四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.531

2.531

Major Section Four: Miscellaneous methods for returning the robes. First, evaluating right and wrong. Among the thirty precepts, regarding the five precepts on extra items, the accumulation must be cut off before [the items] may be returned; regarding those that are not the five extra items, because the acceptance and taking originally violated the rules, and not due to the fault of accumulating, they are returned immediately during the session. Present practitioners, fearing that the mind of accumulation has not been severed, therefore order them returned after passing a night. I do not agree with this now: if the mind is definitely not severed, keeping them for many days is also an offense; if the mind of relinquishment is severed, they may be returned on the very day, as in the treatise text cited above. For now, let us follow the old rule: if it is the five extra items—namely the ten-day robe, the one-month robe, the extra bowl, the seven-day medicine, and keeping urgent robe-gifts beyond the limit—they are returned after passing a night. The Vinaya states: 'If the great assembly is numerous and difficult to convene, and that bhikṣu has urgent business and wishes to travel afar, the saṃgha should immediately return those robes to him.' Once he has obtained the robes, they are handed over to him in a secluded place, and a transitive karman must be performed. Its wording is like the procedure for light belongings of a deceased person, with the addition: 'The saṃgha now takes these robes and gives them to the bhikṣu named so-and-so; the bhikṣu named so-and-so shall return them to the bhikṣu named so-and-so. This is the motion.' The rest of the words are identical to the direct bestowal procedure. The Vinaya states: One should ask him: 'To whom should these robes be given?' and they are given according to whomever he gives them to. If they are not the five extra items, or if they are the five extra items being returned the next day, they are returned by directly performing a karman. Having harmonised, requested [chanda], and inquired into the cause, and having answered, he makes the motion: 'May the Venerable Saṃgha listen! The bhikṣu named so-and-so deliberately spent the night away from his saṃghāṭī, committing a niḥsargika-pāyattika (mentioning commercial trade and purchasing goods as appropriate). All these robes and articles have already been relinquished to the saṃgha. If the time has arrived for the saṃgha, may the saṃgha consent and listen: the saṃgha now takes these robes and articles and returns them to the bhikṣu named so-and-so. This is the motion.' 'May the Venerable Saṃgha listen! The bhikṣu named so-and-so deliberately spent the night away from his saṃghāṭī, committing a niḥsargika-pāyattika. These robes have already been relinquished to the saṃgha; the saṃgha now takes these robes and returns them to the bhikṣu named so-and-so. Whichever elders consent that the saṃgha now takes these robes and returns them to the bhikṣu named so-and-so, remain silent; whoever does not consent, speak. The saṃgha has already consented to return the robes to the bhikṣu named so-and-so. It is because the saṃgha has consented and remained silent. Thus should this matter be upheld.' In the Vinaya, if one does not return the robes, one incurs a duṣkṛta. If relying on other schools, it has been fully explained as above, and is also found in the lower fascicle under 'Matters of the Separate Practices of the Various Schools'. Question: If one first confesses the fundamental [offense] and afterwards confesses the duṣkṛtas, is the offense expiated or not? Answer: Because it is no different from a saṃghāvaśeṣa, the offense cannot be removed. Question: Can a single motion before four people receive the confession? Answer: It was already clarified earlier that five or more people are required to execute a karman; if four people perform it, it can only be face-to-face, as in the upper fascicle. Other various relinquishments appear in their respective chapters, and thus are not described extensively.