San Lo Bu Pm Np 19Bartering
Pāli / Sanskrit:Kayavikkaya
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Explanation of Kayavikkaya (The Discourse on Bartering Goods)
Background
The Kayavikkaya rule (Pāli: Kayavikkaya, meaning "exchange, transaction in goods") is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, the Theravāda Buddhist tradition. This is the legal section regulating the life of practice of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs, those gone forth who follow the precepts (sīla) established by the Buddha Gotama.
Kayavikkaya belongs to Saṅghādisesa, a class of violation requiring recitation before the monks in order to ask forgiveness. These regulations were recorded to protect the purity of the Sangha and to observe the basic principle of separating those gone forth from the worldly economy. The background of this rule is related to specific situations in the early community of disciples, when some bhikkhus took part in commercial transactions and used the status of renunciation to seek gain.
Main Content
Kayavikkaya, bartering goods, is defined as the act of a bhikkhu taking part in the direct exchange or buying and selling of goods, or asking someone else to carry out such a transaction on his behalf for the purpose of profit or personal benefit. This action violates the spirit of the Vinaya because it involves:
First, attachment (upādāna), the tendency to cling firmly to material possessions that a bhikkhu has abandoned after going forth. One gone forth is permitted to possess three robes and an almsbowl, only enough to live simply. When taking part in bartering goods, he has returned to the householder’s way of thinking about possession and accumulation.
Second, harm to the sacred ground of the monastery (gaddhabhedaka), actions that damage the reputation of the Sangha before society. Laypeople trust that those gone forth live beyond the world; when they see a bhikkhu engaging in trade, they lose faith.
This regulation also includes acts such as asking another person to buy or sell on one’s behalf, or using an intermediary to conceal one’s own identity: subtle ways of evading the precepts.
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