BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

The Silk Chapter Chapter 7.23) In the case of "telling a steward," both the Commentary andK/Commentary deem it allowable to tell the steward, "Having gotten that withthis, give it (to me)." This, however, is a clear violation of the protocols setforth by the Vibhaṅga under NP 10, according to which a bhikkhu is notallowed to speak in the imperative, giving the command, "Give," to asteward, much less a command to barter or buy. Instead, he is allowed tospeak only in the declarative: "I have need of such-and-such," or "I wantsuch-and-such." Declarative statements of this sort would thus appear tobe the only statements allowed under this non-offense clause as well.4) If a bhikkhu goes with his steward to a store and sees that the steward isgetting a bad deal, he may simply tell the steward, "Don't take it."5) The Commentary to NP 10 describes how a bhikkhu may make apurchase when his steward has left funds in safe-keeping on the bhikkhu'spremises but is not present to arrange a trade when, say, a bowl-sellercomes along. The bhikkhu may tell the seller, "I want this bowl, and thereare funds of equal value here, but there is no steward to make themallowable." If the seller volunteers to make them allowable, the bhikkhu mayshow him where they are but may not tell him how much to take. If the sellertakes too much, the bhikkhu may cancel the sale by saying, "I don't wantyour bowl after all."In general it is not a wise policy to have funds left for safe-keeping on one'spremises — a Community allowing this exposes itself to the dangers of robbery andassault — but the Commentary here seems less interested in describing idealbehavior than in simply drawing the line between what is and is not an offense.Special cases. 1) The Bhikkhunīs' NP rules 4-10 show that if a lay donor givesmoney to a storeowner to pay for whatever a bhikkhunī will request from the store,the bhikkhunī may avail herself of the arrangement. If the donor stipulates that thisarrangement applies only to certain items, or to items worth a certain amount, shemay request only what falls under the stipulation: This is the point of the rules. Ineffect, what this is doing is making the storeowner her steward. Such anarrangement would thus also seem allowable for bhikkhus as long as they word theirrequests to the storeowner properly, as advised under NP 10.2) As mentioned under NP 18, checks, credit cards, debit cards, and traveler'schecks do not count as gold or money. However, any trade arranged with themwould come under this rule.In cases where an actual physical item is handed over to the seller in the course ofsuch a trade, the trade is accomplished in the physical exchange, with no need towait for funds to enter the seller's account for the offense to be incurred. This isbecause "object" under this rule can be fulfilled by an item of the least inherentmonetary value.For instance, if a bhikkhu hands a check to a seller — or tells his steward to hand itover — in exchange for goods or services in the manner specified by this rule, hewould commit the full offense the moment the check and goods change hands.203