Soon afterwards the Buddha gave a teaching and addressed the monks: “Those things I allowed you when there was a shortage of food, the crops were meager, and it was hard to get by on alms, I prohibit from today onward. You shouldn’t eat what’s been stored indoors in a monastery, what’s been cooked indoors in a monastery, what’s been cooked by yourselves, or what’s been received after picking it up. If you do, you commit an offense of wrong conduct. If you have finished your meal and refused an invitation to eat more, you shouldn’t eat non-leftovers that have been brought out, that have been received before the meal, or that have come from the forest or a lotus pond. If you do, you should be dealt with according to the rule.”

At that time people from the country loaded much salt, oil, rice, and fresh food onto carts, brought them to outside the monastery gatehouse, and waited for their turn to cook a meal. Just then a storm was approaching. Those people went to Venerable Ānanda and told him what was happening, adding, “What should we do now?” Ānanda told the Buddha, who said,

“Well then, Ānanda, the Sangha should designate a building at the edge of the monastery as a food-storage area and then store the food there—whether a dwelling, a stilt house, or a cave. And it should be done like this. A competent and capable monk should inform the Sangha: ‘Please, venerables, I ask the Sangha to listen. If the Sangha is ready, it should designate such-and-such a dwelling as a food-storage area. This is the motion.