118. Now, a deity who dwelt in a tree at the end of the walk overheard their conversation. [Thinking] “I will find rice gruel for the lord tomorrow,” he went meanwhile to the family who was supporting the elder and entered into the
body of the eldest son, causing him discomfort. Then he told the assembled relatives the price of the cure: “If you prepare rice gruel of such a kind tomorrow for the elder, I will set this one free.” They said: “Even without being told by you we regularly supply the elder’s needs,” and on the following day they prepared rice gruel of the kind needed.
119. The Elder Mahá Moggallána came in the morning and said, “Stay here, friend, till I come back from the alms round.” Then he went into the village. Those people met him. They took his bowl, filled it with the stipulated kind of rice gruel, and gave it back to him. The elder made as though to go, but they said, “Eat, venerable sir, we shall give you more.” When the elder had eaten, they gave him another bowlful. The elder left. Bringing the alms food to the venerable Sáriputta, he said, “Here, friend Sáriputta, eat.” When the elder saw it, he thought, “The gruel is very nice. How was it got?” and seeing how it had been obtained, he said, “Friend, the alms food cannot be used.”
120. Instead of thinking, “He does not eat alms food brought by the likes of me,” the other at once took the bowl by the rim and turned it over on one side. As the rice gruel fell on the ground the elder’s affliction vanished. From then on it did not appear again during forty-five years.
121. Then he said to the venerable Mahá Moggallána, “Friend, even if one’s bowels come out and trail on the ground, it is not fitting to eat gruel got by verbal intimation,” and he uttered this exclamation:
My livelihood might well be blamed
If I were to consent to eat
The honey and the gruel obtained
By influence of verbal hints.
And even if my bowels obtrude
And trail outside, and even though
My life is to be jeopardized,
I will not blot my livelihood (Mil 370).
For I will satisfy my heart
By shunning all wrong kinds of search;
And never will I undertake
The search the Buddhas have condemned.
122 And here too should be told the story of the Elder Mahá Tissa the Mangoeater who lived at Cìragumba (see §132 below). So, in all respects:
A man who has gone forth in faith
Should purify his livelihood
And, seeing clearly, give no thought
To any search that is not good.
123. And as livelihood purification is to be undertaken by means of energy, so virtue dependent on requisites is to be undertaken by means of understanding. For that is accomplished by understanding, because one who possesses understanding is able to see the advantages and the dangers in requisites. So one should abandon greed for requisites and undertake that virtue by using requisites obtained lawfully and properly, after reviewing them with understanding in the way aforesaid.
124. Herein, reviewing is of two kinds: at the time of receiving requisites and at the time of using them. For use (paribhoga) is blameless in one who at the time of receiving robes, etc., reviews them either as [mere] elements or as repulsive, and puts them aside for later use, and in one who reviews them thus at the time of using them.
125. Here is an explanation to settle the matter. There are four kinds of use: use as theft, use as a debt?, use as an inheritance, use as a master. Herein, use by one who is unvirtuous and makes use [of requisites], even sitting in the midst of the Community, is called “use as theft.” Use without reviewing by one who is virtuous is “use as a debt”; therefore, the robe should be reviewed every time it is used, and the alms food lump by lump. One who cannot do this [should review it] before the meal, after the meal, in the first watch, in the middle watch, and in the last watch. If dawn breaks on him without his having reviewed it, he finds himself in the position of one who has used it as a debt. Also, the resting place should be reviewed each time it is used. Recourse to mindfulness both in the accepting and the use of medicine is proper; but while this is so, though there is an offence for one who uses it without mindfulness after mindful acceptance, there is no offence for one who is mindful in using after accepting without mindfulness.
126. Purification is of four kinds: purification by the Teaching, purification by restraint, purification by search, and purification by reviewing. Herein, virtue of the Pátimokkha restraint is called “purification by the Teaching”; [44] for that is so called because it purifies by means of teaching. Virtue of restraint of faculties is called “purification by restraint”; for that is so called because it purifies by means of the restraint in the mental resolution, “I shall not do so again.” Virtue of livelihood purification is called “purification by search”; for that is so called because search is purified in one who abandons wrong search and gets requisites lawfully and properly. Virtue dependent on requisites is called “purification by reviewing”; for that is so called because it purifies by the reviewing of the kind already described. Hence it was said above (§125): “There is no offence for one who is mindful in using after accepting without mindfulness.”
By Bhikkhu Ñānamoli