BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 1However, a bhikkhu's kaṭhina privileges may be rescinded — and his robe seasonended — earlier than that for either of two reasons:1) He participates in a meeting in which all the bhikkhus in the monastery, as aCommunity transaction, voluntarily relinquish their kaṭhina privileges. (This act isdiscussed under Bhikkhunīs' Pc 30 — see BMC2, Chapter 17 and Appendix I.)2) He comes to the end both of his constraint with regard to the monastery (āvāsapalibodha)and of his constraint with regard to making a robe (cīvara-palibodha).(See Mv.VII.1.7; Mv.VII.2 & Pv.XIV.6.)a) A constraint with regard to a monastery ends when either of the followingthings happens:o — One leaves the monastery without intending to return.o — One has left the monastery, planning to return, but learns that thebhikkhus in the monastery have formally decided to relinquish theirkaṭhina privileges.b) A constraint with regard to making a robe ends when any of the followingoccurs:o — One finishes making a robe.o — One decides not to make a robe.o — One's robe-cloth gets lost, snatched away, or destroyed.o — One expects to obtain robe-cloth, but — after not obtaining it asexpected — one abandons one's expectation.Only if Point 1 happens, or both Points 2a and 2b happen, do one's kaṭhinaprivileges lapse before the dawn after the full moon day marking the end of the coldseason.During the robe season, one may keep an extra piece of robe-cloth for more thanten days without committing an offense under this rule. Once these privileges lapse,though, one must determine the cloth, place it under shared ownership, or abandonit within ten days. If one fails to do so by the 'eleventh dawn' after the privilegeslapse, the cloth is to be forfeited and the offense confessed.Forfeiture & confession. To be absolved of the offense under this rule, one mustfirst forfeit the robe-cloth kept more than ten days and then confess the offense.This may be done in the presence of one other bhikkhu, a group of two or three, ora Community of four or more. After confessing the offense, one receives the robeclothin return. This is the pattern followed under all the nissaggiya pācittiya rulesexcept for the few in which forfeiture must be done in the presence of a fullCommunity and under which the article may not be returned to the offender. (Wewill note these rules as we come to them.)148