Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c22.45

c22.45

**Possessions permitted to the Saṁgha.** In one place, indeed, we find an inventory of the various classes of goods and property which are declared to be "untransferable" to the individual monks but are always to be treated as the indivisible common property of the entire Saṁgha and "not to be disposed of either by the Saṁgha or by a company of two or three Bhikkhus (a Gaṇa) or by a single individual". The list includes the following "five things", viz. (1) A park (*Ārāma*) or the site for a park, (2) A Vihāra or the site for it, (3) A bed or a chair or a bolster or a pillow, (4) A brass vessel, jar, pot, or vase; implements like a razor, axe, hatchet, hoe, or spade, (5) Creepers, bamboos, muñja, babbaja, or common grass or clay; and (6) things made of wood or crockery [*Chullav.*, vi, 15, 2]. It is, however, clear from another passage [*Mahāv.*, viii, 27, 2] that some of these things might form part of the possessions of an individual monk on whose death they would be disposed of according to the general principle indicating the line of division between the collective property of the Saṁgha and the individual property of its members. It is, nevertheless, undeniable that the vow of poverty so rigorously enjoined upon the individual monk was not at all meant for the Saṁgha which the Buddha himself permitted to grow rich by permitting it to receive the benefactions of its lay well-wishers which flowed in an abundant stream under the Buddha's direct encouragement. The Buddha, however, dictated the forms, in which alone these gifts of property would be acceptable to the Saṁgha. Even these forms are found to cover a wide range including parks, pavilions, and lotus-ponds and buildings of various descriptions from the cave and the cell and the attic to storied houses and vihāras equipped with all appurtenances for healthful life [iii, 5, 6, ib.], and sometimes even materials for buildings [ib., iii, 8]. The Saṁgha also received property by bequests of the dead [*Chullav.*, x, ii, and *Mahāv.*, viii, 27, 5, already cited]. The Saṁgha in receipt of things too valuable for their use were permitted to barter them "in order to increase their stock of legally permissible furniture" [*Chullav.*, vi, 19, 1]. The Buddha freely permitted the dedication of all such gifts to the Saṁgha and encouraged it by pronouncing it to be very meritorious and prescribed the duty of his disciples to offer all facilities required by donors for the transfer or execution of their gifts [cf. *Mahāv.*, iii, 5]. There is, however, no evidence to show that the Order held property in the forms of slaves, horses, or live stock, or even lands for agricultural pursuits which were forbidden the Bhikkhu in the following injunction: "A monk who digs the earth or causes it to be dug is liable to punishment" [*Pāt.*, *SBE.*, xiii, p. 33], but the *Mahāvagga*¹ [vi, 39] has a passage alluding to cultivation or sowing of the land belonging to the Ārāma of the Order. While the Saṁgha was thus allowed to receive property of various kinds and grow steadily rich, there was no relaxation permitted in the vow of poverty imposed upon the individual monk who could not count as his exclusive possessions more than the following eight articles viz. the three robes (to be described later), a girdle for the loins, an alms-bowl, a razor, a needle, and a water-strainer not only to remove the impurities of his drinks but also to intercept destruction of life. These are all objects for individual and exclusive and not for collective and common possession and enjoyment. This self-imposed poverty of the monk was proclaimed daily by his begging rounds.