RELIGST 1B06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Buddhacarita, Vinaya, Theravada
16 Oct 2014
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Document Summary
Behold, o monks, this is my advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable they are not lasting, work hard to gain your salvation . Ideal depictions of the monks life the buddha"s biography . The buddha renounced the world: he gave up his possessions, he gave up his family life, he gave up his inheritance, he wandered for six years until he achieved enlightenment, he devised a method for others to follow. Buddhist monastery: there are rules in the vinaya about wills, interest-bearing loan contracts, permanent endowments, monetary deposits, the ownership of slaves. In the first centuries of the common era, buddhist monasteries had, in many cases, become wealthy, land-owning corporations. There is a biography of the buddha from the 1st and 2nd century ce called the buddhacarita, in which the buddha"s final instructions to his monks are significantly expanded.
