四分律行事鈔資持記 3.31

3.31

In citing the various texts: the first two characters link back to the general text above. The clause beginning from "also" introduces the subsequent citations. Although the lower robe of the Dharmaguptaka is said to be narrow and small, among the various schools the three robes are sometimes equal, which is quite sufficient as a guideline. Fearing that seeing "measuring the body", people would immediately make them arbitrarily wide or long without regulation, it therefore says "although this is so" and so forth. (Those today who cling to a twelve-foot robe and say that the Vinaya has general texts fall precisely into this error.) Next, beginning from "therefore", it cites and demonstrates the various texts: first, pointing to two Vinayas. The Daśādhyāya-vinaya: the upper robe is five cubits long and three cubits wide (the same as the Dharmaguptaka above); the lower robe is four cubits long and two and a half cubits wide (the length is the same as the Dharmaguptaka, but the width adds nine inches, making it four feet five inches); the measure of the seven-strip robe is between the upper and lower robes. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya: the three robes each have three grades. The superior is five cubits long and three cubits wide (also the same as the Dharmaguptaka); the middling is five cubits minus an unextended hand long (meaning among the five, one cubit is measured with an unextended hand, not filling five cubits; following that treatise, a cubit is measured with an extended hand), and three cubits minus an unextended hand wide; the lower robe is four and a half cubits (eight feet one inch) long and three cubits minus an unextended hand wide. The middling and lower robes also each have three grades, all as above. In the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya Vibhāṣā: the three items generally have three grades: length five, width three (the middle robe is the same as the Dharmaguptaka); if extremely large, the length is six cubits (ten feet eight inches) and the width is three and a half cubits (six feet three inches); if extremely small, the length is four cubits and the width is two and a half cubits. The above presents the three grades that accord with the Dharma. Below, it explains that exceeding or falling short is against the Dharma: first, judging the validity of reception. What exceeds can be cut off, and what falls short can be pieced together. The bowl does not have this principle, so its reception is not valid. Next, beginning from "if exceeding", it determines offenses. By this rule one knows that the twelve-foot long robes of today, since they are not stated for purification, all incur the offense of excess. The commentary explains before and after receiving purification, because whatever is outside what is maintained belongs to surplus items. (Therefore, one knows that on a Dharma robe, surplus items are joined; consulting the Bhikṣuṇī Manual now, the Patriarchal Master clearly judged that if it exceeds the measure, one must perform purification by giving.)