San Lo Bi Vb Pc 124Dancing and Singing

The Dancing and Singing Sutta (Naccagīta)

Background

Naccagīta is a disciplinary rule recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda tradition, specifically in the Pātimokkha, the basic ethical code for monks. This discourse reflects the Buddha’s guidance for monastics concerning actions to be avoided in the life of practice, especially activities related to worldly entertainment.

In the historical context of the early Buddhist Dharma, when the Sangha community had newly been established, the Buddha gradually promulgated rules to protect the purity of the fourfold assembly and maintain respect from the lay community. Naccagīta is one of the rules connected with avoiding actions that might obscure the reputation of the Sangha community and give occasion for criticism.

Main Content

According to the Naccagīta rule, monks are forbidden to take part in activities such as dancing (nacca) and singing (gīta). These acts are considered forms of worldly entertainment unsuitable for one gone forth, who has renounced sensual pleasures in order to pursue liberation.

This prohibition applies not only to dancing or singing oneself, but also includes watching or encouraging such activities. The deeper reason is that these activities are bound up with human desires and with restraints concerning their nature: they create distraction of the mind, weaken the resolve to practice, and may harm the honor of the Sangha community in the eyes of outsiders.

This rule belongs to the Pācittiya (Pc) class, one of the offenses requiring full confession. This shows that although the offense is not extremely grave, the Buddha’s Dharma still regards it seriously as an act that should not be done, a wrong step away from the path of practice.

Practical Meaning

The Naccagīta Sutta teaches us that the six sense faculties of human beings, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, are very easily drawn in by sense stimuli.