Book II, Lecture 7, Lesson 1.
SEVENTH LECTURE,
CALLED
REGULATION OF POSSESSION 1.
FIRST LESSON.
'I shall become a Sramana who owns no house, no property, no sons, no cattle, who eats what others give him; I shall commit no sinful action; Master, I renounce to accept anything that has not been given.' Having taken such vows, (a mendicant) should not, on entering a village or scot-free town, &c., take himself, or induce others to take, or allow others to take, what has not been given. A mendicant should not take or appropriate any property, viz. an umbrella 2 or vessel or stick, &c. (see II, 2, 3, § 2), of those monks together with whom he stays, without getting their permission, and without having inspected and wiped (the object in question); but having got their permission, and having inspected and wiped (the object in question), he may take or appropriate it 3. (1)
He may beg for a domicile in a traveller's hall, &c.
[paragraph continues] (see II, 1, 8, § 2), having reflected (on its fitness for a stay); he should ask permission to take possession of it from him who is the landlord or the steward of that place: 'Indeed, O long-lived one! for the time, and in the space which you concede us, we shall dwell here. We shall take possession of the place for as long a time as the place belongs to you; and of as much of it as belongs to you; for as many fellow-ascetics (as shall stand in need of it); afterwards we shall take to wandering 1.' (2)
Having got possession of some place, a mendicant should invite to that food, &c., which he himself has collected, any fellow-ascetics arriving there who follow the same rules and are zealous brethren; but he should not invite them to anything of which he has taken possession for the sake of somebody else. (3)
Having got possession of some place (in a traveller's hall, &c.), a mendicant should offer a footstool or bench or bed or couch, which he himself has begged, to any fellow-ascetics arriving there who follow other rules than he, yet are zealous brethren; but he should not offer them anything of which he has taken possession for the sake of somebody else. (4)
Having got possession of some place in a traveller's hall, &c., a mendicant might ask from a householder or his sons the loan of a needle or a Pippalaka 2 or an ear-picker or a nail-parer, he should not give or lend it to somebody else; but
having done that for which he wanted one of the above articles, he should go with that article there (where the householder, &c., is), and stretching out his hands or laying the article on the ground, he should, after consideration, say: 'Here it is! here it is!' But he should not with his own hand put it in the hand of the householder. (5)
A monk or a nun should not take possession of anything 1 on the bare ground, on wet ground, where there are eggs, &c.; nor on pillars or such an above-ground place (II, 2, 1, § 7); nor on a wall, &c.; nor on the trunk of a tree, &c.; nor where the householder or fire or water, or women or children or cattle are, and where it is not fit for a wise man to enter or to leave, &c., nor to meditate on the law; nor where they have to pass through the householder's abode or to which there is no road, and where it is not fit, &c.; nor where the householder or his wife, &c., bully or scold each other, &c. (see II, 2, 1, § 9, and 3, § 7); nor where they rub or anoint each other's body with oil or ghee or butter or grease; nor where they take a bath, &c.; nor where they go about naked, &c. (all as in II, 2, 3, §§ 7-12).
This is the whole duty, &c.
Thus I say. (6-12)