:: 4. The Bhikkhu and the Upasaka. ::
1. In the Dhamma there is a marked distinction between the Dhamma of the Bhikku and the Dhamma of the Upasaka or the layman.
2. The Bhikkhu is bound to celibacy. Not so the Upasaka. He can marry.
3. The Bhikkhu can have no home. He can have no family. Not so the Upasaka. The Upasaka can have a home and can have a family.
4. The Bhikkhu is not to have any property. But an Upasaka can have property.
5. The Bhikkhu is forbidden from taking life. Not so the Upasaka. He may.
6. The Panchasilas are common to both. But to the Bhikkhu they are vows. He cannot break them without incurring penalty. To the UpasaJka they are precepts to be followed.
7. The Bhikkhu's observance of the Panchasilas is compulsory. Their observance by the Upasakas is voluntary.
8. Why did the Blessed Lord make such a distinction ? There must be some good reason for it. For the Blessed Lord would not do anything unless there was some good reason for it.
9. The reason for this distinction is nowhere explicitly stated by the Blessed Lord. It is left to be inferred. All the same it is necessary to know the reason for this distinction.
10. There is no doubt that the Blessed Lord wanted through his Dhamma to lay the foundation of a kingdom of righteousness on earth. That is why he preached his Dhanmia to all without distinction, to Bhikkus as well as to laymen.
11. But the Blessed Lord also knew that merely preaching the Dhamma to the common men would not result in the creation of that ideal society based on righteousness.
12. An ideal must be practical and must be shown to be practicable. Then and then only people strive after it and try to realise it.
13. To create this striving it is necessary to have a picture of a society working on the basis of the ideal and thereby proving to the common man that the ideal was not impracticable but on the other hand realisable.
14. The Sangh is a model of a society realising the Dhamma preached by the Blessed Lord.
15. This is the reason why the Blessed Lord made this distinction between the Bhikkhu and the Upasaka. The Bhikkhu was the torch-bearer of the Buddha's ideal society and the Upasaka was to follow the Bhikkhu as closely as he could.
16. There is also another question that requires an answer. What is the function of the Bhikkhu ?
17. Is the Bhikkhu to devote himself to self-culture or is he to serve the people and guide them ?
18. He must discharge both the functions.
19. Without self-culture he is not fit to guide. Therefore he must himself be a perfect, best man, righteous man and an enlightened man. For this he must practice self-culture.
20. A Bhikkhu leaves his home. But he does not retire from the world. He leaves home so that he may have the freedom and the opportunity to serve those who are attached to their homes but whose life is full of sorrow, misery and unhappiness and who cannot help themselves.
21. Compassion which is the essence of the Dhamma requires that every one shall love and serve and the Bhikkhu is not exempt from it.
22. A Bhikkhu who is indifferent to the woes of mankind, however perfect in self-culture, is not at all a Bhikkhu. He may be something else but he is not a Bhikkhu.
1. In the Dhamma there is a marked distinction between the Dhamma of the Bhikku and the Dhamma of the Upasaka or the layman.
2. The Bhikkhu is bound to celibacy. Not so the Upasaka. He can marry.
3. The Bhikkhu can have no home. He can have no family. Not so the Upasaka. The Upasaka can have a home and can have a family.
4. The Bhikkhu is not to have any property. But an Upasaka can have property.
5. The Bhikkhu is forbidden from taking life. Not so the Upasaka. He may.
6. The Panchasilas are common to both. But to the Bhikkhu they are vows. He cannot break them without incurring penalty. To the UpasaJka they are precepts to be followed.
7. The Bhikkhu's observance of the Panchasilas is compulsory. Their observance by the Upasakas is voluntary.
8. Why did the Blessed Lord make such a distinction ? There must be some good reason for it. For the Blessed Lord would not do anything unless there was some good reason for it.
9. The reason for this distinction is nowhere explicitly stated by the Blessed Lord. It is left to be inferred. All the same it is necessary to know the reason for this distinction.
10. There is no doubt that the Blessed Lord wanted through his Dhamma to lay the foundation of a kingdom of righteousness on earth. That is why he preached his Dhanmia to all without distinction, to Bhikkus as well as to laymen.
11. But the Blessed Lord also knew that merely preaching the Dhamma to the common men would not result in the creation of that ideal society based on righteousness.
12. An ideal must be practical and must be shown to be practicable. Then and then only people strive after it and try to realise it.
13. To create this striving it is necessary to have a picture of a society working on the basis of the ideal and thereby proving to the common man that the ideal was not impracticable but on the other hand realisable.
14. The Sangh is a model of a society realising the Dhamma preached by the Blessed Lord.
15. This is the reason why the Blessed Lord made this distinction between the Bhikkhu and the Upasaka. The Bhikkhu was the torch-bearer of the Buddha's ideal society and the Upasaka was to follow the Bhikkhu as closely as he could.
16. There is also another question that requires an answer. What is the function of the Bhikkhu ?
17. Is the Bhikkhu to devote himself to self-culture or is he to serve the people and guide them ?
18. He must discharge both the functions.
19. Without self-culture he is not fit to guide. Therefore he must himself be a perfect, best man, righteous man and an enlightened man. For this he must practice self-culture.
20. A Bhikkhu leaves his home. But he does not retire from the world. He leaves home so that he may have the freedom and the opportunity to serve those who are attached to their homes but whose life is full of sorrow, misery and unhappiness and who cannot help themselves.
21. Compassion which is the essence of the Dhamma requires that every one shall love and serve and the Bhikkhu is not exempt from it.
22. A Bhikkhu who is indifferent to the woes of mankind, however perfect in self-culture, is not at all a Bhikkhu. He may be something else but he is not a Bhikkhu.
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