The Chapter on the Rains
Notes
Toh 1-4
Degé Kangyur, vol. 1 (’dul ba, ka), folios 237.b–251.b
Imprint
First published 2024
Current version v 1.0.5 (2024)
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Chapter on the Rains is the fourth of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline’s seventeen chapters. It sets out the Rite of Pledging to Settle for the Rains, in which monastics pledge to remain at a single site for the duration of the varṣā or summer rains. It concludes with a lengthy presentation of cases in which a monastic incurs no offense for interrupting the rains by prematurely leaving a site.
This is the third of the “Three Rites,” along with the Rite of Restoration and the Rite of Lifting Restrictions, which are set out in The Chapter on the Restoration Rite and The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions respectively. The regular observance of the “Three Rites” at an officially demarcated monastic site is considered a crucial component in ensuring the integrity of the monastics living there and nearby.
Acknowledgements
This text was translated from the Tibetan and checked against the Sanskrit original and Yijing’s Chinese translation by Robert Miller. The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Nathaniel Rich and John Canti edited the translation and the introduction, and Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. André Rodrigues was in charge of the digital publication process.
Text Body
The Chapter on the Rains
Notes
May those beautiful flowers that have rained downFrom the Great Sage’s moon-like visageRemain among beings for a long time to come,Overcoming evil views without being snared.Translated by the Kāśmirī preceptor Sarvajñādeva, the Indian preceptor Vidyākāraprabha, the Kāśmirī preceptor Dharmākāra, and the translator and monk Palgyi Lhunpo. The Indian preceptor Vidyākāraprabha and the chief editor of translations, the monk Paltsek, retranslated and proofed the text before settling upon the final version.
The Buddha said that acceptance is the supreme hardship, acceptance is the supreme nirvāṇa.One who harms other renunciants and does violence to them is not an ascetic.ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgata uvāca, teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃvadī mahāśramaṇaḥ
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