Lzh Mi Bu Vb Pc 24Teaching Nuns for Profit
Pāli / Sanskrit:Āmisa
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THE SUTTA ON TEACHING NUNS FOR GAIN (ĀMISA)
Background
The Vinaya Piṭaka is one of the three collections of the Theravāda Buddha-Dharma, recording the training rules that the Buddha laid down for monks and nuns. These details are not arbitrary commands, but examinations of the mind and conduct of practitioners. The sutta Teaching Nuns for Gain (Āmisa) belongs to the Pācittiya class, rules concerning violations requiring confession, actions that outwardly seem to be teaching but in fact are governed by motives of material gain.
This situation arose in the Buddha’s time, when some nuns began teaching the Buddha-Dharma to other women not for the purpose of liberation, but to receive goods, food, or other material benefits. This was a subtle distortion caused by the mind of greed, and the Buddha recognized that a rule was needed to protect the purity of the holy Dharma.
Main Content
This rule prohibits nuns from teaching the Buddha-Dharma to women for the purpose of receiving material benefits (āmisa). Such benefits may be clothing, food, money, or things connected with basic needs.
The key point is intention (cetanā). If a nun teaches the Dharma with the intention of helping disciples understand the Buddha-Dharma, even if afterward those disciples voluntarily provide material support to her, that is not a violation. But if that nun teaches the Dharma with the main purpose of obtaining material benefits, she violates this Pācittiya rule.
Those who violate it must perform the rite of confession (pācittiya) before the entire community of nuns. These are not the most serious disqualifying violations, which lead to removal from the Sangha, but they still require acknowledgment and sincere repentance.
Practical Meaning
This rule teaches that an outwardly “good” action, such as teaching the Dharma, may be corrupted by hidden motives. That is why Buddhist practice emphasizes examining intention (cetanā-paccaya) before and after every action.
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