Lzh Mu Bu Pm Sk 78Licking the Hands
Pāli / Sanskrit:Hatthanillehaka
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Hatthanillehaka Sutta - On Desire for Gain and Degeneration
Background
The Hatthanillehaka Sutta (Pāli: Hatthanillehaka - "Licking the Hands") is a disciplinary rule appearing in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda tradition. This discourse records the violation of bhikkhus related to desire for gain and the way these monks abused the trust of lay devotees.
In the early period of teaching the Dharma, when the Buddhist community was still young, there were bhikkhus who used the identity of monastics to profit from people who trusted them. The action of "licking the hands" here carries deep symbolic meaning: craving, greed, and lack of loving concern for others, things fundamentally contrary to the nature of practice for a true bhikkhu.
The Buddha and the worthy elders in the community discovered such cases and established disciplinary rules to protect the purity of the Sangha, as well as the faith of laypeople.
Main Content
The discourse records bhikkhus who behaved unworthily: they pretended to practice in order to appropriate property, gifts, or support from laypeople. Instead of pursuing the path of liberation, they were still governed by greed, hatred, and delusion, the three basic poisons (mūla lobha, mūla dosa, mūla moha).
The action of "licking the hands" signifies longing for gain like an animal that, craving food, licks another’s hand. It is a symbol of the lowering of human dignity, the spiritual degeneration that occurs when a practitioner abandons the fundamental principles.
The Vinaya Piṭaka prescribes that such conduct must be dealt with according to different disciplinary provisions depending on the severity of the violation. The main figures in the story are greedy bhikkhus, those who broke their vows by disregarding the spirit of alms round (piṇḍapāta) and simple living.
Practical Meaning
This discourse teaches us a profound lesson about careful vigilance.
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.