At one time a certain monk at Kosambī was sick. His relatives sent him a message, saying, “Come, venerable, we’ll nurse you.” The monks urged him to go, but he said, “The Buddha has laid down a training rule that you can’t be apart from your three robes. Now because I’m sick, I’m unable to travel with my three robes. So I can’t go.” They told the Buddha. Soon afterwards he gave a teaching and addressed the monks: “Monks, I allow you to give permission to a sick monk to stay apart from his three robes. And it should be given like this. After approaching the Sangha, the sick monk should arrange his upper robe over one shoulder and pay respect at the feet of the senior monks. He should then squat on his heels, raise his joined palms, and say, ‘Venerables, I’m sick. I’m unable to travel with my three robes. I ask the Sangha for permission to stay apart from my three robes.’ And he should ask a second and a third time. A competent and capable monk should then inform the Sangha: ‘Please, venerables, I ask the Sangha to listen. The monk so-and-so is sick. He is unable to travel with his three robes. He is asking the Sangha for permission to stay apart from his three robes. If the Sangha is ready, it should give permission to monk so-and-so to stay apart from his three robes. This is the motion. Please, venerables, I ask the Sangha to listen. The monk so-and-so is sick. He is unable to travel with his three robes. He is asking the Sangha for permission to stay apart from his three robes. The Sangha gives permission to monk so-and-so to stay apart from his three robes. Any monk who approves of giving permission to monk so-and-so to stay apart from his three robes should remain silent. Any monk who doesn’t approve should speak up. The Sangha has given permission to monk so-and-so to stay apart from his three robes. The Sangha approves and is therefore silent. I will remember it thus.’ And so, monks, this training rule should be recited like this:

Final ruling ‘When his robe is finished and the robe season has ended, if a monk stays apart from his three robes even for a single day, except if the monks have agreed, he commits an offense entailing relinquishment and confession.’”

Definitions When his robe is finished: the monk has made a robe; or the robe-cloth has been lost, destroyed, or burned; or his expectation of receiving further robe-cloth is disappointed. The robe season has ended: it has ended according to one of the eight key phrases or the Sangha has ended it.