BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 1wretched, unattractive, and pale, their bodies covered with veins. What if I were toallow medicine for them that would be both medicine and agreed to be medicine bythe world, and serve as food, yet would not be considered gross (substantial) food.'"Then this thought occurred to him: 'There are these five tonics — ghee, freshbutter, oil, honey, sugar/molasses — that are both medicine and agreed to bemedicine by the world, and serve as food yet would not be considered gross food.What if I were now to allow the bhikkhus, having accepted them at the right time(from dawnrise to noon), to consume them at the right time'..."Now at that time bhikkhus, having accepted the five tonics at the right time,consumed them at the right time. Because of this they could not stomach evenordinary coarse foods, much less rich, greasy ones. As a result, afflicted both bythe autumn disease and this loss of appetite for meals, they became even more thinand wretched... So the Blessed One, with regard to this cause, having given aDhamma talk, addressed the bhikkhus: 'Bhikkhus, I allow that the five tonics, havingbeen accepted, be consumed at the right time or the wrong time (from noon todawnrise).'" — Mv.VI.1.2-5The Vibhaṅga defines the five tonics as follows:Ghee means strained, boiled butter oil made from the milk of any animal whoseflesh is allowable for bhikkhus to eat (see the introduction to the Food Chapter inthe pācittiya rules).Fresh butter must be made from the milk of any animal whose flesh is allowable.None of the Vinaya texts go into detail on how fresh butter is made, but MN 126describes the process as "having sprinkled curds in a pot, one twirls them with achurn." Fresh butter of this sort is still made in India today by taking a small churn— looking like an orange with alternate sections removed, attached to a small stick— and twirling it in curds, all the while sprinkling them with water. The fresh butter— mostly milk fat — coagulates on the churn, and when the fresh butter is removed,what is left in the pot is diluted buttermilk. Fresh butter, unlike creamery butter madeby churning cream, may be stored unrefrigerated in bottles for several days even inthe heat of India without going rancid.Arguing by the Great Standards, creamery butter would obviously come under freshbutter here. A more controversial topic is cheese.In Mv.VI.34.21, the Buddha allows bhikkhus to consume five products of the cow:milk, curds, buttermilk, fresh butter, and ghee. Apparently, cheese — curds heatedto evaporate their liquid content and then cured with or without mold — wasunknown in those days, but there seems every reason, using the Great Standards,to include it under one of the five. The question is which one. Some have arguedthat it should come under fresh butter, but the argument for classifying it undercurds seems stronger, as it is closer to curds in composition and is generallyregarded as more of a substantial food. Different Communities, however, havediffering opinions on this matter.210