z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 06.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 434
434 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- The Panchasilas are common to both. But to the Bhikkhu they are vows. He cannot break them without incurring penalty. To the Upasaka they are precepts to be followed.
V
The Bhikkhu’s observance of the Panchasilas is compulsory. Their observance by the Upasakas is voluntary.
Why did the Blessed Lord make such a distinction ? There must be some good reason for it. For the Blessed Lord would not do anything unless there was some good reason for it.
The reason for this distinction is nowhere explicitly stated by the Blessed Lord. It is left to be inferred. All the same it is necessary to know the reason for this distinction.
There is no doubt that the Blessed Lord wanted through his Dhamma to lay the foundation of a kingdom of righteousness on earth. That is why he preached his Dhamma to all without distinction, to Bhikkus as well as to laymen.
But the Blessed Lord also knew that merely preaching the Dhamma to the common men would not result in the creation of that ideal society based on righteousness.
An ideal must be practical and must be shown to be practicable. Then and then only people strive after it and try to realize it.
To create this striving it is necessary to have a picture of a society working on the basis of the ideal and thereby proving to the common man that the ideal was not impracticable but on the other hand realizable.
The Sangh is a model of a society realizing the Dhamma preached by the Blessed Lord.
This is the reason why the Blessed Lord made this distinction between the Bhikkhu and the Upasaka. The Bhikkhu was the torch-bearer of the Buddha’s ideal society and the Upasaka was to follow the Bhikkhu as closely as he could.
There is also another question that requires an answer. What is the function of the Bhikkhu ?