BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 1A building, a vehicle or a piece of land is single-kula if it belongs to one family, andmulti-kula if it belongs to more than one (as in an apartment house).According to the Sub-commentary, a monastery is single-kula if the people whoinitiated it belong to one kula — of either type, apparently — and multi-kula if theybelong to several.In some of the cases, the Vibhaṅga states that one should greet dawnrise within aparticular area "or not more than a hatthapāsa (1.25 meter) away." Unfortunately, itdoes not explicitly state what the hatthapāsa is measured from — the robes or thearea — so there are different opinions as to what this passage means. TheCommentary's position is that in cases where the Vibhaṅga says that if the robesare kept in a certain area, one should either stay in that area or not more than ahatthapāsa away, the hatthapāsa is measured from the outside boundary of the area.For instance, if the robes are kept in a house in an unenclosed village, one isallowed to greet dawnrise anywhere in the house or in an area one hatthapāsaaround the house. (This would allow for a bhikkhu to go outside to relieve himself atdawn without having to carry along his full set of robes.) However, in cases wherethe Vibhaṅga does not mention that one should stay in a certain area, and insteadsays simply that one should not be more than a hatthapāsa away — as in anunenclosed field or under a multi-kula tree — the hatthapāsa is measured from therobes themselves.Some have objected to the Commentary's position as inconsistent and serving nopurpose, and have proposed instead that the hatthapāsa be measured from therobes in every case. This, however, leads to redundancies: If, for instance, therobes are kept in a room and one is allowed (1) to stay in the room or (2) to be nofurther than a hatthapāsa from the robes, then either (2) negates (1) — in otherwords, one must stay within a hatthapāsa of the robes and not go elsewhere in theroom — or else (1) makes (2) superfluous: One may stay anywhere in the room,without worrying about precisely where in the room the robes are located. Incontrast, the Commentary's position not only avoids these redundancies but alsoactually serves a purpose. In addition to the convenience mentioned above, there isanother convenience in a multi-kula dwelling or a larger multi-kula building: If thereis a small bathroom next to the room where the robes are kept, one may use thebathroom at dawn without having to take one's robes into the bathroom. For thesereasons, we will stick to the Commentary's interpretation here.1. A village:a. Enclosed and single-kula: Having kept the robes within the enclosure, greetdawnrise in the enclosure. (The Vibhaṅga actually says, "in the village," but asthe Commentary to Mv.II.12.3 notes, when a village is enclosed, everything inthe enclosure counts as "village," and that is the most sensible interpretationfor the Vibhaṅga's statement here. This is the pattern followed throughout allcases of "enclosed and single-kula.")152