BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Food Chapter Chapter 8.4Summary: Eating food that a bhikkhu — oneself or another — formally received on aprevious day is a pācittiya offense.39. There are these finer staple foods: ghee, fresh butter, oil,honey, sugar/molasses, fish, meat, milk, and curds. Should anybhikkhu who is not ill, having requested finer staple foods such asthese for his own sake, then consume them, it is to be confessed.The Vibhaṅga defines finer staple foods as any of the nine foods mentioned in therule, either on their own or mixed with other foods. Thus milk and milk-mixed-withcerealwould both be finer staple foods. The ancient commentators, though, musthave objected to including some of these items under the category of staple food(bhojana), so we have the Commentary defining "finer staple foods" as any of thesubstances mentioned in the rule mixed with any one of the seven types of grain.Thus, it would say, milk with cereal would be a finer staple food, but milk on its ownwould not.As we have seen, though, the Vibhaṅga defines its terms to fit the situation coveredby each particular rule and is not always consistent from one rule to another. Thus,as the Vibhaṅga is not at fault for being inconsistent here, there is no reason tofollow the Commentary in deviating from it. The rule means what it says: It coverseach of the foods mentioned in it, whether pure or mixed with other ingredients.The first five of these finer staple foods are discussed in detail under NP 23. Fishand meat are discussed in the preface to this chapter. Milk and curds here refers tomilk and curds from animals whose flesh is allowable. The Sub-commentary, indiscussing this point, maintains that tiger's milk, bear's milk, etc., are notunallowable, simply that they would not come under this rule. This is an interestingidea, but was included probably just to wake up sleepy students in the back of theroom.According to the Commentary, any food other than these nine finer staple foods isgrounds for a dukkaṭa under Sk 37.Effort. A bhikkhu who is not ill, requesting any of the finer staple foods for his ownuse, incurs a dukkaṭa for every request he makes, a dukkaṭa for accepting the food,and a pācittiya for every mouthful he eats.Not ill means that one is able to fare comfortably without these foods. None of thetexts go into detail on this point, but ill probably means something more than simplybeing hungry, for there is a separate allowance under Sk 37 for a bhikkhu who ishungry to ask for rice and bean curry, which was the basic diet of the day, and theCommentary extends the allowance to cover all foods not covered by this rule. Hereill probably refers to any form of fatigue, weakness, or malnutrition that comesspecifically from lacking any of the foods mentioned in the rule.Perception as to whether one is actually ill is not a mitigating factor here (see Pc 4).329