Lzh Mi Bu Vb Np 28Bartering
Pāli / Sanskrit:Kayavikkaya
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The Kayavikkaya Sutta: A Teaching on Commercial Exchange
Background
Kayavikkaya (from kaya = goods, vikkaya = exchange, trade) is a regulation in the Theravāda Buddhist Vinaya Piṭaka, located in the Pācittiya section, offences requiring confession. This sutta is recorded in the Vinaya texts of the Theravāda schools, with the purpose of guiding the economic conduct of monks, nuns, and lay practitioners.
The background giving rise to this rule concerns monastics in the Buddha’s time who began to engage in trade in order to accumulate personal wealth or raise resources for temples. However, this conduct drew them into craving and attachment, contrary to the spirit of renunciation and the cultivation of concentration and wisdom. The Buddha therefore established this rule to protect the original purity of the Sangha.
Main Content
The Kayavikkaya rule prohibits monks and nuns from engaging in the buying and selling of goods for the purpose of profit. This includes not trading in products such as cloth, food, dried grapes, or any other articles with the aim of gain. The nature of this offence is Pācittiya, meaning that if it is violated, the monastic must perform a public confession before another monk.
However, the Vinaya Piṭaka also recognizes reasonable exceptions. A monastic may receive requisites necessary for practice, such as robes, bowls, or mats, from donors without considering this a commercial transaction. The difference lies in intention (cetanā): if the intention is to practice and live according to the disciplinary rules, there is no offence; if the intention is to accumulate wealth or make profit, it is a violation.
This regulation also does not prohibit monastics from receiving benefits appropriate to the renunciant life, such as necessary food or support from the community of faithful donors, so long as there is no intention of business or trade.
Practical Meaning
Kayavikkaya reflects a profound principle in Theravāda Buddhism: the separation between the renunciant life and the economic bonds of the world.
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