Lzh Mi Bi Vb Np 18Money
Pāli / Sanskrit:Rūpiya
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MONEY SUTTA (Rūpiya Sutta)
Background
The Money Sutta (Rūpiya) belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, specifically within the Nisaggiya Pācittiya section—disciplinary rules of a prohibitive nature. This is an important body of law governing the lives of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs according to traditional Theravāda Buddhism.
The Money Sutta was compiled after the holy Buddha saw his ordained disciples coming into contact with wealth, giving rise to defilements and departing from the spirit of practice. The Buddha did not allow bhikkhus to possess or transact with money directly, because attachment to material wealth obstructs mental liberation. This rule was established gradually, step by step, as the Buddha encountered specific situations within the monastic community, demonstrating the practical and humane character of Buddhist law.
Main Content
The Money Sutta states that a bhikkhu is not permitted to acknowledge or directly receive money (rūpiya), items of value used in commercial exchange. Anyone who violates this incurs a Nisaggiya Pācittiya offense, that is, an act that must be forfeited and confessed before the fourfold assembly, together with relinquishing the offending material object.
The reason the Buddha laid down this rule was not that money is inherently evil, but that craving for money leads to harmful habits: acquisitiveness, active pursuit of gain, deceit, and entanglement in impure human relationships. A bhikkhu who possesses money easily falls into the mindset of a layperson and therefore cannot maintain concentration (samādhi) and a mind free from covetousness (anabhijjhatā).
The sutta also instructs that if someone wishes to support bhikkhus materially, they may donate money to the monastery, to the Sangha, or directly purchase necessary items such as robes, medicine, and food to offer. This avoids the contamination of money in the mind of the practitioner.
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