Tipitaka >> Vinaya Pitaka >> Mahavagga >> Fifth Khandaka >> 5.4
Adapted from the Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg
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THE MAHAVAGGA
FIFTH KHANDHAKA(RULES FOR FOOT-CLOTHING, SEATS, VEHICLES, ETC.)
Chapter-4 : Not to Wear Shoes When Seniors Do Not.
1. Now at that time the Lord Buddha walked up and down in the open air without shoes. Noticing that, 'The Master walks without shoes,' the Elders (the Thera Bhikkhus) also went without shoes when they were walking up and down. But though the Master and the Thera Bhikkhus went without shoes, the Chabbaggiya Bhikkhus walked up and down with coverings on their feet.
The temperate Bhikkhus were annoyed, murmured, and became angry, saying, 'How can these Chabbaggiya Bhikkhus walk with shoes, when the Master and the Thera Bhikkhus walk unshod?'
2. Then those Bhikkhus told this thing to the Lord Buddha.
'Is it true, what they say, O Bhikkhus(Monks), that the Chabbaggiya Bhikkhus walk shod, though the Master and the Elders walk unshod?'
'It is true, Lord.'
The Great Buddha rebuked them, saying,
'How, O Bhikkhus(Monks), can these foolish persons walk with shoes, though (&c., as in §§ 1, 2). For even the lay-men, O Bhikkhus(Monks), who are clad in white, for the sake of some handicraft that may procure them a living, will be respectful, affectionate, hospitable to their teachers. Do you, therefore, O Bhikkhus(Monks), so let (your light) shine forth, that you having left the world (to enter into) so well taught a doctrine and discipline may be respectful, affectionate, hospitable to your teachers (achariyas(teachers)), or those who rank as teachers , and to your superiors (upajjhayas), or those who rank as superiors . This will not conduce, O Bhikkhus(Monks), to the conversion of the unconverted, and to the augmentation of the number of the converted: but it will result, O Bhikkhus(Monks), in the unconverted being repulsed (from the faith), and in many of the converted becoming estranged.' Having thus rebuked them, and having delivered a dhamma discourse, he thus addressed the Bhikkhus:
None of you, O Bhikkhus(Monks), is to walk with shoes, when your teachers or those who rank as teachers, or your superiors, or those who rank as superiors, are walking without shoes. Whosoever does so, is guilty of a dukkata offence.
'And no one of you, O Bhikkhus(Monks), is to wear shoes in the open Arama(Monastery). Whosoever does so, is guilty of a dukkata offence.'
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