Lzh Mu Bi Pm Np 13Bartering
Pāli / Sanskrit:Kayavikkaya
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Sutra on the Exchange of Goods (Kayavikkaya)
Context
The Sutra on the Exchange of Goods belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka, the regulations governing the life of the community of monks and nuns. The Vinaya is not merely a collection of prohibitions, but a wise teaching intended to protect purity and develop the spirit of practice within the Sangha.
This sutra is presented in the Patimokkha (波羅提木叉, the basic code of rules), especially in the section concerning property and economic activity among bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. The context in which the sutra appears is connected with practical situations in monastic life, when the disciples of the Buddha needed to understand clearly the boundary between religious practice and the exchange of goods.
Main Content
Kayavikkaya (kaya = body; vikkaya = trade) refers to the act of exchanging, buying, selling, or bartering material things connected with the body and the necessities of life. This sutra warns bhikkhus that they should not engage in trade in goods in the manner of ordinary people, for such action infringes upon the spirit of renunciation.
Specifically, the sutra stipulates that bhikkhus must avoid exchanging goods for personal profit, or taking part in complex transactions that may lead to attachment to property, greed, and the loss of a settled mind. This kind of exchange is regarded as an action unsuitable to the Buddha’s path, because it divides the mind and causes the practitioner to deviate from the chief purpose, which is the ending of suffering.
This rule does not absolutely forbid receiving necessary requisites such as robes, alms bowls, bedding, or medicines, things supplied by the community. But it forbids actively buying, selling, and exchanging in order to gain profit or accumulate possessions.
Practical Meaning
Kayavikkaya is not only an administrative rule in the monastery, but a profound teaching on a settled mind. The world of the practitioner is the world of consciousness, where quietude and non-attachment are the foundation for all spiritual development.
When a bhikkhu is drawn into buying and selling, the awakened mind becomes scattered.
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