The History of Buddhist Thought c12.12

c12.12

² This term, another example of one borrowed from other sects, meant originally the practice of a religious student before marriage during his study of the Vedas under a brahmin teacher, and implied strict continence. This is the special sense in which the Buddhists adopted it, for it is explained just below as “avoiding sex intercourse”, not merely avoiding violating the ordinary moral rules, which is *kāmesu micchācāro* “wrong indulgence in the passions”. But it is also used in a wider sense of the whole religious life of one who has taken these rules upon him.