Lzh Mu Bu Vb Ss 4Encouraging Someone to Serve One’s Desires
Pāli / Sanskrit:Attakāmpāricariya
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The Attakāmpāricariya Scripture: Personal Pleasure and Defilements
Context
The Attakāmpāricariya scripture, meaning “serving one’s own desires,” is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, as part of the rules of training for bhikkhus. This scripture was recorded to guide monastics concerning actions that harm the community of practice and obstruct progress on the path of liberation.
The historical background of this scripture relates to the Buddha and the earliest senior monks recognizing that when bhikkhus seek only to satisfy personal desires (kāma — sensual pleasures), they cannot maintain the discipline of training and will cause trouble for the community. Therefore, special rules were established to warn against and regulate defiled conduct.
Main Content
This scripture chiefly focuses on warning against bhikkhus whose minds are governed by kāmachanda (desire for pleasure). Such actions include seeking unworthy physical contact, encouraging others to follow the same path, and causing disorder in the law of training.
The specific content of this scripture has not yet been fully translated, but according to the general context of the Vinaya, the listed violations usually include engaging in inappropriate emotional activities, encouraging other monastics to serve personal pleasures instead of focusing on practice, and violating vows of moderation (sīla).
In particular, the scripture emphasizes that when a monk encourages another to “serve personal desires,” that person weakens not only himself but also harms the community. This is why such conduct is regarded as a violation of both individual and collective welfare.
Practical Meaning
In the Theravāda tradition, this scripture teaches that monastics must protect the pañcasīla (five precepts) and higher vows with firmness, so as not to be drawn away from the path of practice by personal impulses.
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