BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Alcoholic Drink Chapter Chapter 8.658. When a bhikkhu receives a new robe, any one of three meansof discoloring it is to be applied: green, brown, or black. If a bhikkhushould make use of a new robe without applying any of the threemeans of discoloring it, it is to be confessed."Now at that time many bhikkhus and wanderers were traveling from Sāketa toSāvatthī. On the way, thieves came out and robbed them. Royal officials, comingout of Sāvatthī and capturing the thieves with the goods, sent a messenger to thebhikkhus, saying, 'Come, your reverences. Let each identify his own robes and takethem.' The bhikkhus couldn't identify their robes. People criticized and complainedand spread it about, 'How can their reverences not identify their own robes?'"Protocol. As this rule indicates, a bhikkhu should wear robes only that have beenmarked with an identifying mark. The Vibhaṅga does not go into any great detail onprocedures for marking a robe, aside from saying that the mark may be as small asthe tip of a blade of grass, and can be made with any of the colors mentioned inthe rule. (The color green in Pali also covers the color blue, so a mark made withblue ink would be acceptable.)The Commentary goes into more detail: After the robe has been dyed, one shouldmake a round mark no smaller than the size of a bedbug's back and no larger thanthe iris of a peacock's eye in all four corners of the robe, three corners, two, or one,as one sees fit. Only round marks are allowable. Such things as lines or angularmarks (squares, triangles, or stars) are not.As the Vibhaṅga notes, once the robe has been marked there is no need to mark itagain, even if the mark wears off, the marked part of the robe gets worn throughage, one sews a marked cloth together with an unmarked one, or one patches,darns, or adds a hem to a marked robe. If Bhikkhu X marks a robe and then gives itto Bhikkhu Y, Y may wear it without having to mark it again.In Thailand at present, the custom is to make three small dots in one corner of therobe, saying, "Imaṃ bindu-kappaṃ karomi," (I make this properly marked) whilemaking each dot. This procedure does not appear in the Canon or commentaries,but does not conflict with any of them.The factors for the offense here are two: object — a new robe; and effort — onemakes use of it without first marking it.Object. According to the Vibhaṅga, a new robe here is one made out of any of thesix kinds of robe-cloth and not yet marked. Thus an unmarked cloth kept for a longtime is still regarded as new. The Commentary, noting that the Vibhaṅga does notqualify "robe" as including even the smallest cloth that can be placed under sharedownership, concludes that robe in the context of this rule refers specifically tocompleted robes that can be worn over the shoulders or around the waist — i.e.,lower robes, upper robes, outer robes, rains-bathing cloths, skin-eruption coveringcloths — and not to ordinary pieces of cloth or other cloth items such as sitting367