Cullavagga - Eighth Khandhaka: Chapter 7

1. Now at that time a number of Bhikkhus carried on robe-making in the open air.
The Khabbaggiya Bhikkhus beat their bedding to get
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the dust out in the open space 1 to windward of them, and covered the Bhikkhus
(who were at work) with dust.
The moderate Bhikkhus murmured, etc. . . . . told the Blessed One, etc. . . . .
and he said to the Bhikkhus:
'Therefore, O Bhikkhus, do I establish a rule of conduct for the Bhikkhus in
respect of lodging-places, according to which they are to behave themselves in
respect thereof.
2. 'In whatever Vihâra he is staying, if that Vihâra is dirty, he should, if he
can, make it clean. When cleaning the Vihâra, he should first take out his bowl
and his robe and the mat used for sitting upon, and the bolster and . pillows,
and put them down on one side. Taking the bed-frame down (from its stand), he
should carry it out [and so on as in VIII, 1, 2, down to the end] 2.
'He should not beat the bedding to get the dust out close to the Bhikkhus, or to
the Vihâra, or to the drinking-water, or to the water for washing, or in the
open space (in front of the Vihâra) to wind-ward of it or the Bhikkhus, but to
leeward.
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3. 'The floor coverings should be dried in the sun [and so on as in VIII I, 4,
and 5, to the end, reading "in the place where it stood (or lay)" for "in the
place to which it belongs"].
4. 'If he is dwelling in the same Vihâra with an older (Bhikkhu), no recitation
should be given, nor examination held, nor exhortation made, nor Dhamma spoken 1
(to a pupil), without leave being asked of the senior. Nor should a lamp be
lighted or extinguished, nor the lattices opened or closed, without his leave.
'If he is walking up and down on the same Kaṅkama with an older (Bhikkhu), then
he should turn back at the spot where his senior turns back; and he should not
touch his senior even with the corner of his robe.
'This, O Bhikkhus, is the rule of conduct, that I lay down for the Bhikkhus in
respect of lodging-places, according to which they are to behave themselves
therein.'



Footnotes
295:1 Aṅgana. This is not 'courtyard,' as Childers renders it, but a part of the
Ârâma, immediately in front of the hut or Vihâra, which is kept as an, open
space, and daily swept. The Sinhalese name for it is midula; there those who
sleep in the hut spend the greater part of the day, and not even grass is
allowed to grow upon it. The term is a very common one, and its meaning is not
doubtful. Compare the Gâtaka book, I, 124, 151, 421; II, 249, 250, 345.
Ekaṅganam bhavati, at ibid. I, 53, 12, is to become one open space, as ekaṅganam
karoti at II, 357, is to clear a forest, and turn it into an open space.
295:2 The order is slightly different, but all the details are the same. The
only addition is that in speaking of taking out the floor covetings, he is
directed to notice where they lay.
296:1 All the preceding expressions have occurred at Mahâvagga I, 26, 1; see
also 32, 1, and 38, 6.