Xct Mu Bi Np 13Bartering
Pāli / Sanskrit:Kayavikkaya
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Discourse on Bartering Goods (Kayavikkaya Sutta)
Background
The Kayavikkaya Sutta belongs to the Aṅguttara Nikāya in the Pāli Canon and is recorded among the monastic regulations. The background arose when the Buddha saw monks taking part in the exchange and trade of goods, which violated the purity of restraint from desire and the concentration of mind of practitioners. The Buddha gave instruction to clarify actions unsuitable for the path of renunciation, especially forms of transaction and exchange of goods in which monks should not participate.
This discourse is part of the Vinaya Piṭaka, the code of practice that helps renunciants maintain purity of conduct and mind. The Vinaya Piṭaka is not merely a set of negative prohibitions, but guidance helping monastics avoid situations that lead to defilement, craving, and distraction from the aim of liberation.
Main Content
Kayavikkaya, in a free sense, means "exchange by the body" or "buying and selling related to the body." The discourse clearly defines specific actions that monks and nuns should not perform. These include activities such as trading goods, exchanging property for profit, or taking part in commercial transactions of any kind.
The deeper reason behind this prohibition is not that commerce is inherently bad, but that it creates conditions for desire, greed (lobha), and scattered attention to develop. The renunciant has left the household life to pursue liberation, and therefore the mind must be protected from activities that stimulate material ambition.
The discourse emphasizes that such transactions run contrary to the spirit of the mendicant life (pabbajjā). The Buddha teaches that when monks trade or barter goods, they not only violate the rule, but also harm the very foundation of their own practice. This includes asking others to carry out such transactions on their behalf.
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