འདལ་བ་གཞ intro.67
The Chapter on Going Forth; The Chapter on the Restoration Rite; The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions; The Chapter on the Rains; The Chapter on Medicines intro.67
- Language
- English
intro.67
In the Pravrajyāvastu, we meet several Vedic and non-Vedic ascetics who have undertaken pravrajyā. Some, such as Gośālīputra and the Lokāyata ascetic Dīrghanakha, are described as “wandering mendicants” or parivrājaka,⁴² but those who join the Buddha’s order are described as śramaṇa, translated here as “ascetic.”⁴³ The term śramaṇa, from the verbal root śram meaning “to toil,” was used to describe non-Vedic ascetics, especially Buddhist and Jain ones.⁴⁴ In our text, it is applied repeatedly to both the Buddha and his followers, as when an older man posing as a monk challenges the authenticity of the Buddha’s ordained status by asking, “Who is the śramaṇa Gautama’s preceptor?” and in the phrase “the śramaṇa sons of the Śākya.”