offenses include: eight finger-widths above the ground; if less than that; or if the legs are detached, there is no offense.