Book Title: Studies in Buddhist and Jaina Monachism
Author(s): Nand Kishor Prasad
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur
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PABBAJJĀ AND UPASAMPADA
93
So there were certain qualifications without which nobody could aspire for upasampada. Ordinarily upasampada could not be conferred upon a person of less than twenty years of age. Besides, the novice had also to train himself in the dhammas and to show a high moral standard. Particularly the candidates previously belonging to different religious sects had to undergo a preliminary course of training called parivāsa extending over four months prior to his ordination, which was waved in the case of Jațilas."
The Jaina Church was not less strict than the Buddhist. A novice had to observe the five great vows and other precepts of monastic etiquette for a period of six months at the maximum, four months on an average and a week for the minimum.
It may however be noted that in the beginning there was only a subjective criterion, viz. to satisfy the ācārya and the upadhyāja by one's conduct. These two officers who were the sole authorities to promote a neophyte to the rank of a full-fledged member of the order must ordain as soon as they found a person fit and capable. Sometimes, it so happened that the ācārya and the upadhyāya, out of jealousy, etc., delayed the ordination purposely. It was in order to avoid this coflict between the teacher and the pupil that some practical lessons such as committing certain texts, etc.-Dhammapada in Buddhism and Dasaveäliya in Jainism -- to the memory, was prescribed, having mastered which anybody could claim his ordination.
Was Buddha ordained ?-is a significant question to be posed by any one. It is to be noted that the Buddha's ordination coincided with his attainment of omniscience under the Bodhi tree. That Tathāgatas are not ordained by others is the only difference between Tathāgatas' ordination and that of ordinary persons. When asked by Upaka, an Ajivikan monk as to who was his teacher, the Buddha replied that he had no teacher. 6 So Prof. Oldenberg rightly points out that Buddha's departure from home is distinct from the upasampada, the attainment of delivering knowledge.?
The same is true of the Tirthaakaras. None of them is reported to have been initiated or ordained by anybody else. Mahāvīra, the
1. MV, 1. 67. 124, p. 97. 2. Ibid, 1. 30. 86-87, pp. 73-76. 3. Ibid, 1.30.86-87, pp. 73-76. 4. Vav, 10. 15. 5. Milindapamho, p. 79. 6. MV, 1. 6. 11, p. II. 7. Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 347.
