Mahavagga 8.26

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Adapted from the Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg

MAHAVAGGA

EIGHTH KHANDHAKA (THE DRESS OF THE BHIKKHUS)

Chapter-26.

1. Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu had a disturbance in his bowels, and he lay fallen in his own evacuations. And the Lord Buddha on going round the sleeping-places accompanied by the venerable Ananda came to that Bhikkhu's abode, and saw him so. And he went up to him, and asked him, 'What is the matter with you, O Bhikkhu?'

'I have a disturbance, Lord, in my bowels.'

'Then have you, O Bhikkhu, any one to wait upon you?'

'No, Lord.'

'Why do not the Bhikkhus wait upon you?'

'Because I am of no service, Lord, to the Bhikkhus.'

2. Then the Lord Buddha said to the venerable

Ananda: 'Go, Ananda, and fetch some water. Let us bathe this Bhikkhu.'

'Even so, Lord,' said the venerable Ananda, in assent to the Lord Buddha, and fetched the water. And the Lord Buddha poured the water over that Bhikkhu; and the venerable Ananda wiped him down. And the Lord Buddha taking hold of him at the head, and the venerable Ananda at the feet, they lifted him up, and laid him down upon his bed.

3. Then the Lord Buddha, on that occasion and in that connection, convened a meeting of the Bhikkhu-sangha, and asked the Bhikkhus, 'Is there, O Bhikkhus, in such and such an apartment, a Bhikkhu who is sick?'

'There is, Lord.'

'Then what, O Bhikkhus, is the matter with that Bhikkhu?'

'He has a disturbance, Lord, in his bowels.'

'And is there any one, O Bhikkhus, to wait upon him?'

'No, Lord.'

Why, then, do not the Bhikkhus wait upon him?'

'That Bhikkhu, Lord, is of no service to the Bhikkhus; therefore do they not wait upon him.'

'Ye, O Bhikkhus, have no mothers and no fathers who might wait upon you! If ye, O Bhikkhus, wait not one upon the other, who is there indeed who will wait upon you? Whosoever, O Bhikkhus, would wait upon me, he should wait upon the sick.

4. 'If he have an upajjhaya, his upajjhaya should wait upon him as long as his life lasts, and wait until he has recovered; and so if he have an achariya(teacher), a saddhi-viharika, an antevasika, a fellow

saddhi-viharika, or a fellow antevasika. And if he have neither of all these, then should the Sangha wait upon him; and whosoever does not do so, shall be guilty of a dukkata.

5. 'There are five qualities, O Bhikkhus, which, when a sick man has, he is difficult to wait upon--when he does not do what is good for him; when he does not know the limit (of the quantity of food) that is good for him ; when he does not take his medicine; when he does not let a nurse who desires his good know what manner of disease he has, or when it is getting worse that that is so, or when it is getting better that that is so, or when it is stationary that that is so; and when he has become unable to bear bodily pains that are severe, sharp, grievous, disagreeable, unpleasant, and destructive to life. These are the five qualities, O Bhikkhus, which, when a sick man has, he is difficult to wait upon.

6. 'There are five qualities, O Bhikkhus, which, when a sick man has, he is easy to wait upon--when he does' (&c., the contrary of the last section).

7. 'There are five qualities, O Bhikkhus(Monks), which, when one who waits upon the sick has, he is incompetent to the task--when he is not capable of prescribing medicines; when he does not know what (diet) is good and what is not good for the patient, serving what is not good, and not serving what is good for him; when he waits upon the sick out of

greed, and not out of love; when he revolts from removing evacuations, saliva or vomit; when he is not capable from time to time of teaching, inciting, arousing, and gladdening the patient with dhamma discourse. These are the five qualities, O Bhikkhus, which, when one who waits upon the sick has, he is incompetent to the task.

8. 'There are five qualities, O Bhikkhus, which, when one who waits upon the sick has, he is competent to the task--when he is capable' (&c., the contrary of the last section).