"... vassa ('rains') signifies a three-month period of residence in one place during the rainy season, enjoined upon bhikkhus by the Buddha in order that they should not travel about trampling down crops and so annoy farmers. To translate it by 'lent' as is sometimes done lets in a historical background and religious atmosphere of mourning and fasting quite alien to it (with no etymological support)." The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga by Bhadantarariya Buddhaghosa & translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, pg. liii-liv, (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf).
