by Gregory Schopen, UCLA It is perhaps ironic that the more we
learn about Indian Buddhist 'monastic' literature, and the more
we learn about what actual Indian Buddhist 'monks' did, the less
the individuals involved look like what we could call 'monks.'
Indeed, Buddhist bhiksus appear to have done, or have been
required by their rules to do, an alarmingly large number of
unmonkish things. Indian Buddhist inscriptions, for example,
clearly establish that very large numbers of actual Indian
Buddhist 'monks' made donations for the benefit of their
parents, both living and dead, and therefore had the financial
means to do so. Indian Buddhist 'monastic' codes or Vinayas also
establish, for example, that Buddhist monks had or retained the
right to inherit family property or wealth, and were required to
pay off their own financial debts after they became monks. Such
provisions—and many others in Buddhist Vinaya—are so divergent
from what is found in Western monastic Rules like The Rule of
the Master or The Rule of