BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The In-accordance-with-the-Rule Chapter Chapter 8.881. Should any bhikkhu, (acting as part of) a united Community,give robe-cloth (to an individual bhikkhu) and later complain, "Thebhikkhus allocate the Community's gains according to friendship," it isto be confessed.Apportioning the Community's gains. Cv.VI.15.2 states that no one — not even theCommunity itself — can take any of the following items belonging to the Communityand turn them over to individual ownership: monasteries or monastery land;dwellings or land on which dwellings are built; furnishings, such as couches, chairs,or mattresses; metal vessels or tools; building materials or articles made of potteryor wood. The collective term for these goods is garubhaṇḍa: heavy or expensivearticles. (For a detailed discussion of these articles, see BMC2, Chapter 7.) Thepenalty for handing any of the Community's garubhaṇḍa over to individualownership is a thullaccaya. In the origin story to Pr 4, the Buddha states that abhikkhu who gives the Community's garubhaṇḍa to a lay person is one of the fivegreat thieves in the world.Light or inexpensive articles (lahubhaṇḍa) belonging to the Community, though, maybe turned over to individual ownership — of a bhikkhu or novice — but only whenthe proper procedures are followed. The usual pattern is to appoint a Communityofficial, through a Community transaction, to be responsible for ensuring that suchitems be distributed fairly to the members of the Community eligible to receive them.Such officials include distributors of robe-cloth, of food, of fruit, and of non-staplefoods; and dispensers of small accessories, such as scissors, sandals, waterstrainers, etc. (see BMC2, Chapter 18).In the origin story to Pc 41, the Community receives a large amount of non-staplefood, so much that the Buddha instructs Ānanda to share the excess among thosewho live off leftovers. Some Communities have taken this as a precedent for takingexcess perishable items belonging to the Community and distributing them amongthe poor.In addition, this training rule shows that a Community acting as a whole may takelahubhaṇḍa articles belonging to it and turn them over to individual bhikkhus ornovices. (According to the K/Commentary to Pc 79, this can be done with a simpledeclaration (apalokana), although the kaṭhina ceremony, which would fall under thisgeneral category, follows the pattern of a motion with one announcement.) A typicalexample, apart from the kaṭhina, would be if the Community receives a particularlyfine piece of cloth and, instead of cutting it up to share the pieces out among itsmembers, decides to present the entire piece to one of its members who has beenespecially helpful to the group. This is one way in which the Community may rewarda Community official for his services.Any member of the Community who disagrees with such a decision may prevent itfrom happening by protesting during the declaration. The purpose of this rule is toprevent members of the Community from complaining after they have taken part insuch a decision that the Community was acting out of favoritism.407