Offering Fruit

At the time of the Buddha, some lay people complained that the monks had destroyed the life in seeds. (See also about one facultied life, above.) Destroying seeds therefore became a minor (dukka.ta) offence, and the monk had to ask the lay people whether they found it allowable for him to eat certain fruits.

Fruits with seeds that can germinate and roots (bulbs, tubers) that can be planted again should be made allowable or kappiya for bhikkhus. An unordained person can do this by touching it with fire, by drawing a knife over it, or by marking it with a finger nail.

In some monasteries, there is a ceremony — briefly mentioned in the actual Vinaya but given in detail in the Commentaries — where the lay person offering the fruit, makes it allowable for the bhikkhu to eat.^[1] For example, this may be done with an orange by slightly cutting the peel when the monk says, "Kappiya.m karohi" ("Make this allowable") and answering him with, "Kappiya.m Bhante" ("It is allowable, Ven. Sir."). If there are many oranges, and if they are all together and touching, making one fruit allowable makes them all allowable. (In other communities, if the donor offers fruit already damaged (e.g., peeled or cut) it is considered already allowable.)

There is no need for this ceremony with seedless fruit, with fruit if the seeds are unripe so that they cannot regenerate, and with fruit offered already cut with all the seeds removed. Also, if the bhikkhu carefully eats certain sorts of fruits — for instance, mangoes, jackfruit, plums, peaches, prunes, etc. — without damaging the seed, stone, pit or pips, there is no offence.