ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on to the leading position assigned, in pre-Buddhistic literature, to mind and speech, as man's modes of self-expression. It argues that for the founders of Buddhism and their co-workers the business of the missioner was the main preoccupation. The chapter shows three stages in the Indian monasticism of ancient and medieval times. The earliest stage in monasticism is the growth of a shramana-world. The second stage in monasticism is that of the swift growth just before and after the birth of Buddhism. The third stage is seen in the Pali books. Men were becoming monks for various reasons: debt, fear of justice, the shirking having to work for keep. It should be clear that, as the central teaching of the Founders of Buddhism is understood, conduct, that is human karma, or the proof and expression of a man's Becoming, was of first importance.
