The Vinayapitakam and Early Buddhist Monasticism in its Growth and Development

Contents: Introduction. Foreword. 1. The laws of the Vinayapitaka and their interpretation. 2. The primitive Paribrajakas--a theory of their origin. Appendix. 3. The Sangha and the Patimokkha : development of the latter. 4. The Patimokkha as a ritual. 5. The growth of the Buddhist coenobium. 6. The internal polity of a Buddhist Sangha. 7. Communal life at an Avasa.

"It is not yet time to dilate on the importance of the subject of the present thesis in ancient Indian history. The history of ancient India is still in the making: it is yet "in a temporary vagueness of outline, as of things half-seen and processes half-realised." Yet the assertion may be confidently made that, as the whole economy of ancient India life and culture is more intimately realised by us, the important place of Buddhist monasticism in it will appear with increasing clearness. Its external relations its influences on society at large, it contributions to cultural history--all these topics are yet in the dream land of theory. Buddhist monasticism itself has been, like all other historic institutions, a gradual process, changing under pressure of its sociological environments and its own inner principle of evolution. Buddhist monastic life in India as pictured to us in the records of the Chinese travellers is far different from the monastic life that is reflected in the Vinayapitaka." (jacket)