Buddhist Learning in South Asia by Kumar Pintu;

Author:Kumar, Pintu; [Kumar, Pintu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2018-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

Five

Śrī Nālandā and Buddhist Learning

The last chapter brought up a picture of Śrī Nālandā Mahāvihāra as an institution devoted to Buddhist teaching and learning. Starting as popular traditional places of salvation, Buddhist monasteries like Śrī Nālandā played a growing role in the evolution of religion, religious knowledge, philosophy, and science. Probably, Nālandā was the first monastic learning organization of South Asia as the main center of learning for the Mahāsāṁghika School, intimately attached to the teachings of the Buddha, quite earlier than its Christian counterparts in Europe started teaching Buddhist life by the third Buddhist council, although archaeological pieces of evidence do not support that much antiquity. It is also consistent with the fact that students entered Nālandā as novices, monastics, śramaṇas, or upāsakas, and eventually became Theravādins who may or may not have upheld a complementary Mahāyāna philosophy and practice. Later, the literary famous first generation of abbots like Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, and Candrakīrti established the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism at Nālandā. In due time, the monastery of Nālandā became more inclined towards mystic Mahāyāna, and its teachers assimilated and promoted Tantric Buddhism in its curriculum and activities. Once the Buddhist faith took shape on the campus, Śrī Nālandā played a significant role in the propagation of Buddhist learning and religion into Central, East, and South Asia. Here, we will focus on the study and training carried out at the Mahāvihāra of Nālandā related to the growth of Buddhist learning. In this way, the present chapter discusses the curriculum of Nālandā, exploring both religious and scientific contents. The religion of the Buddha was the base and inspiration of the study and training at Śrī Nālandā, and the changes in Indian Buddhism also transformed the curriculum of Nālandā, which we will also see.

Monks have been the primary bearers of the intellectual tradition of the Nālandā system of education. The renouncers became monks out of love for learning and Buddhism, dedicated to the monastic life starting from the establishment of Śrī Nalendra. Śrī Nālandā Mahāvihāra prominently being a residential place of Buddhist monks also indicates that the monks created and maintained the monastery of Nālandā and its life and traditions. The monks became the cynosure of all activities within the monastery. They learned the Buddhist literature and life from their ācāryas and upājjhāyas and later trained and taught monks, laity, and upāsakas. There was a long and venerable tradition of Paṇḍitas related to Nālandā, going back at least as far as Paṇḍit Nāgārjuna. A monk taught another monk in a graduated manner and passed on the legacy. They learned the Buddhist scriptures and became knowledgeable. Over time, they might have devised a curriculum based on the tradition of learning, which was necessary to know in the proper manner. The school curricula, especially, became a need for an institution of studies like Nālandā, suitable for its survival and popularity. Unfortunately, we do not have all the details of this basic curriculum, but the scholars who studied at Nālandā provide us with some information about the practice of research and learning.

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