z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 06.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 416
416 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
V
There was no bar of status.
Caste had no place in the Sangh.
Social status had no place in the Sangh.
Inside the Sangh all were equal.
Inside the Sangh rank was regulated by worth and not by birth.
As the Blessed Lord said the Sangh was like the ocean and the Bhikkhus were like the rivers that fell into the ocean.
The river has its separate name and separate existence.
But once the river entered the ocean it lost its separate name and separate existence.
It becomes one with the rest.
Same is the case with the Sangh. When a Bhikkhu entered the Sangh he became one with the rest like the water of the ocean.
He lost his caste. He lost his status: so said the Lord.
The only distinction observed inside the Sangh was that of sex. The Bhikkhu Sangh was separate in its organization from the Bhikkhuni Sangh.
The entrants into the Sangh were divided into two classes: S HRAMANERAS and B HIKKHUS,
Anyone below twenty could become a Shramanera.
By taking the T RISARANAS and by taking the ten precepts a boy becomes a Shramanera.
“I follow the Buddha; I follow the Dhamma; and I follow the Sangh”—are the Trisaranas.
“I shall abstain from killing; I shall not commit theft; I shall follow Brahmacharya; I shall not tell untruth; I shall abstain from drink.”
“I shall abstain from taking food at an untimely hour; I shall abstain from indecent and immoral acts; I shall abstain from ornamenting and decorating myself; I shall abstain from luxuries; I shall abstain from the love of gold and silver.”
These are the ten precepts.
A Shramanera can leave the Sangh at any time and become a layman. A Shramanera is attached