Thanks!
No, this isn’t what kittāvatā means. See recent discussion:
In this case, the question is not: “If one is a mendicant, how does one live according to the teaching?”
Rather, it is, “Of those who are mendicants, how do you define whether a mendicant is living in accord with the teaching?”
Hmm.
Perhaps a related example would be indriyesu guttadvāro hoti, lit. “is door-guarded regarding the senses.”
It does make sense in terms of the expansive understanding of sampajañña in the commentaries, as well as the notion of “situational awareness”.
“Situational awareness” of speaking and keeping silent, for example, doesn’t just mean “you know when you are speaking, you know when you are silent”, it means “you understand the right time to speak and the right time to keep silent.”
This is quite explicit with sampajānamusāvāde pācittiyan (which shares a similar locative construction.) It’s not just when you speak, but before and after as well.
“About” and “regarding” feel a little clunky to me, overdetermined. What about “in”?
It’s when a mendicant acts with situational awareness in going out and coming back; in looking ahead and aside; in bending and extending the limbs; in bearing the outer robe, bowl and robes; in eating, drinking, chewing, and tasting; in urinating and defecating; in walking, standing, sitting, sleeping, waking, speaking, and keeping silent.