Theravāda Collection on Monastic Law
The Long Division
The chapter on the observance day
1. The instruction to gather together
At one time the Buddha was staying at Rājagaha on the Vulture Peak. At that time, on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth day of the lunar half-month, the wanderers of other religions gathered and gave teachings. People came to listen to those teachings, and they acquired affection for and confidence in those wanderers. And the wanderers gained a following. Then, when King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha was reflecting in private, he considered this and thought, “Why don’t the venerables, too, gather on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth day of the half-month?”
He then went to the Buddha, bowed, sat down, and told him what he had thought, adding, “It would be good, Venerable Sir, if the venerables, too, gathered on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth day of the half-month.” The Buddha then instructed, inspired, and gladdened him with a teaching. When the Buddha had finished, the King got up from his seat, bowed, circumambulated the Buddha with his right side toward him, and left. Soon afterwards the Buddha gave a teaching and addressed the monks:
“You should gather together on the fourteenth, the fifteenth, and the eighth day of the lunar half-month.”
When the monks heard about the Buddha’s instruction, they started gathering on those days. People came to hear a teaching, but
the monks sat in silence. The people complained and criticized them, “How can the Sakyan monastics gather on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth day of the half-month,
but then sit in silence like dumb pigs? Shouldn’t they give a teaching when they gather together?” The monks heard the complaints of those people and they told the Buddha. The Pali has ellipses points at the end of this sentence. This seems to be a mistake.Soon afterwards the Buddha gave a teaching and addressed the monks:
“When you gather together on the fourteenth, the fifteenth, and the eighth day of the lunar half-month, you should give a teaching.”
2. The instruction to recite the Monastic Code
While the Buddha was reflecting in private, he thought, “Why don’t I instruct the monks to recite a monastic code, consisting of those training rules that I have laid down for them? That would be their procedure for the observance day.” In the evening, when the Buddha had come out from seclusion, he gave a teaching and addressed the monks. He told them what he had thought, adding,
“You should recite the Monastic Code.
And you should do it like this. A competent and capable monk should inform the Sangha:
‘Please, Venerables, I ask the Sangha to listen. If it seems appropriate to the Sangha, it should do the observance-day ceremony, it should recite the Monastic Code. What is the preliminary duty of the Sangha? The venerables should declare their purity. I will recite the Monastic Code. Everyone present should listen to it and attend carefully. Anyone who has committed an offense should reveal it.
If you haven’t committed any offense, you should remain silent. If you are silent, I will regard you as pure. Just as one responds when asked individually, so too, an announcement is made three times in this kind of gathering. If a monk remembers an offense while the announcement is being made up to the third time, but doesn’t reveal it, he is lying in full awareness. Lying in full awareness is called an obstacle by the Buddha. A monk who remembers an offense and is seeking purification should therefore reveal it. When it’s revealed, he will be at ease.’”
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