प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

X] CONTRIBUTION OF THE BUDDHISM 229 education of the rising generation. This was calculated to enable the Order to mould and influence the minds of the younger section of the society, when they were very pliable. There was thus a better chance of both recruiting proper types of persons for the Order and of getting a larger number of lay sympathisers, if the educational effort was not confined to novices but was also extended to the whole community. Buddhism therefore threw itself heart and soul into the cause of the general education of the whole community from about the beginning of the Christian era. It may be pointed out that lay students were admitted in ‘external’ monastic schools of Christianity, ‘internal’ schools being reserved for those who intended to join the order. Jesuits also used to admit lay pupils, when space permitted the step.¹ The Rise of Public Educational Institutes :— For a long time education was imparted by individual teachers in ancient India on their own private initiative and responsibility. The rise of organised public educational institutions may be justly attributed to the influence of Buddhism. This was but natural ; Buddhist monasteries already existed as corporate bodies : when they developed into educational centres, they naturally became corporate educational institu- tions. Temple colleges of Hinduism probably owed their inspiration to the monastic colleges of Buddhism. In the heyday of Buddhism India was studded with monasteries, and about 10 per cent of them at least used to impart higher education. An account of the more important of these institutions has already been given in Chapter V. Some of these monastic colleges H. Staunton, Great Schools, Intro. p. xv., Quick, Essays, p. 39.