Lzh Mi Bi Vb Pc 190Learning Pointless Knowledge

Discourse on Learning Pointless Knowledge

Background

In the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda tradition, the Pāli sections (Pātimokkha Saṁvara) record training injunctions and guidance for bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. The prohibition called Tiracchānavijjāpariyāpuṇana (learning the pointless knowledge of animal-like life) belongs among the Paccaya-sikkhāpada, disciplinary rules concerning “conditions” or “additional provisions” of the Pāli section.

The foundation of this injunction comes from the Buddha’s encouragement that those who have gone forth into the Noble Path should focus entirely on the final aim: realizing impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and non-self (anattā), thereby attaining 涅槃 (Nibbāna). Every activity and every form of learning should be directed toward this purpose.

Main Content

Tiracchānavijjā, “animal knowledge,” refers to worldly skills and debased forms of knowledge that people learn in order to survive and enjoy pleasures in the world: such as geomancy, astrology, engraving images on hats, carving horn, making perfumes, and other crafts used to earn a livelihood or seek material gain. Such knowledge, though it may be useful in the ordinary life of householders, has no value for the path of a bhikkhu’s practice.

Learning these pointless forms of knowledge is regarded as Pācittiya, an offense requiring confession in this case. It is not a grave offense like Pārājika (an offense causing the downfall of the holy life), but it is considered an act unsuitable to the spirit of renunciation. A bhikkhu should avoid spending time and mind on such things and should instead focus on the five principal supports: sīla (virtue), samādhi (concentration), paññā (wisdom), vimutti (liberation), and paṭisambhidā (analytical understanding).

Practical Meaning

The deeper meaning of this injunction does not lie in absolutely forbidding every other kind of knowledge, but in protecting the spirit of going forth.