BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Robe-cloth Chapter Chapter 7.1If they ask who the bhikkhus' steward is, one may point out any lay person at all,saying, "That's the steward." One is not to say, "Give it to him/her," or "He/she willkeep (the money)," for that would be to accept ownership and responsibility for themoney, and thus be an infraction of the rule against accepting money. Also, one isnot to say, "He/she will buy (the requisite)," or "He/she will get it in exchange," foreven this much would be an infraction of the rule against trading.The K/Commentary adds that if the donor asks, "To whom should I give this?" or"Who will keep this?" one is not to point anyone out. It doesn't say what one may doin such a situation, although a wise policy would be to broach the topic of stewardsso that the donor will ask a question to which one may give an allowable answer.The protocol in obtaining requisites from the fund. The rule states that a bhikkhu maygive his steward up to three verbal and six silent promptings in order to get arequisite from the fund. The Vibhaṅga works out an arrangement whereby he mayexchange two silent promptings for one verbal prompting, which leads theCommentary to lay out the following scheme: A bhikkhu may make up to —6 verbal & 0 silent promptings5 verbal & 2 silent promptings4 verbal & 4 silent promptings3 verbal & 6 silent promptings2 verbal & 8 silent promptings1 verbal & 10 silent promptings, or0 verbal & 12 silent promptings.The Vibhaṅga adds that when giving a verbal prompting, one may say only, "I needa robe (or whatever the requisite may be)," or statements to that effect. One maynot say, "Give me a robe," "Get me a robe," "Buy me a robe," or "Get a robe inexchange for me," for these last two statements in particular would incur a penaltyunder NP 20.According to the Commentary, promptings are counted not by the number of visitsto the steward but by the number of times the bhikkhu states his need/desire for therequisite. Thus if, in one visit, he states his need for a robe three times, that countsas three verbal promptings.As for silent promptings — or "standings" — the bhikkhu merely stands in thesteward's presence. If the steward asks, "What have you come for?' the bhikkhushould say, "You know," or "You should know."The Vibhaṅga also notes that during the period when a bhikkhu has yet to receivethe requisite, he should not accept an invitation to sit down at the steward's place,to accept alms, or to teach Dhamma there. If he does any of these things, that cutsback his number of allowed standings. The Sub-commentary raises the question asto what precisely this means: When a bhikkhu does several of these actions in one175