As we have seen, Buddhist monks and nuns did not work to earn their living. They depended completely on lay followers, and so did not need money. In renouncing secular life to embrace the religious life, they also renounced wealth and private property. Given this, did they have any dealings at all with money?

Lay followers provided monks and nuns with robes, food, and other necessities. Some even wanted to give them money to buy things. Were they allowed to accept it? This subject is fully dealt with in the rules of the Vinaya-piṭaka; the rules cover three separate areas: monks and nuns were forbidden to accept gold and silver, to engage in trading and to engage in bartering. In the canonical texts, the phrase “gold and silver” (jātarūparajata) denotes any monetary unit or means of exchange, as well as the precious metals themselves. The following is the first rule concerning “gold and silver.”