At one time when the Buddha was staying in the house with the peaked roof in the Great Wood near Vesālī, the Sangha had an abundance of fresh food. Venerable Ānanda told the Buddha, who said, “Well then, Ānanda, give the cookies to those who take leftovers.” “Yes, sir.” Ānanda had them sit in a row and gave them one cookie each, until he accidentally gave two to a female wanderer. The female wanderers sitting next to her said to her, “This monastic is your lover.” “He’s not. He gave me two, thinking they were one.” And a second time … And a third time Ānanda gave them one cookie each, until he accidentally gave two to that same female wanderer. Once again the female wanderers sitting next to her said to her, “This monastic is your lover.” “He’s not. He gave me two, thinking they were one.” And they started to argue about whether or not they were lovers.

A certain Ājīvaka ascetic, too, went to that distribution of food. A monk mixed rice with a large amount of ghee and gave him a large lump. He took it and left. Another Ājīvaka asked him, “Where did you get that lump?” “From the food distribution of the ascetic Gotama, that shaven-headed householder.” Some lay followers overheard that conversation between those Ājīvaka ascetics. They then went to the Buddha, bowed, sat down, and said, “Sir, these monastics of other religions want to disparage the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Sangha. It would be good if the monks didn’t personally give anything to the monastics of other religions.” After the Buddha had instructed, inspired, and gladdened those lay followers with a teaching, they got up from their seats, bowed down, circumambulated him with their right sides toward him, and left. Soon afterwards the Buddha gave a teaching and addressed the monks: “Well then, monks, I will lay down a training rule for the following ten reasons: for the well-being of the Sangha, for the comfort of the Sangha, for the restraint of bad people, for the ease of good monks, for the restraint of the corruptions relating to the present life, for the restraint of the corruptions relating to future lives, to give rise to confidence in those without it, to increase the confidence of those who have it, for the longevity of the true Teaching, and for supporting the training. And, monks, this training rule should be recited like this:

Final ruling