Early Buddhist Monachism

The introduction presents Buddhist monasticism as a major institution in ancient Indian cultural history and criticizes static accounts of early Buddhism that treat the Saṅgha as unchanged from the beginning. Dutt emphasizes the need for historical method, arguing that the early Buddhist order should be studied through its process of growth, adaptation, and institutional consolidation as reflected in Pāli Vinaya materials. The chapters discuss the laws of the Vinayapiṭaka and their interpretation; the primitive parivrājakas and their possible origin; the relationship between the Saṅgha and the Pātimokkha; the Pātimokkha as ritual; the growth of the Buddhist cenobium; the internal polity of a Buddhist Saṅgha; and communal life at an āvāsa. The book concludes with a list of books consulted and an index.