Ka Bu Pm Ss 4Encouraging Someone to Serve One’s Desires
Pāli / Sanskrit:Attakāmpāricariya
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EXPLANATION OF THE ATTAKĀMPĀRICARIYA SUTTA
On Encouraging Service to Personal Ambition
Background
The Attakāmpāricariya Sutta (Pāli: attakāma = personal ambition, pāricariya = service, care) is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, specifically in the Khandhaka section. The context in which this discourse appears concerns rules of management and discipline in the Sangha, the community of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. The discourse addresses a common situation in communal practice: when a member of the monastic body is encouraged or enticed to obtain personal gain rather than act for the common benefit of the community of practice.
This is part of the Vinaya Piṭaka, the collection of disciplinary rules and guidelines established by the Buddha to maintain purity and harmony in the Sangha. These rules are not meant to constrain, but to protect the spirit of genuine practice and prevent actions harmful to the community.
Main Content
The Attakāmpāricariya Sutta deals with the problem of encouraging a member of the monastic body to serve one’s own personal ambition rather than the common purpose of the Sangha. This includes actions such as persuading a bhikkhu to help oneself for profit, reputation, or personal favor.
According to the spirit of the Vinaya Piṭaka, such actions are regarded as improper and may lead to disciplinary consequences. Why is this so? Because they reflect greed (lobha), conceit of self (asmimāna), and lack of loving-kindness (mettā), all of which are contrary to the heart of the Buddha-Dharma.
The discourse emphasizes that a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī should not be enticed to act for another person’s private benefit, whatever that benefit may be. Instead, the actions of the renunciants should be guided by basic ethical principles and acceptance of the Vinaya, the discipline that is the foundation of practice in the Sangha.
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