Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

History

Chapter

Ancient India: Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings

Question:

Read the passage and answer the questions :

Soon there grew a body of disciples of the Buddha and he founded a sangha, an organisation of monks who too became teachers of dhamma. These monks lived simply, possessing only the essential requisites for survival, such as a bowl to receive food once a day from the laity. As they lived on alms, they were known as bhikkhus.

Initially, only men were allowed into the sangha, but later women also came to be admitted. According to Buddhist texts, this was made possible through the mediation of Ananda, one of the Buddha’s dearest disciples, who persuaded him to allow women into the sangha. The Buddha’s foster mother, Mahapajapati Gotami was the first woman to be ordained as a bhikkhuni. Many women who entered the sangha became teachers of dhamma and went on to become theris, or respected women who had attained liberation.

The Buddha's followers came from many social groups. They included kings, wealthy men and gahapatis, and also member folk: workers, slaves and craftspeople. Once within the sangha, all were regarded as equal, having shed their earlier social identities on becoming bhikkhus and and bhikkhunis. The internal functioning of the sangha was based on the traditions of ganas and sanghas, where consensus was arrived at through discussions. If that failed, decisions were taken by a vote on the subject. The Vinaya pitaka contains rules and regulations for those who joined the sangha.

Rules and regulations of the Buddhist 'sangha' have been described in which of the following?

Options:

Sutta Pitaka

Vinaya Pitaka

Dipavamsa

Abhidhamma Pitaka

Correct Answer:

Vinaya Pitaka

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (2) → Vinaya Pitaka

The Buddha (and other teachers) taught orally – through discussion and debate. Men and women (perhaps children as well) attended these discourses and discussed what they heard. None of the Buddha’s speeches were written down during his lifetime. After his death ( c. fifth-fourth century BCE) his teachings were compiled by his disciples at a council of “elders” or senior monks at Vesali (Pali for Vaishali in present-day Bihar). These compilations were known as Tipitaka – literally, three baskets to hold different types of texts. They were first transmitted orally and then written and classified according to length as well as subject matter.
The Vinaya Pitaka included rules and regulations for those who joined the sangha (monks or nuns) or monastic order; the Buddha’s teachings were included in the Sutta Pitaka; and the Abhidhamma Pitaka dealt with philosophical matters. Each pitaka comprised a number of individual texts. Later, commentaries were written on these texts by Buddhist scholars.