What are duties of monastic personnel?

Those who joined the Order gave up everything, their homes, pleasures of the world, and sensual delights so that they could walk spiritual path as shown by the Buddha. It was incumbent on each Bhikkhu to undertake one of the two duties once he had given up the household life. They are Ganthadhura, the duty of learning and teaching and Vipassanādhura, the duty of practicing meditation for the attainment of the Path and Fruition. (Ganthadhuram vipassanādhuranti dveyeva dhurani bhikkhu).

Ganthadhura (Duty of learning and teaching)

The first duty of Bhikkhus is Ganthadura, the duty of learning and teaching the teachings of the Buddha. By doing their duties, the Bhikkhus would administer to the social and spiritual needs of their followers imparting to them the knowledge of the Dhamma. The lay people in turn supported the Bhikkhus with their essential needs of food, clothing, shelter and medicine.

In course of time, Buddhist monastery had become not only a spiritual center but also a center for learning and culture. Dh.A. I. P. 3. (Dhammapada Atthakathā)

The teachings of the Buddha spread in this way far and wide into the people. The discourses and the saying of the Buddha were learnt by rotting, memorizing, and repeating day in and day out until they had learnt word perfect each discourse together with the explanations given by their teachers.

Although there is evidence that the art of writing was definitely known and well established during the Buddha's time, no Buddhist scriptures were put down in writing and recorded in any form of script. According to custom, the teachings of each spiritual teacher were regarded as sacred and imparted only to those who had shown genuine interest in the teaching by undergoing a long period of studentship.

The method of oral transmission played a vital role in learning teachings. This is customary to learn religious and philosophical teachings of the sages in India of those days. They were handed down from teacher to pupil in memory by continued repetition, word by word, sentence by sentence, and paragraph by paragraph. In this manner, their teachings were transmitted from generation to generation.

The Buddha's teachings were also handed down orally in this manner uninterruptedly from one Arahat to another and his disciples until many centuries. Later they were written down on palm leaves in Sri Lanka during the reign of King Vattagāmani. Even after the Buddha's teaching had become recorded in writing, the tradition of committing the Dhamma and Vinaya to memory continued. It is still survives in Theravada countries.

During the life time of the Buddha classification and codification of Dhamma and Vinaya must have been carried out. The Pali terms such as Dhammakathika one who preaches the Dhamma; Dhighabhānaka one who recites the long discourses; Vinayadhara one who memorizes the Vinaya have been found in the Pitaka, the sacred scripture of Buddhism.

The experts who specialize in one particular branch of scripture being given separate seats and beds also could be found in the texts. So even in those earliest days attempts had already been made to systematize the Buddha's teachings, co-ordinate, and correlate the numerous teachings of the Buddha by classifying them and arranging them in some form of system. Such systematization was obviously inevitable if only to facilitate memorization since only verbal transmission was employed to pass on the Teaching from the Master to pupil. But it was only at the time of the convening of the first council that formal compilation of the teachings took places as a whole and arrangements into separate divisions.

The Third Council was held primarily to get rid of the Sangha of corruption and bogus under the patronage of Emperor Asoka. It was presided over by the Elder Moggalliputtatissa. The most significant outcome of the Council was that he restored the true faith and propounded the Abhidhamma treatise, the Kathāvutthu, during the session of the Council.

One of the most significant achievements of this Dhamma assembly was the dispatch of missionaries to the nine different countries of the world for the propagation of Buddhism. The messengers of Dhamma, Dhammadutas, were well versed in the Buddha's Dhamma and Vinaya who could recite all of it by heart. The noble undertaking is a unique one in the history of the world. Out of them, Ven. Sona and Uttara were sent to Suvannabhumi (now Myanmar).

The Ven. Mahinda and group were sent to Tambapāni (now Sri Lanka). It was through efforts of such messengers of Dhamma the Buddha's teaching came to be embraced and established in countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand etc. as a form of its original.

A monk who enters into the Buddhist Order has to do for propagation of the Buddha's teachings. At first a monk has to learn Pali Canon, commentaries, and sub-commentaries and then he has to teach his pupils and has to preach the Dhamma to the people for understanding the Four Noble Truths. Therefore, Ganthadura, duty of learning and teaching, is the most important duty for every monk.

Vipassanādura (Duty of practicing meditation)

Bhikkhus must practice meditation for attainment of final goal; Nibbana. Bhavanā is a Pali word, meaning repeated contemplation or mental development which is greatly beneficial to one who practices it. It is of two kinds: Tranquility Meditation (Samathabhavanā) and Insight Meditation (Vipassanābhavanā).

Samatha means tranquility or concentration (Samadhi) that calms down that heat of defilements such as greed (lobha). When a meditator contemplates repeatedly on a meditation object, his mind gradually becomes concentrated on the object. At that time, defilements such as greed (lobha), anger (dosa), do not arise and his mind will be peaceful and tranquil. Such tranquility is called Samatha. If an arahat who destroyed all defilements practices the mundane jhāna, his purpose is not to gain calmness, because he has already calmed himself. In general, Samatha means all meditations which calm down the heat of defilements, turbulent minds, and lower jhāna factors.

In this universe, there is no person, beings and things but only mind (nāma) and matter (rupa). The knowledge which can discern significantly the characteristics of impermanence (aniccā), suffering (dukkha) and insubstantiality (anattā) is called Insight (Vipassanā).

Those who lack Insight Knowledge regard the combination of mind and matter as human being, celestial being, brahma, man, woman, etc., and the combination of corporeal entities as houses, schools, trees, forests, mountains, etc. They also miscomprehend these beings and things to be permanent (niccā), happiness (sukha), substantial (attā) and pleasant (subha).

Although the blind worldlings think so, a virtuous person who has practiced Insight Meditation penetrative knows that all beings and things are the aggregates of physical and mental phenomena, and that they are impermanent (aniccā), suffering (dukkha), insubstantial (anattā) and loathsome (asubha). Such knowledge is called Vipassanā.

In Vipassanā meditation, there is no place for thinking or for being thoughtful. With the help of concentration (samādhi), one penetrates into the ultimate realities and sees with one's own mind-eye the real nature of these realities-that is the three characteristic marks of nāma and rupa.

By observing the incessant arising and dissolving of the ultimate nāma and rupa, one understands the impermanent nature as well as the suffering nature of mental and corporeal formations. To be subject to incessant dissolving itself means suffering. Since the body and mind are made up of five aggregates and all these aggregates are incessantly forming and dissolving, leaving no single entity as permanent, one realizes that there is neither self nor soul.

Thus in Vipassanā-bhavanā, one actually sees the ultimate things and knows their nature. This ultimate nature cannot be known by mere contemplation. As one carries on the vipassana meditation in this manner, the ten insight-knowledges (vipassanā nana) will arise in due course. Soon after the last insight-knowledge arises, magga-ñāna and phala-ñāna (the Path and its Fruition) also rise.

In various ways has moral conduct been rightly expounded, collectedness been rightly expounded, wisdom been rightly expounded by the Buddha, the One-who-knows, the One-who-sees, the Arahant, the Perfect Buddha, for the subduing of intoxication, for the getting rid of thirst, for the uprooting of attachment, for the breaking of the round of rebirth, for the destruction of craving, for dispassion, for cessation, for the realization of Nirvana.

Now when moral conduct is thoroughly developed, collectedness is of great fruit, of great advantage; when collectedness is thoroughly developed, wisdom is of great fruit, of great advantage; when wisdom is thoroughly developed, the heart is freed completely from the pollutions, which are in brief: the pollution of sensuality, the pollution for existence, and the pollution of unknowing. Therefore, having well-prepared himself in this Dhamma-Vinaya made known by the Buddha, a monk should train himself with the training in the supreme moral conduct, the training in supreme meditation, the training in supreme wisdom with great diligence, patience, and effort.

“Go forth, o bhikkhus, for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, for the good, for the happiness of gods and men. Let not two go by one way. Preach the doctrine that is beautiful in its beginning, beautiful in its middle, and beautiful in its ending. Declare the holy life in its purity, completely both in the spirit and the letter.”