四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 3.28

3.28

5. The number of strips, whether many or few. Why they must be odd-numbered is as explained in the Commentary and the Manual. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya states: "From nine strips up to nineteen strips, with five strips and ten compartments," and so forth. The Daśādhyāya-vinaya states: "Either five, seven, nine, eleven, or fifteen; if exceeding, it should be cut and made." The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā states: "The saṃghāṭī has three grades and nine [varieties of] strips: eleven and thirteen are the lower grade; fifteen, seventeen, and nineteen are the medium grade; twenty-one, twenty-three, and twenty-five strips are the upper grade." The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya reaches nineteen strips. It states: "If it further exceeds this, it should not be kept" (the character 'not' is a mistaken annotation). Nowadays there are thirty-three strips and so on, for which there is no authoritative teaching of prohibition or allowance. The Shengji ji states: "The Tathāgata wore a thirteen-strip great robe." The Dà zhìdù lùn states: "It was a coarse cloth saṃghāṭī." Taking this as a general standard, one prepares it according to one's capacity.