BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Food Chapter Chapter 8.4classed here); also, roots, tubers (this would include potatoes), lotus roots, sprouts,stems, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, nuts, seed-meal, seeds, and resins that aremade into food. Any of these items made into medicines, though, would not beclassed as a non-staple food.The Commentary also acknowledges that some societies use roots, tubers,confections made out of flour, etc., as staple foods, but it nowhere suggests thatthe definition of staple food be altered to fit the society in which one is living.However — because eggs come under meat — any bread, pastries, noodles, andpasta made with eggs are staple foods. Thus in the West we are left with asomewhat zigzag line separating what are and are not staple foods for the purposesof the rules: Meal pounded from grain is a staple; flour ground from grain is not.Bread made with oat meal, corn meal, wheat germ, etc., would thus be a staple;bread made without any grain meal or eggs would not. The same holds true forpastries, noodles, and pasta.This means that it would be possible for a donor to provide bhikkhus with a full,strictly vegetarian meal that would include absolutely no staple foods. A wise policyin such a case, though, would be to treat the meal as if it did contain staple foodswith reference to the rules (Pc 33 & 35) that aim at saving face for the donor.Conjey, the watery rice porridge or gruel commonly drunk before alms round in thetime of the Buddha, is classed differently according to context. If it is so thick that itcannot be drunk and must be eaten with a spoon, it is regarded as a staple food(Mv.VI.25.7; Pc 33). "Drinking conjey" is classed as a non-staple food under Pc 35-38 & 40, whereas it is considered neither a staple nor a non-staple food under Pc41. The Commentary notes, though, that if drinking conjey has bits of meat or fish"larger than lettuce seeds" floating in it, it is a staple food.Mv.VI.34.21 contains an allowance for the five products of the cow: milk, curds,buttermilk, butter, and ghee. The Commentary mentions that each of these five maybe taken separately — i.e., the allowance does not mean that all five must be takentogether. Milk and curds are classed as "finer staple foods" under Pc 39, but inother contexts they fit under the definition of non-staple food. All other dairyproducts — except for fresh butter and ghee when used as tonics (see NP 23) —are non-staple foods.One of the ten disputed points that led to the convening of the Second Council wasthe issue of whether thin sour milk — milk that has passed the state of being milkbut not yet arrived at the state of being buttermilk — would count inside or outsidethe general category of staple/non-staple food under Pc 35. The decision of theCouncil was that it was inside the category, and thus a bhikkhu who has turneddown an offer of further food would commit the offense under that rule if he later inthe morning consumed thin sour milk that was not left over.In addition to staple and non-staple foods, the Vibhaṅga to the rules in this chaptermentions three other classes of edibles: juice drinks, the five tonics, and medicines.303