..續本文上一頁, banknotes, cheques, gold, and silver.

　　Why is a cheque unallowable

　　 A cheque is unallowable because sometimes it is negotiable and also because a cheque is a command to a bank to give money to the bearer. It usually says something like, `Pay the sum of one hundred dollars to the bearer, Dhamminda Bhikkhu.´ Therefore a cheque written out to a monk is a command to give money to that monk and if he accepts it then he is accepting that money in the bank. It is the same as the third way of accepting money (see p.9); `In such and such a place that money, that is mine, that is for you.´ Therefore a cheque is a way of giving money to a monk and must be refused.

　　A monk who writes a cheque commits an offense for commanding money. If he accepted the fund in the first place it would be a nissaggiya pacittiya offense or if the fund was left with a kappiya in a correct way it is a dukkata offense for wrong arrangement.

　　A novice is required to keep ten precepts of which the tenth is to abstain from accepting gold, silver, and money. In practise this means that a samanera keeps all the rules connected with money in the same way as a monk does.

　　For monks (bhikkhus) there are four major rules concerning money found in the Vinaya:

　　1. Rupiya-sikkhapada (Nissaggiya Pacittiya, no. 18)

　　2. Mendaka-sikkhapada (Vinaya Mahavagga, Bhesajja Khandhaka)

　　3. Raja-sikkhapada (Nissaggiya Pacittiya, no.10)

　　4. Rupiya-samvohara-sikkhapada (Nissaggiya Pacittiya, no. 19)

　　The translations of 2 & 3 have already been given above and the translations of 1 & 4 are as follows:

　　1. Rupiya-sikkhapada

　　Whatever bhikkhu should himself accept money or cause another to accept it for him, or consent to having it placed near him or kept for him, has committed a nissaggiya pacittiya offense.

　　4. Rupiya-samvohara-sikkhapada

　　Whatever bhikkhu should engage in the exchange of any of the various forms of gold, silver, or money has committed a nissaggiya pacittiya offense.

　　Rupiya-sikkhapada needs to be thoroughly understood because if this rule is kept properly a monk will not misinterpret the other rules concerning money. It prohibits a monk form doing three things:

　　a. Accepting money himself.

　　b. Causing another to accept money for him.

　　c. Consenting to having money placed near him or kept for him.

　　The original Pali text defines these three as:

　　a. sayam ganhati - He takes it himself.

　　b. aññam gahapeti - He causes another to take it for him.

　　c. idam ayassa hotu ti upanikkhittam sadiyati - They say, `This is for you Venerable Sir,´ and he consents to their placing it near him.

　　Kankhavitarani commentary explains the above three ways of accepting in this way:

　　1. He takes money himself when it is offered for him, or he takes it himself when he has found it in any place and it does not belong to anyone.

　　2. In these same instances (when it is offered for him or he has found it) he causes another to take it (for him).

　　3. If with the money in his presence they say, `This is for you,´ or when the money is kept somewhere else they say, `In such and such a place that money, that is mine, that is for you.´ Then if they communicate that donation by simply speech or hand signals and that monk does not refuse that by bodily sign or speech and accepts it mentally then that is called `consenting.´ If he consents mentally and desires to accept, but by body or speech he refuses saying, `This is not allowable,´ or if he does not refuse by body or speech but with a pure mind does not consent thinking, `This is not allowable for us,´ then that is allowable (not called consenting).

　　With this rule, the Buddha has prohibited all the possible ways in which money could be accepted. If someone tries to offer money to a monk in any of …

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