四分戒本疏卷第一．第二．第三 3.115

3.115

"If a bhikṣu who is not sick, for the sake of warming himself, lights a fire in the open or tells someone to light it, except on appropriate occasions and conditions, it is a prāyaścittika." The text of the precept has three phrases: first, the person who commits the offense; second, except for sickness; second [third], lighting a fire for oneself assigns the offense. In differentiating the aspects, the first phrase is evident. As for the second, "for oneself, except for sickness," it is not permitted. As for the third, "prāyaścittika": this is assigning the offense for transgression. Thus the Vinaya states: "If he lights grass, wood, branches, leaves, cow dung, chaff, or the like in the open, in all cases of lighting them, he commits a prāyaścittika offense. If he places fire in grass, wood, or even among chaff, he also commits a prāyaścittika offense." The Mahīśāsaka Vinaya states: "If one lights a fire to warm oneself and the flame is four finger-breadths high, it is a fall (pātayantikā)." The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā states: "If another has already lit it, whatever one subsequently does [with it], it is in all cases a fall." The Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya states: "Whirling the fire into a wheel, or if there is grass and wood in the fire, raking them together—in all cases it is a fall. If one destroys living things, there are two offenses: first, destroying living things; second, lighting a fire. If it is on ground with life, in principle there is one fall. If half-burnt embers are thrown into the fire, it is a duṣkṛta. Lighting a charcoal fire is a duṣkṛta. If one does not tell the person in front to know it and look after it, it is a duṣkṛta." The Vinaya states that it is not an offense if: one tells the person in front to know it and look after it; or if a sick person lights it himself or instructs someone to light it, having a reason; or if a caretaker of the sick cooks gruel, delicious drinks, and the like for the sick person; or if one makes a fire on dead earth, stones, or other objects—these are permitted without offense. If it is in a kitchen, a bathhouse, or for perfuming a bowl, boiling dye, or lighting a lamp—none of these is an offense.