Lzh Mg Bi Pm Np 25Trading With Money
Pāli / Sanskrit:Rūpiyasaṁvohāra
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
The Discourse on Trading With Money (Rūpiyasaṁvohāra)
Background
The Rūpiyasaṁvohāra (Trading With Money) is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically within the training rules pertaining to bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. The context arose from practical concerns within the monastic community as Buddhism developed and monasteries needed to manage resources and conduct transactions with the lay community.
On this occasion, the Blessed One observed that certain monastics were engaging in activities involving buying, selling, and the exchange of currency (rūpiya — gold, silver, and wealth), or trading in goods in order to accumulate possessions. Such conduct violated a fundamental principle of the renunciant life: the relinquishment of sensual desires, material ambitions, and worldly entanglements. Accordingly, the Blessed One promulgated regulations to protect the purity of the Saṅgha.
Principal Contents
This discourse prohibits bhikkhus from engaging directly in monetary transactions. According to the Vinaya Piṭaka, the exchange, purchase, sale, or trafficking of currency is regarded as a transgression (sekhiya — training rules). The way of life of one who has gone forth is one of simplicity, sustained by offerings from the lay community and governed by the principle of pabbajitaṁ antalikkhajātiṁ — that one who has gone forth should abandon all worldly economic activities.
Should a monastic require daily requisites, robes, or medicine, these may be obtained through lay supporters or fellow monastics acting as intermediaries. One must not handle currency with one's own hands, must not bargain, and must not engage in exchange for personal gain. This is intended to ensure that those who have gone forth are not drawn into the worldly system of greed, competition, and attachment.
This rule also reflects a profound principle: money is a symbol of mental bondage (tṛṣṇā — craving). Should monastics begin to handle and circulate currency, they will gradually come under the sway of greed, aversion, and delusion — the three poisons that destroy the purity of the mind.
Practical Significance
This principle, though established more than 2,500 years ago...
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.