諸經要集 5.87

5.87

The commentary states: The reason a renunciant, when wishing to eat, must first receive it from another with clean hands is that renunciation is noble and exalted, distinct from ordinary inferiority; therefore, one must receive it before eating. Therefore, the Sarvāstivāda-śāstra states that a bhikṣu receiving food has five purposes: First, to cut off the conditions for stealing (taking it oneself to eat is tantamount to the thought of theft); second, to serve as verification (if anything is lost or missing, it does not involve the bhikṣu); third, to stop slander (it is not noble or exalted for a renunciant to take food himself); fourth, to accomplish having few desires and knowing contentment (if one were not to receive it formally, it would not accord with frugality); fifth, to generate faith and respect in others (seeing that it is received before being eaten, non-Buddhists generate faith). For example, formerly there was a bhikṣu who was walking with a non-Buddhist and stopped under a tree. There was fruit on the tree, and the time for eating was approaching. The non-Buddhist said to the bhikṣu, "Climb the tree and take the fruit." The bhikṣu said, "In my monastic precepts, one should not climb a tree higher than a person." He also said to the bhikṣu, "Why not shake the tree to get the fruit?" The bhikṣu said, "In my monastic precepts, one must not shake a tree oneself to make fruit fall." Having heard this, the non-Buddhist climbed the tree himself, picked the fruit, threw it to the ground for him, and said to the bhikṣu, "Take the fruit and eat." The bhikṣu said, "In my monastic precepts, one must not eat without having received it." The non-Buddhist climbed down the tree, picked up the fruit, and offered it to the bhikṣu. Seeing this, the non-Buddhist thought: Even for a single piece of fruit there is such rule and practice, how much more so for the supramundane Dharma! The non-Buddhist then generated faith and respect, knowing that the Buddha's Dharma is pure and unlike that of non-Buddhists. Thereupon he followed the bhikṣu, left household life in the Buddha's Dharma, cultivated the Way, and soon attained the destruction of the outflows.