Vol. 11 · pages 431–435

PART I The Sangh 1. The Sangh and its Organization. 2. Admission to the Sangh. 3. The Bhikkhu and His Vows. 4. The Bhikkhu and Ecclesiastical Offences. 5. The Bhikkhu and Restraints. 6. The Bhikkhu and Good Conduct Rules. 7. The Bhikkhu and the Trial of Offences. 8. The Bhikkhu and Confession.

415 THE SANGH BOOK V § 1. The Sangh and Its Organization 1. The followers of the Blessed Lord were divided into two classes: BHIKKHUS and Lay Followers called UPASAKAS. 2. The Bhikkhus were organized into a Sangh while the Upasakas were not. 3. The Buddhist Bhikkhu is primarily a Parivrajaka. This institution of Parivrajaka is older than that of the Buddhist Bhikkhu. 4. The old Parivrajakas were persons who had abandoned family life and were a mere floating body of wanderers. 5. They roamed about with a view to ascertain the truth by coming into contact with various teachers and philosophers, listening to their discourses, entering into discussion on matters of ethics, philosophy, nature, mysticism, etc. 6. Some of the old type of Parivrajakas lived under a teacher until they found another. Others lived singly without acknowledging any master. 7. Among these older type of Parivrajakas there were also women wanderers. The female Parivrajakas sometimes lived with men Parivrajakas ; sometimes they lived alone and by themselves. 8. These old type of Parivrajakas had no Sangh, had no rules of discipline and had no ideal to strive for. 9. It was for the first time that the Blessed Lord organized his followers into a Sangh or fraternity, and gave them rules of discipline and set before them an ideal to pursue and realize. § 2. Admission to the Sangh 1. The Sangh was open to all. 2. There was no bar of caste. 3. There was no bar of sex. V

416 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 4. There was no bar of status. 5. Caste had no place in the Sangh. 6. Social status had no place in the Sangh. 7. Inside the Sangh all were equal. 8. Inside the Sangh rank was regulated by worth and not by birth. 9. As the Blessed Lord said the Sangh was like the ocean and the Bhikkhus were like the rivers that fell into the ocean. 10. The river has its separate name and separate existence. 11. But once the river entered the ocean it lost its separate name and separate existence. 12. It becomes one with the rest. 13. Same is the case with the Sangh. When a Bhikkhu entered the Sangh he became one with the rest like the water of the ocean. 14. He lost his caste. He lost his status: so said the Lord. 15. The only distinction observed inside the Sangh was that of sex. The Bhikkhu Sangh was separate in its organization from the Bhikkhuni Sangh. 16. The entrants into the Sangh were divided into two classes: SHRAMANERAS and BHIKKHUS, 17. Anyone below twenty could become a Shramanera. 18. By taking the TRISARANAS and by taking the ten precepts a boy becomes a Shramanera. 19. “I follow the Buddha; I follow the Dhamma; and I follow the Sangh”—are the Trisaranas. 20. “I shall abstain from killing; I shall not commit theft; I shall follow Brahmacharya; I shall not tell untruth; I shall abstain from drink.” 21. “I shall abstain from taking food at an untimely hour; I shall abstain from indecent and immoral acts; I shall abstain from ornamenting and decorating myself; I shall abstain from luxuries; I shall abstain from the love of gold and silver.” 22. These are the ten precepts. 23. A Shramanera can leave the Sangh at any time and become a layman. A Shramanera is attached V