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like snake venom spread out with medicines; That monk abandons this shore and the other, like a snake its old worn-out skin.” (Sutta Nipāta 1) He spoke this verse. Here, the first verse is included in the Dhammapada, the second in the Sutta Nipāta, but the story is in the Vinaya. Then the Blessed One, while preaching the Dhamma, and contemplating the dwelling place of that deity, seeing a suitable place, said: “Go, O deity, in such and such a place there is a secluded tree, go to that one.” That tree, it is said, was not in the Alavi country, but within the enclosure of Jetavana, and the divine being who had taken possession of it had passed away; therefore it was called “secluded.” From that time onwards, that deity, having received protection from the Perfectly Enlightened One, became an attendant of the Buddha. Whenever there was an assembly of deities, when powerful deities came, other less powerful deities retreated as far as the great ocean, the Cakkavāḷa mountains. But this one listened to the Dhamma while sitting in her own dwelling place. Even when the monks asked questions in the first watch, and the deities in the middle watch, she listened to all of it while sitting right there. And the four Great Kings, even when they came to attend upon the Blessed One and departed, they would leave only after seeing that deity. 90. “Bhūtagāmapātabyatāyāti” Here, “bhavanti” means “they were.” Beings; they are born, they grow, having been born, they grow, this is the meaning. A village means a heap; a village of beings means a bhūtagāma; or beings themselves are a village, a bhūtagāma; this is a designation for established green herbs, grass, trees, and so on. The state of being cut is pātabyatā; the meaning is that it is to be enjoyed as one wishes by cutting, breaking, and so on. For that bhūtagāmapātabyatā; the locative case is used in the sense of a cause, due to bhūtagāmapātabyatā, due to the cutting and so on of the bhūtagāma, there is an offense of pācittiya, this is the meaning. 91. Now, showing that bhūtagāma by dividing it, it is said, "Bhūtagāma means five kinds of seeds," and so on. There, "Bhūtagāma means" is said in the commentaries to mean that having extracted bhūtagāma, to show that in the presence of which bhūtagāma exists, it is said, "five kinds of seeds." Even so, "and whatever other things are born from the root," and so on, do not fit. For root-seeds and so on are not born from roots and so on, but those things born from roots and so on are made into seeds. Therefore, the explanation here should be understood thus: "Bhūtagāma means" is the term to be divided. "Five" is the division's limit. "Kinds of seeds" is the illustration of the delimited phenomena. Its meaning is: born from seeds are kinds of seeds; this is a designation for trees and so on. Another method: seeds and they are also born, produced, having produced leaves and roots, are kinds of seeds. By this, there is an inclusion of ginger and so on, which have produced leaves and roots, placed in wet sand and so on. Now, showing those seeds by which trees and so on are called kinds of seeds because they are born from them, it is said, "root-seed," and so on. Their enumeration is clear. In the explanation, "and whatever other things are born from the root, are produced from the root," the seed born from a seed is shown. Therefore, the meaning here should be understood thus: and whatever other things exist, trees, vines, and so on, are born, are produced, from roots of various kinds, such as potatoes, water chestnuts, lotus, white lotus, blue lotus, kanda, pāṭali, and so on, that root from which they are born and produced, and that, in the Pāli, It is said that all these, such as turmeric, are called root-seeds. The same method applies to stem-seeds and so on. Among the stem-seeds that sprout, here, mango, Indian sal, nuhī, palibhadra, kanikara, and so on, are stem-seeds; rootless creeper, square creeper, kanavīra, and so on, are joint-seeds; makaci, sumana, jayasumana, and so on, are top-seeds; mango, jambu, jackfruit, sixty-day rice, and so on, are seed-seeds. These should be understood. 92. Now, regarding what was said, "a pācittiya for destroying living plants," here, to show the distinction of offenses and non-offenses based on perception, and the distinction of destructibility, it begins with "perceiving a seed as a seed." Here, just as in "even if one eats rice of sālī" and so on, the cooked rice of sālī grains is called "rice of sālī," similarly, a living plant that has sprung from a seed is called a "seed." This should be understood. However, the seed that has been preserved by removing it from the living plant, as mentioned in "abstaining from destroying seed-plants and living plants" and so on, is a dukkaṭa offense. Or, connecting it with the initial phrase of the rule's analysis, "What is called a living plant," if one perceives a seed that is a living plant as a seed, and takes a knife or similar tool, and either cuts it oneself or has another cut it, or takes stones or similar objects, and either breaks it oneself or has another break it, or brings fire, and either burns it oneself or has another burn it, then there is an offense of pācittiya. This is how the meaning should be understood here. If taken literally, it should not be said that there is a pācittiya for destroying a seed that is separate from a living plant. This is the decisive explanation here: a pācittiya for destroying a living plant; a dukkaṭa for destroying any of the five kinds of seed-plants that have been preserved from a living plant. This seed-plant and living plant exists in water and exists on land. Among these, the aquatic one, from a mustard seed to a sesame seed, all kinds of algae, with or without leaves, down to a water bubble, should be understood as "living plants." A water-bubble, so-called, is hard and rough-colored on top, and soft and blue-colored underneath. There, for whichever moss whose root has descended and is established in the earth, for it, the earth is its place. That which moves in water, for it, water is its place. That established in the earth, for one who disturbs it anywhere, or uproots it, or transfers it to another place, there is a pācittiya offense. That moving in water, for one who disturbs it, there is a pācittiya offense. But with the hands, moving it here and there, it is permissible to bathe, for the entire water is its place. Therefore, it is not by this much transferred to another place. But from the water, without water, to intentionally lift it out is not permissible. Having lifted it out with water, to put it back into water is permissible. It comes out through a water-strainer, having had it made permissible, the water should be consumed. Water-lilies, lotuses, and so on, water-creepers and grasses, for one who uproots them from the water, or disturbs them right there, there is a pācittiya offense. Those uprooted by others, for one who disturbs them, there is a dukkaṭa offense. For these are included in the seed-group. Even moss the size of a sesame seed or mustard seed, when uprooted from water, if not withered, is included in the primary seed-group. In the Mahāpaccari and others, "endless sesame seeds, water-bubbles, and so on, are matters for a dukkaṭa offense," it is said. The reason for that is not seen. In the Andhakaṭṭhakathā, "it is not a complete plant-group, therefore it is a dukkaṭa," it is said. That also does not fit, for in the plant-group, pācittiya is stated, in the seed-group, dukkaṭa is stated. A so-called incomplete plant-group is a third category not found in the Pāli canon, nor mentioned in the commentaries. Now, if this were to be included in the seed-group, that too is not appropriate, because such a seed-group has a non-plant origin. Moreover, "among the heavy and light, one should stand by the heavy," this is a characteristic of Vinaya. Regarding land-plants – the remaining part of cut trees is called a green stump. There, the stumps of kakudha, karañja, piyaṅgu, panasa, and so on, grow upwards; they are included in the plant-group. Palm, coconut, etc. A barren stump does not grow upwards; it is reckoned as seed-kind. But a banana tree, when not fruiting, its stump is reckoned as plant-kind; when fruiting, as seed-kind. A banana tree, when fruiting, as long as its leaves are green, is reckoned as plant-kind. Likewise a fruiting bamboo. But when it dries out from the top, then it goes to the reckoning of seed-kind. What seed-kind? The kind of seed that is a sprout. What is produced from that? Nothing. If something were produced, it would go to the reckoning of plant-kind. They cut down Indasāla and other trees and make a pile. Even if branches the size of jewels emerge from the piled logs, they are reckoned as seed-kind. If they are planted in the ground for a pavilion, or for a fence, or for planting vines, when roots and leaves emerge, they again go to the reckoning of plant-kind. But if only roots or only leaves emerge, they are still reckoned as seed-kind. Whatever seeds are placed on the earth or watered with water, or put in pots or the like with moist earth and left, all of them, even if only a root or a leaf emerges, are still seeds. Even if roots and a sprout emerge above, as long as the sprout is not green, they are still seeds. But when the leaves of mung beans and the like have risen, or when the sprout of rice and the like has become green, the color of green leaves, they go to the reckoning of plant-kind. From palm seeds, first a root emerges like a boar's tusk. Even when it has emerged, as long as the leaf-sheath has not emerged above, it is still seed-kind. From a coconut, breaking the husk, a sprout emerges like a dental probe. As long as there is no green leaf-sheath like a deer's horn, it is still seed-kind. Even if no root has emerged, when such a leaf-sheath has appeared, it goes to the reckoning of rootless plant-kind.