The Bhikkhus Rules
A Guide for Laypeople
by Bhikkhu Ariyesako | 1998 | 50,970 words
The Theravadin Buddhist Monk's Rules compiled and explained by: Bhikkhu Ariyesako Discipline is for the sake of restraint, restraint for the sake of freedom from remorse, freedom from remorse for the sake of joy, joy for the sake of rapture, rapture for the sake of tranquillity, tranquillity for the sake of pleasure, pleasure for the sake of conce...
Meal Time
In the West the first meal of the day is break fast. For the bhikkhu this is literally true, for he will not have taken any food since the previous morning. Food intake is limited to the hours between dawn and noon. The practice of not eating in the afternoon is a very old tradition mentioned in the earliest Suttas.[1] It is also included in the Ten Precepts of the novice (saama.nera) and dasasiila mata nun; and the Eight Precepts of the lay devotee [see End Note 4].
Food here refers to things like cooked grains; sweets made from flour, beans, etc.; fish; meat; fresh milk and sour milk;... fruits, tubers and all main course foods. (See EV,II, pp.131-133)
When these staple foods go beyond their time limit (i.e., after noon) a bhikkhu will incur an offence if he consumes them. The original story shows the complications that can arise from leaving the monastery at the wrong time:
The group of seventeen bhikkhus — another set of frequent misdoers — went out one afternoon to enjoy themselves at a festival outside the city. When lay people saw them they gave them a meal and food to take back to the monastery. The Buddha therefore laid down this rule:
"Should any bhikkhu chew or consume staple or non- staple food at the wrong time, it is [an offence of Confession.]"
(Paac. 37; BMC p.362)
This wrong time is defined to be from noon until dawn the following day.[2] A bhikkhu is still at fault even if he genuinely miscalculates the time or mistakes an item of food for a medicine. Therefore if donors are preparing food for a bhikkhu they should be careful that they are not late in offering it so that the meal can be finished before noon. It is also noteworthy that an ill bhikkhu has no exemption from this rule so he likewise should not take food in the afternoon.[3]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
See the Siilavagga of the Diigha Nikaaya.
[2]:
Noon or midday is when the sun is at its zenith or highest elevation in the sky, midway between sunrise and sunset (on a plain). It is not necessarily 12:00 hours clock time because the clocks are often changed depending on the season and whether Daylight Saving is in force. However, many communities will keep to twelve noon as the set time limit.
[3]:
However, there is "an allowance in the Mahaavagga (I.14.7) for a bhikkhu who has taken a purgative to take strained meat broth, strained rice broth, or strained green gram (mung bean) broth at any time of the day. Using the Great Standards, we may say that a bhikkhu who has a similar illness or worse may take these broths at any time; and some have argued that other bean broths — such as soybean milk — would fit under the category of green gram broth as well. However, unlike the case with the five tonics, mere hunger or fatigue would not seem to count as sufficient reasons for taking any of these substances in the wrong time.... some have argued, using the Great Standards, that the special allowance for this substance [ — lonasoviraka, which is not now made — ] should extend to miso as well, but this is a controversial point." (BMC pp.363-4)
"Certain other medicines may be interpreted by applying the Great Standards... from some of those mentioned specifically in the Vinaya. Thus soya bean milk may be a form of thin mung bean broth... , miso may be a form of salted sour gruel..." (HS ch.10)