Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c25.43

c25.43

**Education of the Laity.** We have already seen how intimately was the Buddhist Church or Saṁgha concerned and connected with a laity upon whom it depended for its very support and maintenance. The laity were those who believed in Buddhism but did not choose to belong to the Order and be ruled by its discipline. Now the Order or the monastery educated those who were its members living under a common roof and did not admit day scholars to its education. Thus the laity had to seek other centres and means of education. Nevertheless the young Church was very vitally interested in the growth of a believing and pious laity for the regulation of whose life rules are accordingly laid down. The laity are sought to be marked out from the general public by applying to them the terms *Upāsaka* (for the males) and *Upāsikā* (for the females) when they formally declare that they take refuge with the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṁgha. But this declaration was not insisted upon as a rule. We find ordinary people, honouring and entertaining the monks, being called Upāsakas, and also Buddhist Upāsakas being Upāsakas of another church [Oldenberg's *Buddha*, pp. 162 n., 383; *Chullav.*, v, 20, 3]. There were also laid down certain duties of temperance and rectitude, but the Church had no part in securing their fulfilment. The only step that the Church took to keep the laity in order was by a declaration of boycott whereby "the bowl was turned down" in respect of the offenders, but this step affected the Church not less than the offenders, for it meant only the prohibition of giving and receiving material gifts and spiritual instruction as between the two parties [Oldenberg, op. cit., pp. 383, 384]. Certain business pursuits were also forbidden the laity, e.g. dealing in arms, in intoxicating liquors, in poison, etc. [ib.]. A comprehensive list of the duties of the laity is given in the *Sigālavāda Sutta* [cited by Rhys Davids, *Buddhism*, pp. 143 f.], which classifies them according to the several capacities or relationships householders have. The duties, for instance, of Parents and Children, of Pupils and Teachers, of Laymen and Monks are laid down. It is the duty of parents to have their children taught arts or sciences. "The pupil should honour his teachers by (1) rising in their presence ; (2) ministering to them ; (3) obeying them ; (4) supplying their wants ; (5) attention to instruction. The teacher should show his affection for his pupils by (1) training them in all that is good ; (2) teaching them to hold knowledge fast ; (3) instruction in science and lore ; (4) speaking well of them to their friends and companions ; (5) guarding them from danger." Among the duties of the monk towards the layman are to instruct him in religion, to solve his doubts, etc. A specimen of the instruction of the laity by monks is given in the Vinaya [*Mahāv.*, v, 1, 9], where the Emperor Bimbisāra, holding his rule and sovereignty over 80,000 townships, asks the Overseers of those townships to wait upon the Buddha for "instruction in the things of eternity". The Buddha "held to them a discourse in due order", speaking of "giving, righteousness, heaven, the danger, worthlessness and depravity of lusts, and of the advantage of renunciation".