Chapter 12

12.

1. Now the venerable Upananda the Sâkyan, after having had a lodging allotted to him in

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[paragraph continues] Sâvatthi, went to a certain country-place where a community of the Samgha resided, and there also had a lodging allotted to him. Then the Bhikkhus there thought, 'Now this brother, Upananda the Sâkyan, is a maker of strife, quarrelsome, a maker of disputes, given to idle talk, a raiser of legal questions in the Samgha 1. If he should spend the rainy season here, then shall we all dwell in discomfort. Come, let us question him.' And they asked the venerable Upananda the Sâkyan:

'Have not you, friend Upananda, had a lodging allotted to you in Sâvatthi?'

That is so, Sirs.'

'What then do you, friend Upananda, being one, yet take exclusive possession of two (lodging-places)?'

'Well, I do now, Sirs, set (the lodging) here free, and take the one there.'

Those Bhikkhus who were moderate murmured, &c., and they told the matter to the Blessed One. Then the Blessed One, on that occasion and in that connection, convened a meeting of the Bhikkhu-samgha, and asked the venerable Upananda the Sâkyan:

'Is it true, Upananda, that you, being one, have taken possession of two places?'

'It is true, Lord.'

Then the Blessed One rebuked him, saying, 'How can you, O foolish one, do such a thing? What you took there, O foolish one, has been lost here; what you took here, has been lost there 2. Thus, O

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foolish one, you are deprived of both.' And when he had delivered a religious discourse, he said to the Bhikkhus:

'One man is not, O Bhikkhus, to take two lodging-places. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkata.'

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