The History of Buddhist Thought c24.3

c24.3

The layman while in the world was a member of a society in which caste was not merely a religious belief but part of the structure of society. As a member of that society, however well disposed he was to the Order, he still had his caste duties to fulfil. From birth, and even before birth, ceremonies were performed for his well-being, and he remained subject to household rites and sacraments at every stage of life. Buddhism made no attempt to abolish the caste system. We find passages where rites and sacrifices are reinterpreted and moralized, but no condemnation of them as such.¹ It was only when a person entered the Order that his clan was merged in the clan of ascetics and he became a son of Buddha. As a layman he kept the five moral precepts with three further rules of abstinence on the fast-days.