Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 6

SR No.: 522605
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L C Jain
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur
Publication Year: 1988
Total Pages: 312
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin, & India
File Size: 5 MB

Page 291

BUDDHIST SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
Dr. SUNIL KUMAR
Education as one of the functions or activities of a state is a concept of purely modern growth. In ancient times the Christian missionaries in Europe and the various religious Orders in India planned out their own educational methods. They also received the active support and patronage of the ruling powers and the nobility of the time in this regard. Among them the Brahmanical system of education is the most ancient. The tradition of the system of education with which I am concerned here relates to the Buddhist system of education only. The Buddhist monasteries were the centres of learninig and teaching was imparted to a collective body of pupils. The history of Buddhist system of education is really the history of the Buddhist Sanagha. It reflects in its process the inner intellectual life of the inonasteries-the gradual and progressive enrichment of this life, its broadening and liberalizing effect over the course of the centuries, its unfolding and expansion.
The Pali Mahāvagga records that there were two ceremonies prescribed for admission into the Sangha. The first called the Pabbjjā, admits one as a novice into the Sangha, while the other known as the Upasampadã makes one a regular member of the Sangha, a bhikkhu (monk). In the Buddhist text one who has received the Pabbajjā is called the sāmaņera. The Pabbajjā thus marks the beginning of the period of the noviciate, and no one below the age of fifteen was given the Pabbajjā. After the period of the noviciate Upasampadã was given and it was not conferred on a person below the age of twenty. Adinission to the Sangha was open to all, irrespective of castes and creed but certain class of people was, however, denied the privilege of receiving the Pabbajjä and Upasampadā. Elsewhere in the Mahāvagga it is found that when the monks settled down in the monastery they behaved improperly without proper exhortation and and instruction. People often spoke ill of them at such improper behaviour of the monks. The matter was brought to the notice of Buddha who rebuked the monks and asked them to place themselves under the guidance of spiritual teachersUpajjbāyas and Acariyas for their proper training.