90
R. BRUCE
Like Sakya-muni who became Gotama Buddha, he left the rich life of the Palace for the austerity of monkhood. His head and eyebrows were shaven, his dress was the yellow robe, his dwelling a cell in a city monastery. He shared the simple life of the most humble. Each morning he went into the streets to receive in a metal alms bowl gifts of food from the people. Each day the monks chanted the Pali sutras, studied, or practised meditation. It was a life of abstinence. No worldly wealth is allowed in the Order. It is absolutely forbidden to tell lies, to take any form of life, to gossip, to steal, to have any contact with women, to handle money, or to eat after mid-day. A monk's demeanour is important - how to stand, sit, walk, how to address people, and how to maintain that composure which is revealed in the face of Buddha's image in every Wat in Thailand.
The discipline was not irksome to Mongkut, and it became him as easily as the luxury of the Palace. He immersed himself in Buddhist studies and acquired a good knowledge of Pali, the language of the scriptures. He found in his research that there were serious gaps in the collections of texts and commentaries in Siam. At the young age of thirty-three, he had been in the Order three years. Mongkut became the Abbot of Wat Bowaniwate. He ordered many Pali books from Ceylon to repair the omissions in the Buddhist writings. But the most important part of his work as a monk was the reform and revitalising of the Order of monkhood itself.
Prince Mongkut, the Abbot, found the observance of the code of conduct too slack. Some monks in Wat Po, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, were even gambling and handling money. He set a new standard of discipline in his own Wat and then established a new sect within the Order. This was the Dharmayuta, the Followers of the Law, which survives today. The rules prescribed for this school of monks are far stricter than for the majority group, the Mahanikai, the Great Sect. Mongkut preached to the monks in his Wat and to the people, bringing a fresh interpretation of the Dharma, the Law, in place of what had become atrophied ritual. In creating a new sect among the monks, Mongkut did not bring about a "Reformation"; he left no cleavage among the followers of Buddhism. He re-inspired belief and disciplined practice. That this was done by a Priest, half-brother to the King and his likely successor, was doubly significant in a country where
90
R. BRUCE
Like Sakya-muni who became Gotama Buddha he left the rich life of the Palace for the austerity of monkhood. His head and eyebrows were shaven, his dress was the yellow robe, his dwelling a cell in a city monastery. He shared the simple life of the most humble. Each morning he went into the streets to re- ceive in a metal alms bowl gifts of food from the people. Each day the monks chanted the Pali sutras, studied, or practised meditation. It was a life of abstinence. No worldly wealth is allowed in the Order. It is absolutely forbidden to tell lies, to take any form of life, to gossip, to steal, to have any contact with women, to handle money or to eat after mid-day. A monk's de- meanour is important - how to stand, sit, walk, how to address people and how to maintain that composure which is revealed in the face of Buddha's image in every Wat in Thailand,
The discipline was not irksome to Mongkut and it became him as easily as the luxury of the Palace. He immersed himself in Buddhist studies and acquired a good knowledge of Pali, the language of the scriptures. He found in his research that there were serious gaps in the collections of texts and commentaries in Siam. At the young age of thirty-three he had been in the Order three years Mongkut became the Abbot of Wat Bowani- wate. He ordered many Pali books from Ceylon to repair the omissions in the Buddhist writings. But the most important part of his work as a monk was the reform and revitalising of the Order of monkhood itself,
Prince Mongkut, the Abbot, found the observance of the code of conduct too slack. Some monks in Wat Po, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, were even gambling and handling money. He set a new standard of discipline in his own Wat and then establish- ed a new sect within the Order. This was the Dharmayuta, the Followers of the Law, which survives today. The rules prescribed for this school of monks are far stricter than for the majority group, the Mahanikai, the Great Sect. Mongkut preached to the monks in his Wat and to the people, bringing a fresh interpretation of the Dharma, the Law, in place of what had become atrophied ritual. In creating a new sect among the monks Mongkut did not bring about a "Reformation"; he left no cleavage among the followers of Buddhism. He re-inspired belief and disciplined practice. That this was done by a Priest, half brother to the King and his likely successor, was doubly significant in a country where
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