BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 1not yet received enough material, he may continue seeking for more in the waydescribed above and make himself a cloth when he receives enough.)(When the first day of the rainy season arrives, he may determine the cloth. If hedoes not yet have enough material to make his rains-bathing cloth, he maycontinue seeking it throughout the four months of the rains.) If he bathes naked inthe rain when he has a cloth to use, he incurs a dukkaṭa. (However, he may bathenaked in a lake or river without penalty. If he has no cloth to use, he may also bathenaked in the rain.)(At the end of the four months, he is to wash his cloth, place it under sharedownership, and put it aside if it is still usable. He may begin using it again the lasttwo weeks of the last lunar month before the next rainy season and is to redetermineit for use on the day the rainy season officially begins.)Toward the end of his discussion of this rule, Buddhaghosa adds his own personalopinion on when a rains-bathing cloth should be determined for use if it is finishedduring the rains — on the grounds that the ancient commentaries do not discussthe issue — one of the few places where he overtly gives his own opinion anywherein the Commentary. His verdict: If one receives enough material to finish the clothwithin ten days, one should determine it within those ten days. If not, one may keepwhat material one has, undetermined and throughout the rainy season if need be,until one does obtain enough material and then determine the cloth on the day it iscompleted.Offenses. As the K/Commentary points out, this rule covers two separate offenseswhose factors are somewhat different: the offense for seeking a rains-bathing clothat the wrong time and the offense for using it at the wrong time.Seeking. The factors here are three: object, effort, and result. The bhikkhu is lookingfor material for a rains-bathing cloth, he makes hints to people during the time he isnot allowed to make hints, and he receives the cloth.Using. The factors here are two: object — he has a rains-bathing cloth — and effort— he has other robes to use, there are no dangers, and yet he wears the clothduring the period when he is not allowed to wear it. (The conditions here are basedon the non-offenses clauses, which we will discuss below.)In neither of these cases is perception a mitigating factor. Even if a bhikkhu thinksthat the right time to hint for the cloth or to wear it has come when it actually hasn't,he is not immune from an offense.A bhikkhu who has committed either of the two full offenses here is to forfeit thecloth and confess the offense. The procedures for forfeiture, confession, and returnof the cloth are the same as under NP 1.216