Lzh Mi Bi Pm Pc 146Supporting Oneself With Worldly Arts

Discourse on Supporting Oneself by Worldly Skills

Background

This section of discipline belongs to the Pāti-Mokkha (Parivartta) in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda tradition, the rules governing the life of practice of bhikkhus. The issue of supporting oneself through worldly skills or occupations has been one of the fundamental points distinguishing a life of diligent study and practice from secular activities.

The Buddha never completely forbade bhikkhus from learning worldly skills. However, he restricted actions that could lead one astray from the main goal of studying the Dharma, liberation, and right conduct, and that might harm humility as well as the faith of the great assembly.

Main Content

Pāli Discourse Pc 146 emphasizes that bhikkhus should not rely on worldly skills as the main means of supporting themselves. These skills include arithmetic calculation (ganaka), composing poetry (akkhara), interpreting dreams (swapna), physiognomy (lakkhana), astrology (nakkhatta), and other techniques intended to extract benefit from others.

The deeper reason is not that these skills are bad in themselves, but that they lead to attitudes of greed for gain, manipulation of others, and dependence on the frivolous joys and sorrows of the world. A bhikkhu should support himself through the officially recognized Buddhist means: alms gathering (right livelihood, sama-ajiva), simple work that supports the monastery, or reliance on the support of faithful laypeople.

Observing this rule is a means of protecting the essence of practice. When a bhikkhu must rely on astrological or physiognomic skills for support, he has revealed an outward-turned mind, changing the nature of his mind from the search for liberation into the search for gain.

Practical Meaning

The lesson of Pc 146 does not apply only to renunciants. It reflects a profound principle of "right livelihood" (samma-ajiva), one factor of the Noble Eightfold Path.