The Monastery and the Secular World Saṅgha-Buddhism and Caste-BuddhismAuthor(s): Siegfried LienhardSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 109, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1989), pp. 593-596Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/604083 .

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THE MONASTERY AND THE SECULAR WORLD SANGHA-BUDDHISM AND CASTE-BUDDHISM

SIEGFRIED LIENHARD

UNIVERSITY OF STOCKHOLM

As the author has shown elsewhere, there are in the Nepal Valley as many Newar communities as there are Newar monasteries, each of which is both religious and social in character and is largely closed to the outside world. The populations of these monasteries consist of 1) only Vajracaryas, 2) Vajracaryas and Sakyabhiksus, or 3) only Sakyabhiksus. The author refers to this socio-religious order as sarigha- or community Buddhism. Those belonging to the two large classes, the Urayas and the Jyapus, outside the monasteries are caste-Buddhists. The differences between sangha-Buddhism and caste-Buddhism are considerable. Whereas the roots of the former are to be sought in the principles and rules of the monasteries, the latter group has sprung from the conditions of life in genuine lay communities.

IT IS THE PURPOSE of a research project to which I gave the short title "The Monastery and the Secular World" to examine both the functions of Buddhist Newar monasteries and the relationship that exists between these monasteries and the lay world. As I have already shown in a number of essays and interim reports,' there are in the Nepal valley as many Newar communities as there are Newar monasteries, each of which is both religious and social in character and is largely closed to the outer world. The populations of these monasteries consist of: (1) only Vajracaryas, or (2) Vajracaryas and Sakyabhiksus, or (3) only Sak- yabhiksus. Furthermore, it is significant that with few exceptions the procedures adopted in any sahgha are the concern of the members of this, and no other, community, and that membership, which begins with initiation as a bare, in no wise automatically confers any rights on the individual; on the contrary, through- out his life every inhabitant of a vihara is committed to undertaking a number of tasks, from the perform- ance of which there is no escaping in the long run,

although he may occasionally be able to buy himself out of them by paying a fine.

It is thus necessary for every member of the com- munity to submit to the bare initiation as a boy and, if he is a Vajracarya, to the acaryabhiseka consecra- tion no later than the time of his marriage, especially as failure to undergo the ceremony or ceremonies would inevitably lead to his expulsion from the com- munity. He has now to become a dya.pd:ld:, that is to say alternate with others in officiating during the daily service at the main shrine, the kvd.pd:che and later, when he is the head of his family, enter one or more of the most important guthis the sT-, the bicd:- and the sand.guthT and follow the rules of these "associa- tions," which are so vitally important to the life of the community. Even greater and more responsible tasks await him when, at the age of about fifty, he becomes one of the Elders of the community. He then enters the Council of the sthaviras ten men in bdhd:s and five in bahis all of whom have received the Tantric consecration, the dTksa. It is worth noting that a person is not selected for the office of Elder by any process of election from among the peers of his age- group: his rank as first, second, third sthavira etc. is due to the fact that he is literally the oldest, the oldest but one, the oldest but two, etc. (counted from the date of his bare initiation), in his sahgha. From this time onward he is a fully qualified priest of Vajrayana, able to perform consecrations and higher rituals. It is therefore not until now that he is competent to take part, together with other sthaviras, in celebrating the daily pCija in the esoteric shrine, the dgam, and, not

' "The Survival of Indian Buddhism in a Himalayan King- dom," in The World of Buddhism, ed. H. Bechert and R. Gombrich (London, 1984), 108-14; "Dreimal Unreinheit: Riten und Gebrauche buddhistischer Nevars bei Geburt, Menstruation und Tod," in Formen kulturellen Wandels und andere Beitrdge zur Erforschung des Himalaya, ed. B. Ko5lver (St. Augustin, 1986), 127-54; "The Monastery and the Secular World: An Interim Report," The Journal of the Nepal Research Centre (in publication); Giimld, der heilige Monat der buddhistischen Nevars (in publication).

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594 Journal of the American Oriental Society 109.4 (1989)

least, enjoys the privilege of making decisions con- cerning the affairs of the sahgha in collaboration with the older Elders. However, he has still not reached the height of his career; the older he becomes the higher he rises in the hierarchy of the Council of Elders, and finally, if he lives in a bdhd:, he will become a member of the pafcasthaviras, the group of five especially respected senior Elders who occupy the most arduous positions.

A path through life such as this, precisely marked out in advance in the socio-religious field, in which the tasks a man has to perform proceed from easy to ever more difficult as he grows older, and in which the height of his career is reached in ripe old age, is to be seen at its clearest and most consistent in the daily life of the sanghas. The principle is characteristic of Newar life taken as a whole. The division of people into thakalis, i.e., high-status and older on one hand, and kokalis, lower-status and younger on the other, is fundamental to all aspects of Newar society.2

I should like to distinguish this socio-religious order, which is embraced by Vajracaryas and Sak- yabhiksus alone, by naming it sahgha- or community- Buddhism. Those who adhere to it are, as we know, the late descendants of former monks who, to simplify the picture somewhat, may be identified by two characteristics: they have at least undergone the bare initiation, and they live within the boundaries of their vihara (baha: or bahT) which, as the former mon- astery, forms the centre of their community. They obtain membership in the sahgha by virtue of their consecration, but are in the final outcome lay Bud- dhists, since on the fourth day of their brief career as bhiksus they again return to the updsakacaryd, the life of a layman.

Those who belong to the two large classes of the Urayas (also: Uraye, Skt. Udas) and the Jyapus, on the other hand, are laymen pure and simple. Both these classes can be subdivided into numerous castes and naturally rank lower than sahgha-Buddhists- Vajracaryas and Sakyabhiksus-in the social scale. While Jyapus form the farming class, Urayas, who rank between Sakyabhiksus and Jyapus, are mainly craftsmen, traders and businessmen (the Tuladhars, for example, are merchants). Uraya craftsmen do not, however, work in the precious metals gold and silver- which is the prerogative of Vajracaryas and Sak- yabhiksus-but only in baser materials such as bronze

(the Kamsakars), copper (the Tamrakars), stone (the Lohamka:mis) or wood (the Si(m)ka:mis).

I call those belonging to these classes outside the monasteries caste-Buddhists and their socio-religious way of life caste-Buddhism. This distinction seems to me to be extremely important as there are consider- able differences between sahgha-Buddhism and caste- Buddhism. Whereas the roots of the former are to be sought at least in part in the principles and rules of the former monasteries, the latter group has sprung from the conditions of life in genuine lay communities.

As caste-Buddhists do not belong to any com- munity, they live outside the sahghas which have grown up round viharas, though generally in the neighborhood of some bahT. It is known that in olden days both Urayas and Jyapus could, if they wished, take a lower form of bare consecration (Urayas becoming bhikhuibares and Jyapus becoming phuibares near the caitya of a vihara courtyard). This did not entitle them to any rights at the neighboring sahgha, but it did allow them to take part with Vajracaryas and Sakyabhiksus in the processions during the sam- yagdana and paMjdddna festivals. This custom, which is dying out today, is certainly a relic of the former possibility of obtaining membership in the community of bares, not by birth, but by the expression of one's own free will.

In this connection it should be noted that I can still clearly discern a sort of hierarchical dwelling- structure of the four large castes in some districts in Kathmandu. Thus a sangha of Vajracaryas sur- rounds the Kvabaha: and a sahgha of Sakyabhiksus surrounds the nearby Sigha:baha: (Skt. Srighatama- havihara), while in two more outlying districts live the Urayas and the Jyapus of Thayemandu, the latter being known as a Kvabaha:mi(s), i.e., the "men of Kvabaha:." The suburb Asan, which is next to the Kvabaha: and Thayemandu, shows the same popula- tion pattern as that described above.

What is characteristic of Urayas and Jyapus is that their initiation ceremony is not the Buddhist bare chuyagu, i.e., the pravrajyd, but a Hindu rite, the kaytdpui]a (Skt. vratabandha, Nepali bartamadn). The kaytapzija is given to Hindu and Buddhist castes alike, even to those Hindus who do not wear the holy thread and to Buddhists of the middle and lower castes. Although in a Buddhist family the ceremony is nowadays performed by the family priest, a Vajra- carya, the kaytdpuijd, the presentation of the loin- thread,3 also has links with older Buddhist practice,

2 Cf. G. Toffin, Soci&t et religion chez les NMwars du Nepal (Paris, 1984), 104f. 3 New. kaytd, Skt. kaupina.

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LIENHARD: The Monastery and the Secular World: Sarhgha Buddhism and Caste Buddhism 595

when such rites were carried out by a Brahman. From the social point of view, the kaytdpuia has exactly the same function for an Uraya or a Jyapu as the bare chuyagu has for a sahgha-Buddhist: it is only by undergoing the kaytdpuijd that he can become a full member of his caste, which only then grants him all his rights as a Kamsakar, a Tuladhar, a Maharjan, etc. The field of his future social and religious activity is now, for obvious reasons, not inside but outside the Buddhist sahgha, to the well-being of which he cannot contribute either as a dya~pd:ld: or, in later life, as a sthavira. His future lies within his own caste since, just as a sahgha-Buddhist has tasks he is expected to carry out in his community, so is each Uraya and Jyapu required by his caste to perform certain duties.

As in sahghas, there are in each caste a number of guthis, above all sT- and sanad:guthis, i.e., guthTs for funeral and- cremation processions. In addition, the caste itself, just like the sahgha, forms a large guthT embracing every member. The honorary offices in these guthTs are filled on one hand by guthTpd:lJ:s, the body of officials who take it in turn to be on duty in the guthT; on the other, and more important, by the three Elders-the thakuli (the oldest), the nakuli (the oldest but one) and the svakuli (the oldest but two). It is interesting to note that the oldest sthaviras in a sahgha bear the same titles. The parallels between the sahgha and the caste structure are striking, but the explanation is to be sought, in my opinion, not so much in the model offered by sahgha communities as in the influence of the guthT system on the sahghas. We may presume that the Buddhist castes in the Nepal valley developed gradually and relatively late. The last stage in this development may well have been when the vihara community assimilated the socio- religious customs of the Buddhist middle and lower classes which, for their part, slowly adapted them- selves to the Hindu model. They were probably the first to do so.

Rigid caste limitations have not gained a foothold in all matters among Newar Buddhists, as can be seen by the custom whereby Vajracaryas and Sakyabhiksus accept boiled rice, ja (New.), from the hands of Urayas and Jyapus, who are their inferiors in class, on the occasion of the above-mentioned samyagdana and paMjdddna processions. As we know, it is customary on feast days such as these for Vajracaryas and Sakyabhiksus to go from house to house in their district collecting alms. It was not until the 1920s that there arose serious conflicts, which have still not been quite settled even today, when Vajracaryas in Kath- mandu suddenly refused to accept the gift of rice from

the hands of Urayas because the boiled food had come from a Tibetan Lhama.i Unfortunately the extremely important term paMjadana used in this connection is generally given a false Sanskrit ety- mology and is rendered as paicaddna, the "gift of five things."5 In actual fact, patMjdddna is derived from the older pan(daju-jd-ddna, meaning the "giving (dana) of boiled rice (jd) to the Buddhist priests (panIdaju)."6

It is obvious that in the samyagdana and the paMjdddna festivals there survives an ancient and important element of lay Buddhist piety in that the virtue of giving (dana), which laymen once practised for the benefit of monks, appears now-in a Newari version as the generosity that caste-Buddhists mani- fest towards sahgha-Buddhists.

The piety of caste-Buddhists, whose two most im- portant characteristics are, we decided, that they are organized in castes and that they receive initiation by undergoing the kaytdpuijd, is thus the piety of lay Buddhists. Whereas religious acts in sahghas are governed by definite precepts, acts of piety performed by caste-Buddhists are voluntary. They may take the form of visits to nearby viharas or to viharas that are particularly favored by believers, veneration of the kvd.pd:dya:, participation in daily puijas at the main shrine, pilgrimages to holy places (especially in connec- tion with various srdddhas), solemn celebration of the Buddhist month of gCrmld, prajiidpdramitapathas, i.e., readings from the Prajnaparamita commissioned from Vajracaryas or-a particularly important way-vari- ous forms of fasting-festivals such as the astamTvrata, the puirnimdvrata, the vasundharavrata and the muku- tdstamT, the ceremonial parts of which take place at a vihara, or, in the case of the mukutdstamT-fast, either in Pasupatinatha or at a vihara. The most common acts of piety are undoubtedly vows of fasting, vratas, and generosity-since ancient times the most impor- tant virtue of lay Buddhists.

4 For explicit information on this point see C. Rosser, "Social Mobility in the Newar Caste System," in Caste and Kin in Nepal, India and Ceylon, ed. Chr. von Firer- Haimendorf (New Delhi, 19661, 19722), 105-34.

5 The "five things" are usually reckoned as being (1) salt, (2) rice, (3) husked rice, (4) grain, and (5) coins. However, other gifts such as dried beans, maize, lentils or even brooms may be given.

6pdrMju (pan~dju, from Skt. pan1da, 'wisdom', 'knowledge' + New. ju) has been applied to priests and dya.pd:ld:s at the Karunamaya Temple in Patan.

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596 Journal of the American Oriental Society 109.4 (1989)

What is striking is that these acts, whether they be vratas, gifts, or prajidpdramitd-recitations, have pre- dominantly worldly aims and, as they are intended to have personal welfare as their effect, often take the form of acts of prayer or thanks performed by individuals or whole families in, for example, cases of

illness or recovery, childlessness or the blessing of children, etc.

There is much less opportunity for similar, equally spontaneous demonstrations of piety in the life of sahgha-Buddhists who, as we have seen, are subject to a multitude of predetermined tasks.

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