BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Bowl Chapter Chapter 7.3If a bhikkhu seeks or uses a rains-bathing cloth during the permitted times and yetbelieves that he is doing so outside of the permitted times, or if he is in doubt aboutthe matter, he incurs a dukkaṭa.Non-offenses. As the rule states, there is no offense for the bhikkhu who hints for arains-bathing cloth within the last lunar month of the hot season, or for one whowears his rains-bathing cloth during the last two weeks of that month.The Vibhaṅga then refers to a situation that occasionally happens under the lunarcalendar: The four months of the hot season end, but the Rains-residence isdelayed another lunar cycle because a thirteenth lunar month has been added at theend of the hot season or the beginning of the rainy season to bring the lunar yearback into line with the solar year. In this case, it says that the rains-bathing cloth —having been sought for during the fourth month and worn during the last two weeksof the hot season — is to be washed and then put aside. When the proper seasonarrives, it may be brought out for use (§).The Commentary adds that there is no need to determine the cloth in this perioduntil the day the Rains-residence officially starts, but it doesn't say when the properseason for using it begins. Having made use of the two-week allowance for usingthe undetermined bathing cloth at the end of the hot season, is one granted anothertwo-week allowance prior to the Rains-residence, or can one begin using it onlywhen the Rains-residence begins? None of the texts say. It would make sense toallow the bhikkhu to begin using the cloth two weeks before the Rains-residence,but this is simply my own opinion.The Vibhaṅga then adds three more exemptions: There is no offense for a"snatched-away-robe" bhikkhu, a "destroyed-robe" bhikkhu, or when there aredangers. Strangely enough, the Commentary and the K/Commentary — althoughboth were composed by Buddhaghosa — give conflicting interpretations of theseexemptions. The Commentary interprets "robe" here as meaning rains-bathing cloth,and says that these exemptions apply to the dukkaṭa offense for bathing naked inthe rain. A bhikkhu whose rains-bathing cloth has been snatched away or destroyedmay bathe naked in the rain without incurring a penalty, as may a bhikkhu with anexpensive bathing cloth who would rather bathe naked because of his fear of cloththieves.The K/Commentary, however, makes the Vibhaṅga's exemptions refer also to the fulloffense. If a bhikkhu's other robes have been snatched away or destroyed, he maywear his rains-bathing cloth out of season. The same holds true when, in the wordsof the K/Commentary, "naked thieves are plundering," and a bhikkhu decides towear his rains-bathing cloth out-of-season in order to protect either it or his otherrobes from being snatched away.Because the non-offense clauses usually apply primarily to the full offense, itseems appropriate to follow the K/Commentary here.217