practices. The MULASARVASTIVADA-VINAYA(Monastic
Code of the Mulasarvastivada[Group that Teaches that
All Exists]), for example, gives specific instructions for
lending the inexhaustible goods of the monastery, in-
cluding details on the amount of collateral required
(double the value of the loan), the form of the con-
tract, the number of witnesses and guarantors needed,
provisions for property seizure in the event of forfei-
ture, and other contractual details. The interest col-
lected from monetary loans varied from as little as
nothing to as high as 100 percent of the principal, but
typically 50 percent of the principal was charged.
Although interest rates were frequently usurious,
Buddhist monasteries were often the only source of
large amounts of capital, so they performed an im-
portant and necessary social function that peasants,
merchants, the gentry, and even monks took advan-
tage of. At the same time, however, the vast wealth of
the monasteries put them into competition for revenue
with the state, so Buddhist economic enterprises were
often attacked as corrupt and fraudulent. This was par-
ticularly true in China, where charges of financial im-
propriety were frequently raised during periods of
imperial suppression of Buddhism.
The commercial activities of monasteries were not
conducted solely for the purpose of economic gain—
charitable lending and other social welfare institutions
also developed. In China, for example, the SANJIE JIAO
(THREESTAGES SCHOOL; late sixth–early eighth cen-
turies), which operated several famous “Inexhaustible
Storehouses,” combined rules that provided for the en-
dowment of inexhaustible funds with teachings from
the Huayan(Flower Garland) and VIMALAKIRTIsutras
about the bodhisattva’s inexhaustible storehouse of
compassion for living beings. Their Inexhaustible
Storehouse at the Huadu Monastery in Chang’an re-
ceived donations from the faithful that were then lent
out free of interest to the poor and needy of the em-
pire. Because the goods of the storehouse were “inex-
haustible,” the donor acquired inexhaustible merit.
This type of social welfare program was also seen in
the development of pawnshops, another type of lend-
ing operation run by Buddhist monasteries.
Although in modern times many of the commercial
ventures of Buddhist monasteries have been taken over
by secular enterprise, the scope of Buddhist economic
activities remains wide, and includes mutual-aid soci-
eties and cooperative banks, as well as modern forms of
investment like credit cards and nonprofit corporations.See also:China; Economics; India; MonasticismBibliography
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Miller, Robert J. “Buddhist Monastic Economy: The Jisa Mech-
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Schopen, Gregory. “Doing Business for the Lord: Lending on In-
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lumbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990.JAMIEHUBBARDUSURY