At one time the Buddha was staying in the house with the peaked roof in the Great Wood near Vesālī. At that time a monk who only used discarded things was staying in a charnel ground. He disliked receiving things from people. Instead he would take whatever was offered to the dead at the charnel ground, at the foot of trees, or at the threshold, and he would use that. People complained and criticized him, “How can this monk take the offerings to our ancestors and use them? This monk is big and strong. He probably eats human flesh too!” The monks heard the complaints of those people, and the monks of few desires complained and criticized him, “How can this monk eat food that hasn’t been given?” … “Is it true, monk, that you do this?” “It’s true, sir.” The Buddha rebuked him … “Foolish man, how can you do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, this training rule should be recited like this:

Preliminary ruling ‘If a monk eats food that has not been given, he commits an offense entailing confession.’”

In this way the Buddha laid down this training rule for the monks.

Second substory