Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.s1.t3.16

c8.s1.t3.16

"A monk, O sire, who comes from foreign parts, does not know the streets and lanes and he goes about weary to collect alms. When he has partaken of the food which I shall provide for the monks who arrive, he may then, when he has inquired the ways and the streets, go out refreshed to collect alms. This end, O sire, I have in view: therefore I desire as long as I live to give food to monks when they arrive.—And again, sire, a monk who is travelling through will, if he has to seek for food for himself, fall behind his caravan, or will arrive late when he intends to rest, and he will walk on his journey wearily. If he has partaken of the food which I shall have provided for monks who are passing through, he will not fall behind his caravan, and he will arrive in proper time at the place where he intends to rest, and he will walk on his journey refreshed. This object I have in view, sire; therefore I desire, as long as I live, to give food to the monks who are passing through.—It has happened, sire, that nuns were bathing naked together in the river Aciravatî (Rapti) at the same bathing place with prostitutes. The prostitutes, sire, mocked the nuns, saying: ‘Most respected ones, what do you need of your holy life, as long as you are young? Is it not proper to gratify desire? When you are old you may begin a holy life, so both will be yours, this life and that which is to come.’ When the nuns, sire, were thus mocked by the prostitutes, they were put out of temper. Improper, sire, is nakedness for a woman, obscene and objectionable. This, sire, I consider; therefore I desire, as long as I live, to provide bathing-dresses for the sisterhood of nuns.”