Jain Thought and Culture

Author(s): G C Pandey
Publisher: University of Rajasthan

Page 17

Some Reflections on Early Jaina and Buddhist Monachism
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the help of a modern researcher or writer for their organized and systematic presentation Another striking difference between the two sets of monastic rules is that whereas the Buddhist Vinatay races the formation of each rule to Buddha himself, enumerating all the details such as the occasion, the place and the person or persons involved, the Jainas do not appear bothered to follow any such fixed mode of articulation for their monastic rules
The Nature of Monastic Structure:
Both men and women addhering to the precepts of the two teachers constitute the Church or Samgha as it has been called in the texts The Jainas, as a rule, divide their Order into four viz, Bhikkhu-samgha, Bhikkhun-samgha, Upasaka-samgha and Upasika-samgha 10 The Jaina Samgha, thus, comprises not only the monks and nuns but also the male and female members of the laity In the Buddhist monastic set up the latter two are absent in this precise form and their theoretical position within the framework of the Order is not so clearly articulated 11
The Buddhist Samgha appears to have been theoretically, divided into (1) Sammukhibhuta Samghaie the local Samgha and (2) Agatanagata catuddısa Samgha 1e the Samgha of all the ages and all the places or the Samgha in its idealized form which consisted of all the monks and nuns as adherents to the teachings of Buddha, including even those who would be embracing the fold of the Buddhist Order in future 12 Generally, the boundaries of an avasa were
10 Eg Shri Sthanangasutram (Shri Akhil Bharat SS Jain Sastroddhara Samiti, Rajkot, 1965), Vol III Cauvvihe samghe pannatte, tam jaha samana, samanio, savaga, saviyao
11 However, there are, in the Buddhist texts, discourses disciples, and religious, moral and spiritual teachings householders See, eg, Muhavagga (Nalanda ed ), pp Visakha's liberality and speeks about the religious and from it Likewise, Sigalovadsutta' in the Digha Nikaya of the laymen and their proper conduct
pertaining to the life of lay especially devoted to the 309-10 where Buddha praises spiritual benefit that accrues is entirely devoted to the life
12 Mahavagga (Nal ed), p 319, Cullavagga (Nal ed), p 259 In an article The Notion of Early Buddhist Samgha' (Jijnasa, Vol 1, Nos 1-2, p 30) SN Dube has remarked It seems to us that the difference between the Samgha and the Cataddısa Samgha is not that of real and ideal but that of the local and the universal Samgha ie the Buddhist Order in its entiretly which has spread far and wide by the third century BC" He points to various economic changes by the time of the Second Buddhist Council (acceptance of 'gold and silver' by the Vajjan monks) and their bearings on the Samgha life and general thinking and then takes into account (Ibid p 34) the Theravada position as contained in the Kathavatthu which "was diametrically opposed to such notions (ie the ideality of the Samgha) and it upheld the idea of Samgha merely as a body of individuals" His argument suffers from certain fallacies and confusions which the author himself has created (1) the