Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c31.21

c31.21

**Studies of Monks.** Then begins the regular course of monastic education and discipline. The Upādhyāya imparts to his pupil the contents of the *Prātimoksha* as the first lesson, explaining to him the character of the offences and how to recite the precepts. "These having been learnt, the candidate begins to read the larger Vinaya-piṭaka; he reads it day after day, and is examined every morning, for if he does not keep to it constantly he will lose intellectual power. When he has read the Vinaya-Piṭaka, he begins to learn the Sūtras and Śāstras. Such is the way in which a teacher instructs in India" (p. 104). I-tsing also refers to the Vinaya practice of requiring for each priest under training two teachers called the *Upādhyāya* and the *Karmāchārya* (ib.), the former being "the teacher of personal instruction" (adhyāya = lit. "teaching to read" and upa = "near"), and the latter "the teacher of discipline" who "teaches pupils rules and ceremonies" (p. 118).