四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 3.229

3.229

First, regarding clothing: Clothing is a condition that supports the path and is most vital for sustaining the body; therefore, one first examines external resources to make contentment clear. If one obtains this clothing without proper measure, it broadly generates burdens of fault, entangles one in unwholesome karma, binds one to the three realms of existence, and obstructs the path to liberation—which is not the dhūta practice. Therefore, the bhikṣus are taught to have few desires and be content with those external resources, to accept and take them with proper measure, and to stop as soon as they suffice to sustain the body and advance the path; this is precisely the dhūta practice, because it departs from all covetous attachments. Two [practices] are established within clothing: the first is rag robes, and the second is the three robes. Although one obtains clothing to shield the body, if inwardly one suffers from afflictions such as hunger and emptiness, how can one be capable of advancing in one's practice? Therefore, four dhūtas are established within food: the first is begging for food, the second is not practicing the rule of remaining food, the third is eating in one sitting, and the fourth is eating from a single portion. However, once clothing and food are provided, the principle of cultivating the path is established; yet if one resides in noisy agitation, the mind will mostly be distracted and disordered. One must rely on quiet conditions for proper discipline to truly be achieved. For this reason, five dhūtas are established for dwelling places: namely, an araṇya, a charnel ground, under a tree, sitting in the open, and sitting wherever one finds oneself. The above three kinds are all auxiliary conditions; if one is to tie one's mindfulness and reflect so as to sever entanglements and attain the essentials of liberation, nothing surpasses the posture of sitting. Therefore, within the deportments, one [dhūta] is established: constant sitting.