The Buddha allowed a bhikkhu to accept an ‘invitation.’ Such an invitation is made when lay people decide to commit themselves to supplying medicines if a particular bhikkhu should ever become ill, or it can be a broader offer of help. (Although a sick monk is allowed to ask anyone for medicine, asking somebody who has already invited him with an invitation is obviously preferable.) Therefore if lay people meet a bhikkhu who seems worthy of help and support, they may make such an invitation. Quite a number of the rules deal with what and how much may be asked for when a donor makes this formal invitation.
An invitation can therefore be quite specific about what is being offered and how long that invitation will last. (Obviously, if circumstances change or the request is unreasonable, the donor has no obligations — and a conscientious bhikkhu is always sensitive about this.)
A clear invitation will also help prevent misunderstandings. For instance, the bhikkhu will know exactly what has been offered and so will not ask for more than that; and the lay person will not be overwhelmed by extravagant requests.
The original circumstances of the forty-seventh Confession Offence were as follows:
A lay supporter possessed much ‘medicinal ghee’ so he invited the monks to make use of it during the following four months. Much of the medicine was still left, so he extended his invitation for another four months and then extended it for life. The Buddha allowed this. However, that same lay donor had once criticized the ‘group-of-six’ monks because of their previous improper conduct so they decided to take their revenge by asking him for an impossibly large amount of medicine (ghee) and then criticized him when he could not immediately produce what he had promised. This rule was set down:
“A bhikkhu who is not ill may accept (make use of) a four- month invitation [pavaara.naa] to ask for requisites. If he should accept (make use of) it for longer than that — unless the invitation is renewed or is permanent — it is [an offence of Confession.]”
When the invitation is more vague — for example, a lay person may just say, “If you need anything, Bhante, let me know” — the bhikkhu should not exceed the spirit of the invitation. In fact some communities consider that an invitation in which the lay person does not mention any time limit is valid only for four months and that taking up the invitation beyond that time is an offence.
A bhikkhu is always allowed to ask for requisites from his relatives without having formal invitation first. (Whether they actually supply anything is, of course, up to them.) ‘Relatives’ are considered to be those with whom the bhikkhu has common ancestors back through seven generations, on both the mother’s and father’s side. Here ‘in-laws’ are not counted as relatives.
“Thus all descendants of one’s great-great-great-great-great- great-great-grandfather are counted as one’s relatives… [although] a bhikkhu at present would be well-advised to regard as his relatives only those blood-relations with whom ties of kinship are actually felt.”
DOES A BHIKKHU BEG?
The Buddha made it clear that bhikkhus should avoid begging if possible. (In times of great need a bhikkhu is allowed to ask for his basic requisites, for example, if his robes are stolen he may ask any lay person for one replacement robe.) He gave this story about ‘begging’:
A bhikkhu came to the Lord Buddha and complained about a great flock of noisy birds that came to roost at night in the forest surrounding his abode. The Buddha suggested that if he wanted them to go away he should go, many times throughout the night, and beg a feather from each bird. The birds, thinking, ‘that monk wants a feather, and another, and another…,’ left the forest and never returned. The Buddha then explained that begging and hinting were unpleasant even to common animals, how much more so to human beings.
A bhikkhu who is constantly begging for things displays his greedy state of mind. No one likes to see this, and lay supporters may start by criticizing him and then turn to blaming his Community or even the Buddha’s Teaching. The Buddha, therefore, set down many rules to guide the bhikkhus about what is proper conduct.
Extracted from The Bhikkhus’ Rules: A Guide for Laypeople compiled and explained by Bhikkhu Ariyesako.