BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Buddhist Monastic Code 138. Should any bhikkhu chew or consume stored-up staple ornon-staple food, it is to be confessed.This is one of the few rules where the original instigator was an arahant: Ven.Beḷaṭṭhasīsa, Ven. Ānanda's preceptor and formerly the head of the 1,000 asceticswho attained Awakening on hearing the Fire Sermon (SN XXXV.28). The origin storyhere reports that he made a practice of keeping leftover rice from his alms round,drying it, and then moistening it to eat on a later day. As a result, he only rarely hadto go out for alms. Even though he was doing this out of frugality rather than greed,the Buddha still rebuked him. The story doesn't give the precise reasons for therebuke. Perhaps it was because the Buddha saw that such behavior would open theway for bhikkhus to avoid going on alms round, thus depriving themselves of theexcellent opportunity that alms-going provides for reflecting on their dependencyon others and on the human condition in general; and depriving the laity of thebenefits that come from daily contact with the bhikkhus and the opportunity topractice generosity of the most basic sort every day. Although frugality may be avirtue, there are times when other considerations supercede it.Another possible reason for this rule is expressed in AN V.80: "In the course of thefuture there will be bhikkhus who will live entangled with monastery attendants andnovices. As they are entangled with monastery attendants and novices, they can beexpected to live intent on many kinds of stored-up consumables and on makingblatant signs (identifying their) land and crops." The Buddha showed great foresightin seeing this as a danger. Over the centuries, whenever bhikkhus have lived inCommunities where vast stores of food were kept — such as the great Buddhistuniversities in India — they have tended to grow lax in their practice, and a gulf ofmisunderstanding and suspicion has come to separate them from the laity.Object. Staple food here, as usual, follows the standard definition given in thepreface to this chapter. Non-staple food here includes all edibles except for the fivestaples, juice drinks, the five tonics, medicine, and water.Stored-up means formally accepted by a bhikkhu (see Pc 40, below) on one dayand eaten on the next or a later day. The boundary between one day and the next isdawnrise.Perception as to whether food has been stored up is not a mitigating factor here(see Pc 4).The story of the Second Council (Cv.XII.2.8) shows that this rule also forbids storingsuch medicines as salt (or pepper, vinegar, etc.) to add to any bland food onemight receive on a later day. (See the discussion preceding Pc 31 for more detailson this subject.)The Commentary contains an allowance of its own, saying that, "If a bhikkhu withoutdesire (for the food) abandons it to a novice, and the novice, having stored it(overnight) gives it (again), that is all allowable. If, however, he has received it326