The economics of Buddhism are its most underrated feature. Monastics in the strict traditions cannot handle money, own property beyond a few possessions, grow food, or even ask for what they need — they can only accept. Laypeople have households and no time for full-time practice. The arrangement makes each dependent on the other, and it is enforced by nothing but reciprocity: the laity give material support, the sangha gives teaching, blessing and a visible example, and either side can walk away. It has survived twenty-five centuries, several state persecutions, and the arrival of the cash economy, though the last of those is doing more damage than the others — temple tourism and commercial meditation have both put pressure on a model that assumed nobody was charging.