The Path of Purity Part II (of Concentration)

116 The Fath of Furitymeditation, the good friend, one should perform the main andminor duties, and receive it.And if such a person is available in the same monastery asoneself, well and good. If not, where he lives, there oneshould go. And in going there, the student should not gowearing slippers on feet washed and oil-besmeared, himselfholding an umbrella and causing others to cany an oil-flask,pots of honey and molasses and so on, and surrounded by aretinue of disciples. Fulfilling the duties 1 of a monk aboutto travel, himself holding the bowl and robe and doing theduties, main and minor, everywhere on entering a monasteryon the way, he should go simply equipped and with the highestsimplicity of life. On entering the monastery he should enter-holding a tooth-stick obtamed on the way as a presentablegift. And when he has rested awhile and washed his feet andbesmeared them with oil and so forth, he should not enteranother cell with the intention of calling on the teacher.Why ? If there were monks there holding different views fromthe teacher, they might ask for the reason of his coming, andspeak in dispraise of the teacher, and cause regret to arise inhim, saying " Thou art lost, if thou art come to his presence/' 2[100] on which account he might turn back. 3 * Therefore askingfor the teacher's abode he should go there straightway. If theteacher be younger than himself, he should not acquiesce inhis receiving the bowl, robe and other things. If the teacherbe the older, he should go and stand saluting him. When theteacher says " Friend, put down the bowl and robe," heshould do so. When he says " Drink 4 some w&ter," he shoulddrink if he wishes. When he says " Wash thy feet," he shouldnot, for that, wash them. For if the water had been drawnby the teacher it would not be proper. But when he says" Friend, wash. The water was not brought by me, it wasbrought by others," then he should wash the feet, sitting downwhere the teacher sees him not, such as a covered place, theopen sky or one side of the monastery. If the teacher brings1 Such as sweeping the monastery.2 The punctuation in the text is faulty.3 Read pa$inivatteyya.4 Read pivd for pi va.