四分戒本疏卷第一．第二．第三 2.92

2.92

"If a bhikṣu, when one month of spring remains, should seek a rains-bathing robe, and when half a month remains, should use it to bathe; if a bhikṣu seeks a rains-bathing robe more than one month before, or uses it to bathe more than half a month before, it is a niḥsargika-prāyaścittika." This complete precept text has three clauses: first, the person committing the offense; second, the season for seeking and using; third, seeking and using before the time and thus violating the teaching, incurring the offense. In the explanation, the first clause is self-evident. As for the second clause, "when one month of spring remains, should seek a rains-bathing robe": "spring" follows the Western method, meaning from after the sixteenth day of the twelfth month until before the fifteenth day of the fourth month is called spring; furthermore, until the middle of the eighth month is called summer; furthermore, until the middle of the twelfth month is called winter. Now, saying "when one month of spring remains" means that on the sixteenth day of the third month one should seek a rains-bathing robe. A "rains-bathing robe" is what a bhikṣu uses to bathe in the rain. Saying "when half a month remains, should use it to bathe": the Vinaya states that on the first day of the fourth month one should use it to bathe. As for the third clause, "if he seeks it more than one month before, or uses it more than half a month before, it is a niḥsargika-prāyaścittika": this is the determination of the offense for violating the teaching. Furthermore, saying "seeking it more than one month before" means seeking it before the fifteenth day of the third month. Saying "more than half a month before" means the final day of the third month. "Niḥsargika" means forfeiture; "prāyaścittika" means an offense. Below, miscellaneous meanings of the text are clarified. The treatise discusses two benefits of the rains-robe: whether when it rains or when it is hot, one may expose the body to wash and bathe. If there is an intercalary month, there is no offense. If before the intercalary fourth month one enters the rains retreat on the sixteenth day, on that very day one resolves upon the rains-robe and uses it, up to the fifteenth day of the seventh month, using it for one hundred and twenty days. Because in summer there is much rain, dampness, and heat, seeking it causes trouble; therefore one cannot include an intercalary month to seek and use it beforehand. When there is no greed or trouble, one is permitted to include an intercalary month without answering and obtaining robes. Because the benefit is great, there would be the fault of extra [...]; but the benefit of a rains-robe for five months is small, so its use is permitted to include an intercalary month. In the Jetavana, from the sixteenth day of the fourth month to the eighth month, one forfeits it among the Saṃgha, saying: "Let the venerable Saṃgha listen: today the Saṃgha forfeits the rains-robe." Saying so three times, other uses do not constitute an offense. The Mahīśāsaka Vinaya states that if the time limit is exceeded and one does not resolve upon it as another robe, nor give it to another through declaring it permissible, it is a duṣkṛta. Therefore the Vinaya states: if one forfeits it to make other use of it, or wears it to bathe or wash it, or stores it away, none of these constitutes an offense.