On one occasion, there were two monks traveling through the Kosalan country. One monk misbehaved, and the other monk said to him, “Don’t do that. It’s not allowable.” Because of that, the first monk became resentful. Soon afterwards the other monk was very thirsty. He asked the resentful monk to borrow his water filter. He refused and the other monk died from thirst. When the resentful monk arrived at the monastery, he told the monks what had happened. “So you refused to lend your water filter when asked?” “Yes.” The monks of few desires complained and criticized him, “How could a monk do such a thing?” They told the Buddha. Soon afterwards the Buddha had the monks gathered and questioned that monk: “Is it true, monk, that you did this?” “It’s true, sir.” The Buddha rebuked him, “It’s not suitable, foolish man, it’s not proper, it’s not worthy of a monastic, it’s not allowable, it’s not to be done. How could you refuse to lend your water filter when asked? This will affect people’s confidence …” After rebuking him … the Buddha gave a teaching and addressed the monks: “If you’re traveling with a monk and he asks to borrow your water filter, you should lend it. If you don’t, you commit an offense of wrong conduct. On the other hand, you shouldn’t travel without a water filter. If you do, you commit an offense of wrong conduct. If there’s no water filter or strainer, you should determine a corner of your robe: ‘I’ll drink after filtering with this.’”

The Buddha eventually arrived at Vesālī where he stayed in the house with the peaked roof in the Great Wood. At this time the monks were doing building work, but there were not enough water filters. They told the Buddha. “I allow a water filter of cloth fitted to a wooden framework.” There were still not enough filters. “I allow you to filter by spreading cloth on water.” At this time the monks were troubled by mosquitoes. “I allow a mosquito tent.”

Buildings Walking paths