BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Lie Chapter Chapter 8.1In line with Cv.V.32.1, which allows a bhikkhu to light a counter-fire to ward off anapproaching wildfire, the Commentary to Pr 3 states that one may also dig a moatto ward off such a fire without incurring a penalty under this rule.The reason for this rule, as indicated by the origin story, is that people in general atthe time of the Buddha viewed soil as having a form of one-facultied life. The Jains,who were contemporaries of the Buddha, classed life into five categories accordingto the number of senses or faculties the living thing possessed. In the one-facultiedcategory, where there is only the sense of touch, they included soil and vegetation.One scholar has suggested that the Jains here were simply systematizing an animistbelief, predating their theories, that soil and plants had souls. At any rate, this sortof view was so widespread at the time that any potters who were meticulous in theirprecepts would take their clay only from termite nests and other piles of dug-upearth. The Ghaṭīkāra Sutta (MN 81) describes a potter — a non-returner in thedispensation of the Buddha Kassapa — who, even though he was a lay man, wouldtake the earth for his pots only from collapsed embankments and the piles of dirtaround rat holes so as to avoid injuring the soil.Another consideration, carrying more weight at present, is that the act of diggingsoil risks killing or injuring whatever animals might be living there.This rule, together with the following one, also effectively prevents bhikkhus fromengaging in agriculture.Summary: Digging soil or commanding that it be dug is a pācittiya offense.261