Lzh Dg Bu Pm Np 20Bartering

Sutta on Bartering (Kayavikkaya)

Background

Kayavikkaya is a sutta belonging to the Vinaya Piṭaka in the Theravada tradition, situated in the Pātimokkha and the disciplinary rules for monks and nuns. This sutta addresses a practical issue that arose when disciples of the Buddha had needs or desires involving material exchange. The background appears in the history of the Sangha, the monastic community, when teachers and bhikkhus saw that commercial activity and the exchange of goods could create obstacles in practice and lead to greed and desire.

The Buddha established specific causal rules to prevent conduct that brings affliction. Kayavikkaya, or "bartering," is regarded as one of the matters renunciants must avoid, because it contains the potential for personal profit and involvement in complex transactional relationships.

Main Content

In the Vinaya Piṭaka, the principle of kayavikkaya emphasizes that bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs should not participate in commercial exchanges of goods. This differs from receiving offerings from laypeople or the basic exchanges necessary for the life of study and practice. The sutta indicates that exchange activity, especially for the purpose of making profit or storing property, violates the spirit of renunciation.

The rule stipulates that renunciants should live simply, possessing only essential requisites (the four requisites: clothing, bowl, bedding or lodging). Participating in trade or exchange to increase possessions reflects obsession with ownership and greed (lobha), things contrary to the renunciant life and the goal of liberation.

The sutta also relates to the principle of not competing with worldly people in economic activities. A renunciant should focus on practicing the Dharma, not on concerns about gain or the accumulation of treasure. This rule was established to protect the purity and spiritual independence of the Sangha, preventing worldly tendencies from entering the monastic community.