法苑珠林 42.20

42.20

Question: What is termed the proper time for eating? What is termed the improper time? Answer: Relying on the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, it states that when the morning star appears, one may first eat gruel (before the morning star appears, it is an improper time), up until midday. Taking this noon hour as the standard, it is the proper time for eating (relying on the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya, it states that past this noon hour, even by the shadow of a single hair, an instant, or a blade of grass, it is then the improper time); according to this, all the four continents are identical. Therefore, the Vairocanasamādhi-sūtra, where the World-Honoured One expounded for the Bodhisattva Dharmamati, states: 'There are four kinds of meals: morning is the eating time for gods; noon is the eating time of the Dharma; dusk is the eating time for beasts; night is the eating time for spirits and ghosts. The Buddha severed the causes of the six destinies to make them identical to the Buddhas of the three periods of time; therefore, the noon hour is the Dharma eating time.' After this, it is identical to the lower destinies and is not the superior eating time; therefore it is called the improper time. The Daśabhāṇavāra-vinaya states: 'Only the gods may eat past noon without committing an offense.'