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Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c23: Chapter XV: Discipline

Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c23

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Chapter XV: Discipline

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**Regulations as to Food and Begging.** We shall now study the regulations of the Order regarding the primary wants of life. These wants had to be supplied from the proceeds of begging and the gifts of the laity. We may recall the ruling in regard to food for the newly ordained monk: "The religious life has morsels of food given in alms for its resource. Thus you must endeavour to live all your life. Meals given to the Saṁgha, to certain persons, invitations, food distributed by ticket, meals given each fortnight, each Uposatha day (i.e. the last day of each fortnight) or the first day of each fortnight are extra allowances" [*Mahāv.*, i, 30, 4]. The mode of the daily begging is prescribed. "When the time has been called in the Ārāma, a Bhikkhu should put on his waist cloth so as to cover himself all round from above the navel to below his knees, tie his belt round his waist, fold his upper robes and put them on, fasten the block on, wash his hands, take his alms-bowl, and then slowly and carefully proceed to the village. He is not to turn aside from the direct route and push on in front of senior Bhikkhus. He is to go amidst the houses properly clad, with his limbs under control, with downcast eye, with his robes not tucked up, not laughing, or speaking loudly, not swaying his body or his arms or his head about, not with his arms akimbo, or his robe pulled over his head, and without walking on his heels" [*Chullav.*, viii, 4, 3]. When he enters a dwelling, he should note carefully beforehand its entrance and exit. "He should not go in nor come out roughly. He should not stand too far off, nor too near, nor too long and should not turn back too easily. When food is being given to him he should lift up his robe (Saṁghāṭi) with his left hand so as to disclose his bowl, take the bowl in both his hands and receive the food into it without looking at the face of the giver if it is a woman. After the food has been given he should cover up the bowl with his robe and turn back slowly and carefully" [ib., viii, 5, 2].

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Begging for food was thus an institution common to both the Brahmanical and Buddhist systems of training. There is, however, seen a difference in the manner prescribed for the begging. While the Brahmachārin was allowed to ask for alms by words specially specified, as we have seen, the Buddhist Bhikkhu must beg in silence [cf. *Mil. P.*, iv, 5, 31], so as to give the laity an opportunity of giving him food and doing a meritorious act. It can hardly be called "begging" in the modern sense of the term.

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**Alms-bowl.** The begging bowl was to be made of only iron or clay and not other materials [ib., v, 9, 1]. It was usually put in a bag (*thavikā*) carried by a shoulder strap [ib., v, 9, 4].

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**Other Outfit for Begging.** As further equipment for his journeys on begging, the monk carried needles, scissors, drugs, a strainer for filtering water, and might also use sandals if the journey was along rough paths [ib., v, 13, 1].

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**The Monk's Dietary.** We shall now consider the articles that make up the monk's diet [*Pāt.*, pp. 37-42]. Two kinds of food are distinguished, *hard*, such as biscuits, cakes, meats, fruits, and *soft*, such as boiled rice and curries. The Buddha on the eve of his enlightenment took milk-rice from Sujātā at Uruvelā. Immediately after his enlightenment the two merchants, Tapussa and Bhallika, offered him rice-cakes and lumps of honey [*Mahāv.*, i, 4, 3], and, according to Aśvaghosha [*Buddha-charita*, xv, 61], "three sweet substances (sugar, honey, and ghee) and milk." Evidently, these must have been regarded as the ideal food of a Bhikkhu. The following delicacies are mentioned, viz. ghee, butter, oil, honey, molasses, fish, flesh, milk, and curds, but none but a sick Bhikkhu "should request them for his own use and partake of them" [*Pāt.*, 40]. The language of this restriction does not seem to bar these delicacies out of dinners voluntarily offered to the monks by their lay well-wishers. Accordingly, it does not conflict with the account of the Buddha himself taking meat, and pronouncing fish to be "pure" food when "the eater has not seen, or heard, or suspected that it has been caught for that purpose" [*Chullav.*, vii, 3, 15; cf. *Mahāv.*, vi, 31, 14]. Kern points out [*Indian Buddhism*, p. 84, where he differently understands the above prohibition] that the use of non-vegetarian diet by Buddhist monks was in imitation of Brahmanical practices which allowed it under certain restrictions [cf. *Gautama*, xviii, 27-38; *Āpast.*, i, 5, 17, 29 ff.; *Manu*, v, 27]. The Brahman ascetic was, however, forbidden meat and honey [*Āpast.*, ii, 9, 22, 2; *Manu*, vi, 14; but there is an exception in *Gautama*, iii, 31]. The Buddhists, in spite of their decrying the Brahmans, were always anxious to pass for Āryas and fond of frequently repeating that very word. The Saṁgha in one passage [*Mahāv.*, vi, 33] permits a meat dinner by outsiders in its own premises where they were given shelter in storm and rain. "They boiled congey and boiled rice and mixed curries and cut up meat and split firewood." As regards other foods, we have mention of sweet-meats (*Pūva*) and rice cakes (*Mantha*) which seem to have been given usually and in large quantities in alms, as they were prepared in the houses of the laity on all festive occasions. Five food products derived from the cow are mentioned, viz. milk, curds, ghee, butter milk, and butter. Bhikkhus on journeys were permitted to provide themselves with supply of rice, salt, molasses, beans, oil, and ghee [*Mahāv.*, vi, 34, 21]. Eight kinds of drinkables are mentioned, fruit juices, and drinks prepared from leaves, flowers, and roots [ib., 35]. Beans were specially recommended among vegetables [ib., vi, 16, 2]. Soup and boiled rice sometimes figure as the Bhikkhus' ordinary diet [ib., i, 25, 1]. Salt and oil, rice and meal were collected "in quart pots from house to house" by the two sons of an old barber monk for the entertainment of the Buddha with 250 disciples [ib., vi, 37, 2]. "All solid food in the shape of fruits" was always allowed [ib., vi, 38]. The taking of tender fruits was not permitted but only those having no life in them or injured by fire, sword, or nails [*Chullav.*, v, 5]. Fermented liquors and strong drinks were forbidden [*Pāt.*, op. cit.]. The Interdict on this point has been already referred to.

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The most religiously disposed Bhikkhu would observe as regards his meals the rule of *Piṇḍapātika*, i.e. of living on food obtained by begging from door to door and carried in the bowl itself. He who would come back first from his round for alms in the village was to make the preliminary arrangements for the dining of the whole fraternity, such as getting ready the seats, water for washing and drinking, towels, etc. He who comes last will, after taking his own meals if he has not taken them elsewhere, clean out the dining-room (*Chullav.*, viii, 5, 3]. Sometimes, an individual Bhikkhu would be given food more than sufficient for himself. In that case, he must not accept more than two or three bowlfuls as the maximum quantity for purposes of distribution among the Saṁgha [*Pāt.*, op. cit.].

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**Begging of Food confined to approved Households.** As regards taking meals out of their Vihāras, the Bhikkhus must as individuals or in companies so conduct themselves as not to bring any discredit to the Order. A novice must be acquainted beforehand with the official declaration of the Order as regards lawful and unlawful resorts for alms and families in want. Seeking food uninvited at an approved household was forbidden [*Pāt.*, p. 57]. The approved household is defined as that which is rich in faith but poor in goods, whose liberality towards the Order lands it in want. A householder was officially declared as disapproved and disqualified by the Order formally passing as a body the Resolution of "turning the bowl down" in respect of him, after which he will be deprived of the privilege of having any intercourse with the Order by way of offering it food or lodging. The Saṁgha was to boycott him completely. This Resolution of boycott was applied against a layman found guilty of the following eight acts of hostility against the Order, viz. when he brings loss of gifts on the Bhikkhus, or harm to them, or causes them want of residence, or reviles and slanders them as also the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṁgha [*Chullav.*, v, 20, 3]. A boycott was declared against Vaḍḍha the Lichchhavi for having brought a groundless charge of a breach of morality against the Venerable Dabba the Mallian, and the Saṁgha turned the bowl down in respect of him by adopting a Resolution to that effect. The boycott was raised when the offender conducted himself aright, expressed penitence, and asked for the restoration of his former status. The Saṁgha then turned up the bowl as respects him by a special Resolution to that effect.

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**Manner of Begging.** Dealings with the approved households were carefully regulated. A Bhikkhu must not force his way into a house when a meal is going on, and take his seat there. Nor must he take the meals procured by the intervention of a Bhikkhuṇī unless they were previously and independently promised. The Bhikkhus, invited to laymen's houses, must not, while eating, allow a Bhikkhuṇī to stay there and give directions, saying: "Here give curry, give rice here." They must rebuke her for such officiousness, saying: "Stand aside, sister, as long as the Bhikkhus are eating" [*Pāt.*, p. 56]. The Bhikkhus must not go in a body to the same householder and ask for meals and thus be a burden upon him. Not more than three were permitted to seek alms at a common place together [*Chullav.*, vii, 3, 13]. Exception to this rule was allowed in the case of sickness, distribution of robes, or on a journey by foot, or on board a boat, or when, after *Vassa*, the monks travelled in great numbers to visit the Buddha, or when a general invitation is issued to all Samaṇas as a class including non-Buddhists [*Pāl.*, pp. 37-42, *SBE.*, xiii].

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The monks are not to exercise any choice as to invitations but to accept them as they come. They should, however, prefer those which are invitations to take not merely meals but also robes [ib.].

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**Manner of Eating.** When taking meals on invitation they must eat straight on whatever was given and not pick or choose in regard to the food served [ib.]. There is an interesting description of the Saṁgha or a band of monks taking their meals together on invitation, which shows the rules of etiquette at eating [*Chullav.*, viii, 3-6]. The senior monks sit apart from the juniors. Drinking water is to be received carefully in the bowl held with both hands so as not to splash anybody. Boiled rice should be similarly received in the bowl with a room left for the curry. If there be ghee, oil, or delicacies, the senior monk should say: "Get an equal quantity for all." The alms given are to be "accepted with mind alert, paying attention to the bowl, with equal curry and equally heaped up". The food is to be received carefully and any fragments of it falling must be picked up and eaten, for "each single ball of rice, for example, is the result of hundredfold labour" (*Chullav.*, v, 26]. The senior monk is not to start eating until the boiled rice has been served to all. The monk must not cover up the curry or the condiment with the rice, desiring to make it nicer, nor should ask for any rice or curry, unless he is sick. "Others' bowls are not to be looked at with envious thoughts. The food should be rolled up into round mouthfuls." The process of eating is to be marked by dignity and decorum as regards the movement of the mouth, tongue, and hand. The jar containing drinking water is not to be taken hold of with hands soiled with food. The senior monk is not to accept water for washing until all the monks have finished eating. In returning home, the junior monks should go first and the seniors after them. Before parting, the senior monk was to return thanks to the host on behalf of his party, of whom four or five who were seniors, or next to him in seniority, must wait for him while he was thus engaged [ib., viii, 4, 1].

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It was further laid down that a Bhikkhu who has finished his meals must not accept a second course on invitation lest it should "stir up longing" [*Pāt.*, op. cit.]. This is the rule of *Khalupaśchādbhattika*. There is also another rule of "eating at one sitting", *Aikāsanika* [*Majjhi. N.*, i, 437]. The rule of eating out of prescribed times has been already referred to. The wrong time of eating was after sun-turn [*Pāt.*, op. cit.]. There was again another rule of "eating from one vessel only" (*pattapiṇḍika*).

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**Standing Invitations.** Sometimes a Bhikkhu might secure a permanent host and patron to give him the necessaries of life. Lest this should render his begging and its exertions unnecessary and thereby deprive him of a healthy educative and moral influence, it was laid down that he must not accept for a period exceeding four months such a standing invitation for food, clothing, shelter, and medicine [*Pāt.*, op. cit.]. Such standing invitations would sometimes be extended to the entire fraternity. We read of "an arrangement made at Rājagaha that the Bhikkhus were to receive excellent meals successively in the houses of different rich Upāsakas" and the sight of their felicity tempts a Brahman to join the Order "for his belly's sake" [*Mahāv.*, i, 30, 1]. We are also told how "at Vesālī a regular service of sweet food had been established, the laity taking the duty in turns" [*Chullav.*, v, 14, 1]. We also read of a householder possessed of good food giving "a perpetual alms to the Saṁgha, a meal for four Bhikkhus". "He with his wife and children used to stand at the place of alms and serve; and offer to some Bhikkhus boiled rice, and to some congey, and to some oil, and to some dainty bits" [ib., iv, 4, 6].

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**Invitations of Corporations.** Monks were entertained as guests by both individuals and collective bodies or corporations. We read of "the turn to provide the Saṁgha with a meal" coming to a certain *Pūga*. The senior monk Sāriputta presided at this dinner given by the corporation and moved the usual vote of thanks at the conclusion of the dinner [*Chullav.*, viii, 4, 1].

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**Meals at Rest-houses.** Failing kindly hosts, the monks would resort to the public rest-houses (*Āvasatha*) for meals, but they were not to take more than one meal there [*Pāt.*, op. cit.]. These rest-houses formed one of the amenities of life among the travelling public of ancient India. Some of them were even equipped with all the necessaries of life to be freely given to travellers. Asoka's concern for them shows itself in some of his Edicts. The institution was a most distinguishing feature of the later Gupta empire, too, as is shown by Fa-hien's first-hand observations in connection with the organization of public charities in Middle Kingdom and Central India. Pāṭaligāma had one such village rest-house where the Buddha with "a great company of brethren" was invited by the villagers to take his meals. "They made the rest-house fit in every way for occupation, placed seats in it, set up a water-pot and fixed an oil lamp" and announced to the Buddha that all things were ready. Then "the Blessed One robed himself, took his bowl and other things, went with the brethren to the rest-house, washed his feet, entered the hall, and took his seat against the centre pillar, with his face towards the east" surrounded by his disciples [*Mahā-parinibbāna-Sutta*, i, 20–2].

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**A Monk as Host.** If the Bhikkhu had himself to play the host, he was not to entertain as his guest and-feed with his own hand an Achelaka (a naked ascetic), a Paribbājaka and Paribbājikā [*Pāt.*, op. cit.].

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**The Buddha's notable Hosts.** As has been already stated, the Buddha was always receiving and accepting invitations to dine out with his disciples. The Buddha, staying in a grove near the hermitage of the Jaṭila Uruvela Kassapa, was offered daily food by him at his place [*Mahāv.*, i, 16]. The next important invitation in his career came from the Magadha King Seniya Bimbisāra who "ordered excellent food, both hard and soft, to be prepared" for the Buddha and the fraternity of Bhikkhus numbering 1,000, "who all had been Jaṭilas before." The king "with his own hands" served the food [*Mahāv.*, i, 22]. King Śuddhodana of Kapilavastu, the father of the Buddha, entertained at his palace at Kapilavastu the Buddha and his Order with a "savoury meal". The Seṭṭhi of Rājagaha similarly invited the Buddha and his fraternity to a dinner for which he gave the following "command to his slaves and work-people: 'So get up at early morn, my men, and cook congey, and cook rice, and prepare curries and prepare delicacies'" [*Chullav.*, vi, 4, 1]. This invitation was followed by that of his brother-in-law, the merchant prince, Anāthapiṇḍika, the invitation which was so big with consequences both to the host and the Order. The meals comprised the usual "sweet food both hard and soft" [ib.]. The same meals were also served by Visākhā, the mother of Migāra, at her "mansion", to the Buddha [*Mahāv.*, viii, 15].

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Sunidha and Vassakāra, the chief ministers of Magadha, treated him and his company to "sweet dishes of boiled rice and cakes" [*Mahā-parinibbāna-Sutta*, i, 30]. The courtesan Ambapāli of Vesāli vied with the Licchchhavi youths of the nobility of that free city for the honour of entertaining at her house the Buddha and his disciples who were then staying at her mango-grove. When the young noblemen said to her: "Ambapālī, give up this meal to us for a hundred thousand," she proudly answered: "My lords, were you to offer all Vesālī with its subject territory, I would not give up so honourable a feast." She then "made ready in her mansion sweet rice and cakes, set the sweet rice and cakes before the Order with the Buddha at their head and waited upon them till they refused any more" [ib., ii]. At Andhakavinda the Buddha and his 1,250 disciples with him were entertained by a Brahman who treated them to just the food which he found wanting in the provision-room of the Order, viz. rice-milk and honey lump [*Mahāv.*, vi, 24]. Once the people of a place entertained the Order with the Buddha at its head with solid rice-milk and honey lumps to such satiety that the Bhikkhus had no appetite that day when they had to assemble for meals in the dining-hall.

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The next day the entire body of the Bhikkhus, 1,250 in number, with the Buddha at their head, accepted the invitation of a certain minister, newly converted, who made elaborate arrangements for the dinner, preparing for each individual a dish of meat, besides other excellent food hard and soft. When dinner was being served, the Bhikkhus said: "Give us little, friend; give us little." The host said: "Do not take little, reverend sirs, because you think: 'This minister is but newly converted.' Much food, both hard and soft, has been prepared by me, and 1,250 dishes of meat; I will offer to each Bhikkhu one dish of meat. Take, reverend sirs, as much as you want." The Bhikkhus said: "This is not the reason, friend, for which we take little. But we have satiated ourselves in the morning with solid rice-milk and with honey-lumps; therefore we take little." The minister at this explanation lost his temper and said: "How can their Reverences, when I have invited them, partake of solid rice-milk with other people, as if I were unable to give them as much as they want?" Then he went round angry, filling the bowls of the Bhikkhus, and saying, "Eat or take it away!" On the matter reaching the ears of the Buddha, he rebuked the Bhikkhus, saying: "How can these foolish persons, having been invited to one place, partake of solid rice-milk with other persons?" [ib., 25].

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Sīha, the Commander-in-Chief of the Lichchhavi republic, entertained the Buddha and his Order to a meat dinner for which he gave instructions beforehand to one of his subalterns [ib., 31, 12]. Quite a remarkable example of hospitality towards the Order is shown by Meṇḍaka, the householder, who fed the Order daily during their stay in his city, the Bhaddiya-nagara, in the kingdom of the Māgadha King Seniya Bimbisāra. When the Order left that place, Meṇḍaka followed them with his hospitality, with cartloads of salt, oil, rice, and hard food, and 1,250 cowkeepers, each with a cow, to wait upon every individual Bhikkhu with fresh milk, and other sweet food, hard and soft, to boot [ib., 34, 17]. The Buddha with 250 disciples was the guest of the Mallas of Kusinārā who "established a compact to the effect that whosoever went not forth to welcome the Blessed One should pay a fine of 500 hundred pieces (the square *kahāpaṇas* of copper or bronze as figured in the Bharhut bas reliefs and mentioned in the *Dhamma-pada*)". A certain succession was also fixed in which the inhabitants of Kusinārā should each in succession provide food for the Saṃgha. When the turn came to Roja the Malla, he inspected the Saṃgha's store-house and finding its deficiency in potherbs and meal fed the Bhikkhus with them with his own hand [ib., 36].

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Finally, we may mention the last invitation of the Buddha given to him by Chunda, "the worker in metals," at Pāvā, who "made ready in his house sweet rice and cakes and a quantity (*pahūtam*) of dried pork (? *Sūkara-maddava* ¹)? The Buddha at once perceived that the latter food was not to be assimilated by anyone in earth or heaven among gods and men but a Tathāgata. Thus he alone made his meal upon it and had what was left over buried in a hole, while "the other food, the sweet rice and cakes" was served to the members of the Order. Then "there fell upon him a dire sickness, the disease of dysentery, and sharp pain came upon him, even unto death". Later, at the point of death, lest remorse be roused in Chunda for his meals causing it, the Buddha was considerate enough to send him through Ānanda the consolation that he acquired special merit as the giver of the Buddha's last meal like the giver of his first food [*Mahā-par.-sutta*, iv, 14–21, 57].

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¹ Rhys Davids holds that "there is great doubt as to the exact meaning of this name of the last dish the Buddha partook of", and that "the fact is that the exact sense is not known". He cites Dhammapāla who says that the word means "not pork or meat at all but the tender top sprout of the bamboo plant after it has been trampled upon by swine", and, according to others, "a kind of mushroom that grows in ground trodden under foot by swine", or "a particular kind of flavouring or sauce". It may even mean "tender flowers", *mārdava* in Sanskrit meaning "tender, pitiful, etc." [*SBE.*, xxxv, p. 244 n.].

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**Gifts of Provisions.** Besides these invitations to dine out, the Bhikkhus also received supplies of provisions for their meals from the lay devotees. We read of a Vihāra receiving such a large quantity of ghee, butter, oil, honey, and molasses that they had to be stored up in vessels till they were being damaged by rats, while the Bhikkhus suffered in reputation as "being storers up of goods". While deeming the articles to be useful as medicines, the Buddha ordered that, "when such are received they must be used within a period of seven days during which they may be stored up" [*Mahāv.*, vi, 15, 10; *cf. Pāt.*, p. 27]. During the period of a famine in Rājagaha the Bhikkhus were supported by the people by gifts of salt, oil, rice, and hard food brought to the Ārāma [ib., 17, 7]. We read of Suppiyā of Benares, the tenderhearted benefactress of the Order, flowing with the milk of motherly affection, visiting the Ārāma, going around from Vihāra to Vihāra and from cell to cell, asking the Bhikkhus: "Who is sick, venerable Sirs? For whom, and what shall I procure?" One sick Bhikkhu said: "I have taken a purgative, sister, and I want some broth." Promising it, Suppiyā, on returning home, gave order to a pupil (evidently of her husband): "Go, my good Sir, and see if there is any meat to be had." Unfortunately on that day the killing of cattle being interdicted, the youth searching through the whole of Benares could not find any meat on hand, whereupon, as the texts tell us, the believing and pious Suppiyā, to keep her word, cut off her own flesh and gave it to her maid-servant, saying: "Go, my girl, get the strength out of this meat and give it to a sick Bhikkhu in such and such a Vihāra. And should anybody call for me tell him that I am sick." When the news of her sickness reached the Buddha, he had her brought to him, "and in the moment the Blessed One saw her, that great wound was healed; and there was good skin there, with the tiny hairs thereon" [ib., 23]. We read again of the merchant Belaṭṭha Kachchāna who, while "travelling on the road from Rājagaha to Andhakavinda with five hundred carts all full of pots of sugar", approached the Buddha and his company and with his permission gave to each Bhikkhu one pot of sugar [ib., 26].

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**The Buddha's non-Buddhist Hosts.** But the circle of the Buddha's hosts included not merely his own lay devotees but also the devotees of other faiths. The homage paid by the latter to the Buddha was the greatest compliment to his spiritual pre-eminence which thus won a universal recognition. Thus we read of the Brahman ascetic, Keniya the Jaṭila, living at Āpaṇa, hearing of the Buddha's reputation, was anxious to pay his respects to him, and thought: "What now should I have taken (as a present) to the Samaṇa Gotama?" Considering that he was an abstainer from food at night and wrong time like the Ṛishis of old [viz. Aṭṭhaka (Ashṭaka, author of Rigveda, x, 104, or Atri), Vāmaka (?), Vāmadeva, Vessāmitta, Yamataggi (Jāmadagni), Āṅgirasa Bhāradvāja, Vāseṭṭha, and Bhagu (Bhṛigu)], he saw the Buddha with "a quantity of drinkables carried on pingoes" with which he had permission to satisfy the Buddha and his disciples with his own hand. Moved by the Buddha's discourse, he asked for "the privilege of providing the to-morrow's meal" for him and his Bhikkhus. But the Buddha said: "Great, O Keniya, is the company of the Bhikkhus. Two hundred and fifty are the Bhikkhus in number. And thou art greatly devoted to the Brahmans." But Keniya's zeal had its own way at the end, and he offered with his own hand at his house plenty of "sweet" and "nice" food, both hard and soft, to the Buddha and his company [ib., 35]. The arrangements for the dinner were made on a generous scale with the co-operation of all his "venerable friends and servants, relatives and kinsmen" whom the Brahman requested to render him "bodily service" and "complying with his request, some of them dug fire-places, some chopped fire-wood, some washed the vessels, some placed water pots, some prepared seats", while the host himself provided a circular pavilion for the reception of his honoured guests [*Sutta Nipāta*, iii, 7, 21, 22]. The dinner was followed as usual by a discourse of the Buddha in which he praised the Rigvedic hymn of the Sāvitrī as the chief of the sacred verses, but the discourse was not followed on this occasion by its usual result of the conversion of the guest.¹ Another example of a dinner given by a non- Buddhist to the Order is that of "a certain high official at court" (of the Magadhan king) who was a follower of the Ājīvakas. The dinner was disturbed by Upananda the Śākyan coming late, and ousting from his seat the Bhikkhu next to him in rank, even when he was eating, whereupon the minister, annoyed, complained to the Buddha who gave the ruling that "a Bhikkhu is not to be made to get up out of his seat before the meal is over" (*Chullav.*, vi, 10, 1).

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¹ Somewhat allied to this example of the entertainment of the Buddha by non-Buddhists and of the Buddha's toleration towards them is that related in the story of the Lichchhvi Commander-in-Chief Sīha already referred to. In the story, when Sīha deserts his own sect of the Nigaṇṭhas and becomes converted to Buddhism by the Buddha's religious discourse delivered after dinner, the Buddha generously asks him not to transfer all his liberality to him at once but to continue it towards his quondam religious brethren so that they may not turn away disappointed from a house which by its long established charities became the refuge of the helpless [*Mahāv.*, vi, 31, 11]. Similarly, when Uruvela Kassapa decides to be ordained, the Buddha asks him not to decide it in a hurry but, as the leader, guide, and highest of his 500 Jaṭila followers, "to go first and inform them of his intentions" [ib., i, 20, 18]. Before his conversion, the Buddha showed a fine consideration towards his feelings by withdrawing from the scene of his great sacrifice to which would come "all the people of Aṅga and Magadha", bringing with them as offering "abundant food, both hard and soft", so that the Buddha's superior merits might not spoil his reputation with his followers as he secretly feared.

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**A Monk's Meals.** A review of the evidence as set forth above will show that the daily meal of the Bhikkhu would commence with a slight repast of fruit and cakes with milk or water as the beverage in the early morning, to be followed by the principal meal of the day usually made up of rice and curry which was taken between eleven and twelve. This is evident from the regulation that the meal was not to be prolonged beyond the time when the sun cast a shadow [*Chullav.*, xii, 2–8, and *Pāt.*, p. 40], but must be taken "before and up to noon" [*Mahāv.*, vi, 40, 3]. Sometimes, rice-milk would be served for the early morning meal or breakfast before the Bhikkhus would start on their begging rounds [*Mahāv.*, i, 25, 8]. We read of some Bhikkhus of tender age whom their guardians admitted to the Order under a false idea of the comforts of its life setting up a clamour for rice-milk, for soft food and hard food, as soon as they rose from bed in the early morning. The elderly brethren answered their clamour coolly by saying: "Wait, friends, till day-time; you shall get what is here or must go out for alms." But the boys were not to be silenced; they threw their bedding about, made it wet, and kept on crying for food [ib., i, 49, 4]. After the principal meal no more solid and substantial food was permitted. Only slight repasts were allowed in the afternoon after sun-turn.

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**Medicine.** In connection with food we have to consider the various articles which were recommended to be taken only as medicaments. The detailed information given by the texts [*Mahāv.*, vi] on this subject afford us incidentally a very fair insight into a good deal of the medical lore current at that early period, that is about 400 B.C., in the valley of the Ganges. It is a pity that the current authorities on the history of law and medicine have entirely ignored the details obtainable from these ancient books of Buddhist Canon Law" [Rhys Davids, *American Lectures*, pp. 57–8]. Rules for preparing various kinds of medicines together with medical and surgical operations are given in the Vinaya from which we may have some idea of the condition of medical science and practice in India in that early age.

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The orthodox ruling on the medicines to be used by the monks was as follows: "The religious life has decomposing urine as medicine for its resource. Thus you must endeavour to live all your life. Ghee, butter, oil, honey, and molasses are extra allowances" [*Mahāv.*, i, 30, 4]. In practice, the "extra allowances" were freely used and often added to according to the necessities of the cases of sickness. Among the ailments of the monks figures frequently the sickness of the hot season for which the five extra allowances were prescribed as medicaments. On account of their constant need, the Saṁgha was glad to get them as gifts from its supporters and would often lay by a store of them. Every Vihāra was permitted to have a store-house in a special detached building. The texts trace the origin of this permission to the sickness of the Venerable Yasoja for whom drugs were brought, but they were put out of doors by the Bhikkhus for want of a proper store-house (*Kappiya-bhūmi*), till "vermins ate them and thieves carried them away" [*Mahāv.*, vi, 33, 5]. We may now refer to the more important of the numerous other articles prescribed as medicines. The uses for medicinal purposes were known of certain roots, leaves, fruits, gums (e.g. Hiṅgu) and salts, as also some astringent decoctions prepared from some of these. Chunam was used for itches or boils, while as preventive against skin diseases was prescribed the use of dry cow dung, and some kinds of clay and colouring matter. We have references to eye ointments of various kinds; to oil to be rubbed and to aroma to be sniffed up in cases of headache; to certain herbs, hemp-water, steam-bath, and bath in medicated water as antidotes to rheumatism. Medicinal oils are prescribed for disorders of the stomach, and for wind in the stomach the use of salt, of sour gruel, of a particular kind of gruel made of ginger and two varieties of pepper, and of Tila seeds, rice, and beans. As regards beans, one could take with profit as much quantity as he liked. The use of dung and urine of the cow and of some kinds of ashes and clay is prescribed in cases of snake-bite. Varieties of artificial and natural juices and meat broth were known. We have an interesting report of Sāriputta suffering from fever at Sāvatthi which abates on his eating the edible stalks of some lotuses procured by Moggallāna, his inseparable friend. Lastly, we have evidence regarding surgical treatment. We read of a lancet operation to cut off proud flesh; of compresses, bandages, and oils for the treatment of wounds; of a fistula cured by lancing and treated by ointment [*Chullav.*, v, 27, 4]; and of the use of a clyster.

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The best diet for health is stated to be rice-milk with its "ten-fold merit in giving life, colour, joy, strength, readiness of mind, removing hunger and thirst, setting right the humours of the body, purifying the bladder, and promoting digestion" [*Mahāvagga*, vi, 24]. It was for these "ten advantages" that Visākhā decided, with the Buddha's permission, to provide the Saṁgha for life "with a constant supply of congey" [ib., viii, 15, 10]. With rice-milk is also coupled honey-lump. It may be recalled that these two foods were divinely suggested to the two merchants Tapussa and Bhallika as being the most proper meal to be given to the Buddha "who had just become Sambuddha" in his condition of prolonged fasting [*Mahāv.*, i, 4, 2].

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**Jīvaka the Physician of the Buddha.** The medical treatment of the Buddha and his fraternity was entrusted by the generosity of the Magadha King Seniya Bimbisāra to Jīvaka Komārabhachcha, "the royal physician, an excellent young doctor" who had orders to wait upon the king, his "seraglio and the fraternity of Bhikkhus with the Buddha at its head" [*Mahāv.*, viii, 1, 15–16]. He was a most distinguished medical authority of his times, well versed in both medicine and surgery, and had calls from distant places like Sāketa, Benares, and Ujjenī, always to treat diseases which baffled the skill of other medical practitioners. The free provision of such expert medical aid for the Order was one of its other temptations to the lay public to join it. There is a story that on the outbreak in Magadha of the five diseases of leprosy, boils, dry leprosy, consumption, and fits, the people suffering from them approached Jīvaka and said: "Pray, Doctor, cure us and all that we possess shall be yours and we will be your slaves." But the Doctor said: "I have too many duties, Sirs, and am too occupied. I have to treat the Magadha King Seniya Bimbisāra, and the royal seraglio, and the fraternity of Bhikkhus with the Buddha at their head. I cannot cure you." Now those people thought: "Indeed the precepts which these Sākyaputtiya Samaṇas keep and the life they live are commodious; they have good meals and lie down on beds protected from the wind. What if we were to embrace the religious life among the Sākyaputtiya Samaṇas: then the Bhikkhus will nurse us and Jīvaka Komārabhachcha will cure us." Thus these persons got themselves ordained by the unsuspecting Bhikkhus and then secured the Bhikkhus to nurse and the physician Jīvaka to treat them. The demands of the sick made the Bhikkhus constantly beg for food for the sick and for the tenders of the sick as also medicine for the sick, while Jīvaka, having to treat so many sick Bhikkhus, neglected some of his duties to the king. This stratagem worked so well that persons similarly afflicted with one or other of those diseases began to offer themselves for monkhood not for the sake of the religious life but simply to exploit the Order, to get themselves nursed and cured and then "to return to the world", for the entry into the Order was as easy as exit therefrom. The entire corrupt practice was, however, one day completely exposed when Jīvaka in the course of one of his medical rounds noticed a runaway renegade tramping the public roads and subjected him to a cross-examination which revealed the whole truth. On Jīvaka reporting the matter to the Buddha he ruled that no person seeking the Order in sickness should be admitted [*Mahāv.*, i, 39].

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**Monk’s duty of nursing the Sick Brethren.** The duty of nursing the sick among them was laid upon all the Bhikkhus. The texts relate an interesting story regarding the origin of this rule. Once a certain Bhikkhu having a disturbance in his bowels lay fallen in his own evacuations, unattended by any one because he was of no service to the Bhikkhus. The Buddha, going round the sleeping-places of the Bhikkhus with Ānanda, noticed the sick Bhikkhu in that condition and asked Ānanda to fetch some water. He himself poured the water over that Bhikkhu while Ānanda wiped him down. Then "the Blessed One taking hold of him at the head and the venerable Ānanda at the feet, they lifted him up and laid him down upon his bed". Afterwards, the Buddha convened a meeting of the Saṁgha at which he rebuked the Bhikkhus thus: "Ye, O Bhikkhus, have no mothers and fathers who might wait upon you! If ye, O Bhikkhus, wait not one upon the other, who is there indeed who will wait upon you? Whosoever, O Bhikkhus, would wait upon me, he should wait upon the sick." He then prescribed detailed regulations on the whole question of nursing the sick. The duty of nursing the sick Bhikkhu lay primarily upon his immediate associates, his Upajjhāya, Āchāriya, Saddhivihārika, Antevāsika, a fellow-Saddhivihārika or a fellow-Antevāsika as the case might be.

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That is to say, the teacher and his pupil must first nurse each other in case of illness. A Bhikkhu who is neither a teacher nor a pupil should be waited upon by the Saṁgha itself. The patient is advised to conform to the following requirements to facilitate his nursing: he must do what is good for him, must know the limit of the quantity of food that is good for him, must take his medicine, must take his nurse who desires his good into his complete confidence and let him know all about his disease and his condition, whether he is getting better or worse or continues in the same condition or when his bodily pains are too much. Similarly, the nurse is required to have the following qualifications: he must be able to prescribe medicines, must know what diet is good and what is not good for his patient and serve it accordingly, must wait upon the sick out of a feeling of love and not a desire for gain, must not revolt from removing evacuations, saliva, or vomit and must be capable, lastly, from time to time, "of teaching, inciting, arousing, and gladdening the patient with religious discourse" [*Mahāv.*, viii, 26].

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Nursing was encouraged by a special reward. A sick Bhikkhu dying, his bowl and robes were to be given to his nurse by a special Resolution passed in a meeting of the Saṁgha. In the event of two nurses waiting upon him, the gift would be divided between them equally, even if one of them were a mere Sāmaṇera and the other a fully ordained Bhikkhu. If the dead Bhikkhu leaves property in excess of the requisites which his attending Bhikkhus can legitimately claim, it is to be first appropriated by the Saṁgha then present there, and, if there is still an excess, it is to be reserved for "the Saṁgha of the four directions, those who have come in, and those who have not" [*Mahāv.*, viii, 27].

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The summons of a sick Bhikkhu living at a distance for aid must be obeyed by the fraternity even if they are then confined to their retreat in the rainy season when peregrinations are otherwise prohibited. Such aid must be given on the mere report of the illness, even if no summons are received [ib., iii, 6, 1–2].

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Besides nursing and provision for treatment and medicines, the necessities of the sick were attended to in other respects. Sick Bhikkhus taking their meals were not to be ousted from their seats. They were also allotted suitable sleeping-places of which they had, for the time being, exclusive possession [*Chullav.*, vi, 10].

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**Clothing.** We shall now discuss the regulations regarding the clothing of the Bhikkhus. As in the case of Food, there is a minimum prescribed for the Clothing too. "The religious life has the robe made of rags taken from a dust heap for its resource. Thus you must endeavour to live all your life. Linen, cotton, silk, woollen garments, coarse cloth, hempen cloth are extra allowances." But even the injunction regarding the minimum of clothing which the Buddhist Bhikkhu must use refers only to its material or quality, but is quite generous as regards its quantity. Indeed, the doctrine of the Middle Path has been very well exemplified in the regulations of the Order in this regard. They will appear to be designed under very advanced and correct conceptions of decency and decorum which a community of monks can ill afford to ignore when it is meant to have such an intimate and constant contact with the lay public as the Buddhists cultivated. These regulations must have been also deliberately designed to distinguish as definitely and easily as possible the Buddhist Order of Ascetics from those other Orders of Ascetics of the day like the Nigaṇṭhas, the Achelakas, and the Ājīvakas, who professed and practised the principle of a return to nature in the matter of clothing. The Buddha was therefore the more determined to have his own band of brethren dissociated from these extremists in asceticism by external marks and practices no less than by their internal doctrines. This is clear from a passage in the *Mahāvagga* [viii, 28] which tells of a certain Bhikkhu who, interpreting the Buddhist doctrine of moderation as applied to clothing to mean nakedness, comes up to the Buddha in that natural condition and insists upon his interpretation being adopted, saying: "It were well, Lord, if the Blessed One would enjoin nakedness upon the Bhikkhus." This had only the effect of drawing out of the Blessed One the following stern rebuke and ruling: "This would be improper, O foolish one, unsuitable, unworthy of a Samaṇa, unbecoming. How can you adopt nakedness as the Titthiyas do?" And lest there be any ambiguity as to what shall constitute nakedness in the Buddhist view, he proceeded to proscribe the following varieties of garment as being each "the symbol the Titthiyas use": viz. garments of grass, bark, phalaka cloth ("perhaps made of leaves"), hair, skin of a wild animal, feathers of an owl, and antelope skins (with the hoofs left on). In the rains when the full dress of the Bhikkhu would be drenched and heavy and a wearisome encumbrance [cf. *Mahāv*., vii, 1, 1], special garments were prescribed of the size of six spans by two and a half which would be just enough to go round the loins from the waist half down to the knee [see *Pāt.*, p. 54], and give an appearance of decency. Visākhā, that great benefactress of the Order, had once to complain to the Buddha that his Bhikkhus behaved as naked ascetics to let the rain fall on them with their robes thrown off, and since "impure was nakedness and revolting", she begged the Buddha's permission "to provide the Saṁgha life long with special garments for use in the rainy season" [*Mahāv.*, viii, 15]. But apart from their appearance in public, the Buddha would not also tolerate nakedness of the monks when they have to deal with one another in the Vihāra on occasions of mutual salutations, bath, or meals when mutual services are needed [*Chullav.*, v, 15].

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The full complement of the Bhikkhu's dress comprised three parts and hence was called *Ticīvara*. The three parts were known as Antaravāsaka, Uttarāsaṅga, and Saṁghāṭī [see *Mahāv.*, i, 76; viii, 13, 15, 20, 23; *Chullav.*, x, 17]. The Saṁghāṭī was "the waist-cloth wrapped round the waist and back, and secured with a girdle". The Antaravāsaka was "the under-garment wrapped round the loins and fastened by an end of the cloth being tucked in there or by a girdle" called *Kāya-bandhana*. It reached below the knee. The Uttarāsaṅga was the upper robe which was wrapped round the legs from the loins to the ankles with its end drawn, at the back, from the right hip, over the left shoulder and allowed to fall down on the back. "In the Mahāvagga we have constant references to the practice of adjusting the robe over one shoulder as a mark of special respect. The earliest statues of the Buddha which represent the robe as falling over only one shoulder are probably later than the texts" [*SBE.*, xvii, p. 212 n.].

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The origin of the rule determining the dress of the Bhikkhu is traced in the texts to the need that the Buddha himself felt of using no less than four robes to protect him against the cold of one winter night he spent at Vesāli. But lest there might be "persons giving themselves up to superfluity" in the matter of clothing, he wanted to fix its limits. The maximum quantity of clothing allowed was fixed on the basis of the needs of the physically weaker brethren, "those men of good birth in this doctrine and discipline who are affected by cold and are afraid of cold." Hence the ruling: "I allow, O Bhikkhus, the use of three robes (to wit), a double waist cloth, and a single upper robe, and a single under-garment" [*Mahāv.*, viii, 13].

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But this dress was prescribed not merely for health but also for decency. The Bhikkhu had normally to beg every day and had thus to adjust himself to social opinion as regards his dress and bearing which must be attractive and winning so as to inspire respect and provoke generosity in response to the begging. "Properly clad," says the text, "will I go amidst the houses, putting on my under-garment and robe all around me and properly clad will I take my seat amidst the houses with my body under proper control (i.e. 'not with dirty hands or feet'). With downcast eye will I go amidst the houses and take my seat with robes not pulled up, and with my head uncovered" [*Pāt.*, pp. 59-61]. We have already referred to the prescribed behaviour of Bhikkhus going on their begging rounds and to the houses of the laity on invitation to meals as pictures of dignity and sobriety, not showing the slightest sign in their carriage of any levity or lightness [*Chullav.*, viii, 4, 3]. Another text declares: "You are not, O Bhikkhus, to enter the village in your waist cloth and nether garment" [*Mahāv.*, viii, 23].

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The robes, as we have seen, might be of different stuffs or materials like cotton, silk, wool, and the like, but they should not be of untorn (*achchhinnaka*) cloth [ib., viii, 11]. They should be *paṁsukūlika*, i.e. made up of "rags taken from the dust heap or of bits picked up in the bazaar" [ib., viii, 14]. The rags were also collected from cemeteries [ib., viii, 4, 1]. The robes thus made were on the model of the rice-fields of Magadha "divided into short pieces and in rows and by outside boundaries and by cross boundaries", a model which the Buddha asked Ānanda to follow [ib., viii, 12]. The robes were also to be of a standard size, viz. less than 8 inches in length according to the accepted inch [ib., viii, 21].

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The Bhikkhus were allowed to accept presents of robes. "Lay robes" are distinguished from *paṁsukūla* robes [ib., viii, 1, 35]. The former might be made of new cloth [ib., viii, 1, 6]. "But a set of robes made entirely from untorn pieces is not to be worn." Half at least of each of the three robes must be from torn pieces [ib., viii, 21]. We read of people going to the Ārāma with presents of robes which were to be received by a Bhikkhu, specially appointed for the purpose, who had to keep within doors. Then these were to be laid by another special Bhikkhu, not in an open hall, where they might be damaged by rats and white ants, but in a separately appointed store-room, varying in size and build according to necessities, in charge of a Bhikkhu appointed as store-keeper [ib., *viii*, 5-8]. But such storage must not exceed the period of ten days after which they must be distributed among the Saṁgha [ib., *viii*, 13]. There should also be distribution, if the store-room be "overfull of clothes", by a Bhikkhu specially appointed for the purpose who was to make the distribution equitably among the members present, giving half to the Samaṇeras [ib., *viii*, 9]. Sometimes, lay men would give ready-made robes to individual Bhikkhus, but those seeking more merit would give *Kaṭhina* or cotton cloth to the whole Saṁgha assembling in a formal meeting for the performance of the *Kaṭhina* ceremony requiring all the members of the parish from different Saṁghas to be present and join in the work of making robes out of the cloth before the day is over, even the senior monks lending a helping hand if necessary [ib., *vii*]. The robes must be dyed always. Six kinds of dye are allowed together with the necessary arrangements for boiling and receiving them in suitable vessels [ib., *viii*, 10].

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**Use of Mat, Rug, and other Clothing.** Besides the suit of robes, the Bhikkhu was allowed the use of mat "for protecting the body and the robes", use of "itch-cloth" if he were suffering from "the itch, or boils, or a discharge or scabs", of cloth to wipe faces with, and of cloth required for the water-strainer and the bag in which the bowl and other things were carried [ib., *viii*, 16-20]. To these were also added the bed covering [ib., *viii*, 20] and the rug which must last for at least six years [*Pāt.*, p. 25].

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