法苑珠林 42.37

42.37

Furthermore, the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya states: "In the country of Śrāvastī, the monk Mahākāla accepted all kinds of pāṃśukūla robes and food. Wherever there were corpses, he would take the clothes and food, carry them to the water, wash them cleanly, and then eat without having them formally offered. He always lived among corpses. When there was an epidemic, he would not enter the city. The people of the time all said that he ate human corpse flesh, and bad rumors spread abroad. The monks reported this to the Buddha. The Buddha assembled the Saṃgha of monks and formulated the rule: 'From now on, any monk who puts food into his mouth without receiving it commits an offense.'"