58
BHIKHUS SHOULD SERVE THE BUDDHA BY BECOMING PREACHERS OF HIS DHAMMA
“Dr. B. R. AMBEDKAR,
M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc, LL.D., D.Litt., Barrister-at-Law,
Member, Council of States
26, ALIPORE ROAD, CIVIL LINES, DELHI
Dated the 30th October 1956.
My dear Valisinha,
Thank you very much for your letter of 25th October
- It certainly was a great event and the crowd that came forward for conversion was beyond my expectation. Thank the Buddha it all went well.
I am glad you realize that having begun the task well we have to look to its continued progress in the future. We have to consider ways and means of imparting knowledge of Buddhism to the masses who have accepted His Dhamma and will accept it on my word. We should no doubt train large number of workers to teach Dhamma to the people, but the best agents for carrying out the same are the Bhikkus. They would carry a great deal of prestige with them which no layman could do.
The Bhikkus in my judgement ought to be very happy to find out that a large task awaiting them has been done. The only difficulty with the Bhikkus is that they don’t care to learn the language of the people. I am afraid the Sangh will have to modify its outlook and instead of becoming recluses they should become like the Christian missionaries the social workers and social preachers. As I told you today they are neither Arhans nor useful members of the society. This fact must be hammered into them and make them realize that they could serve the Buddha well by becoming preachers of His Dhamma.
I like your idea of opening a sort of the logical seminar where Bhikkus and non-Bhikkus could be taught the fundamentals of Buddhism and make to learn the different languages of India so that they could be sent to the different parts.