BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 1one is asked, "To whom should we give this?" one may answer, "Give wherever yourgift would be used, or would be well-cared for, or would last long, or wherever yourmind feels inspired." (Compare this answer with SN III.24.)The K/Commentary treats these as two separate exemptions, but that creates twoproblems. (1) The first exemption would make the second one superfluous; (2) thecommentators give no examples as to how one could take advantage of the firstexemption without saying something unbecoming for a bhikkhu to say.A better explanation is that the non-offense clause is meant as an example of howto avail oneself of the exemption given in the passage on perception in a way thatdoes no violence to a bhikkhu's etiquette. In other words, this is how a bhikkhu cansafely divert a donation to himself in a situation where he perceives that it is not yetallocated for a particular recipient. If the donors, inspired by his remarks, give thedonation to him, he incurs no offense and has, at the same time, not abandoned abhikkhu's proper demeanor.The Commentary gives a similar example. It states that if donors come to a bhikkhuexpressing a desire to give a gift to a Community, a shrine, or an individual bhikkhu,adding that they want to give it in line with his preference, he may say, "Give whereyou want." Again, if they are inspired by this remark and give the gift to him, heincurs no offense. The Commentary adds, though, that if the donors express ageneral desire to give without saying that they want to give in line with the bhikkhu'spreference, he may say only what is stated in the non-offense clause. The Subcommentarydisagrees here, saying that even if the donors don't ask his advice hemay still say, "Give where you want," if he perceives the donation as not yetdirected to any particular recipient. This, however, falls in line with theK/Commentary's position that there are two non-offenses under this rule, andprovides an added argument against that position. It is hard to imagine that thedonors, without having asked for the bhikkhu's advice, would welcome it — even ifhe says, "Give where you want" — and easy to imagine that they would perceive itas an unbecoming form of hinting and scheming, which DN 2 identifies as wrongmeans of livelihood. As such, it would entail a dukkaṭa under the catch-all ruleagainst misbehavior (Cv.V.36).Summary: Persuading a donor to give a gift to oneself, knowing that he or she hadplanned to give it to a Community, is a nissaggiya pācittiya offense.A bhikkhu who commits any of these thirty nissaggiya pācittiya offenses must firstforfeit the item in question before confessing the offense. If he makes use of theitem before forfeiting it, he incurs an extra dukkaṭa — except for money received inviolation of NP 18 or 19, which would involve another nissaggiya pācittiya if used intrade. If the item gets lost, destroyed, or discarded before the bhikkhu forfeits it, hemay simply confess a pācittiya.Aside from cases where forfeiture must be made in the midst of a Community offour bhikkhus or more (NP 18, 19, & 22), the offender may forfeit the item to asingle bhikkhu, to a group of two or three, or to a Community of four or more. Oncehe has confessed the offense, he is cleared of the penalty.230