Money Matters

I remember Taiwanese singer Fei Yu-ching's sister Jenny Fei, a singer and actress turned Buddhist nun. I remember seeing and laughing over her antics when she appeared in a variety show a long time ago. Besides rearing dogs, somewhere I read she she watches porn movies, plays mahjong, eat meat, join online chats, do aerobics, go yachting and play golf; and the list goes on but I'm not sure if it includes chanting or meditation; things that monks and nuns normally do. Lately, she gets herself involved in diamond trade and  ended up borrowing money from more than 20 loan sharks and racking up a debt of NT$30 million. There's a body of monastic rules and traditions, the Vinaya which binds  Buddhist monks and nuns. Buddhist monks and nuns are not allowed to deal with money; they cannot accept money for themselves; and cannot tell a trustworthy layperson to receive money on their behalf and keep it for them; and cannot buy and sell things for themselves. These are included in the 18th and 19th rule of the section of Vinaya called Nissaggiya Pacittiya.