The Sangha and the Laity

C. 200 BCE-200 CE

Prior to the second century BCE, existing material and historical evidence only allows for general or speculative understandings of the practice of Indian Buddhism. Starting in the second century bce, however, the archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic remains of Buddhism begin to become more ubiquitous. In terms of the archaeological remains, there are two general types of Buddhist institutions known from this period. The first are large stupa complexes intended for pilgrimage by both the sangha and the laity. These include the second-century BCE pilgrimage centers at Sanchi and Barhut in central India and later centers found throughout India. Beginning in the first century bce, a second type of Buddhist institution—monasteries—became common. The best-preserved early monasteries are found in the cliffs of the Western Ghats in peninsular India, with other concentrations of early monasteries found in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and the Northwest.

The bulk of this chapter compares the architectural, iconographic, and epigraphic elements of pilgrimage centers and monasteries to show that between the first century bce and the second century CE the ritual practices of the sangha and laity began to diverge. In their monasteries, the sangha began creating ritual spaces intended to establish themselves as the legitimate heirs to the Buddha’s charisma. As such, the sangha substantially reduced their ability to live in isolation, focusing instead on establishing their authority over the Buddhist laity. These attempts at legitimation also significantly affected the disjuncture between individualism and communalism among the sangha. By emphasizing their authority over the laity, the sangha lost, at least to some degree, their ability to live a solitary ascetic lifestyle. Rather, life in Buddhist monasteries became increasingly communal. In contrast, the layout of pilgrimage centers in this period shows that the laity never fully acquiesced to the legitimations of the sangha—choosing instead to conduct their ritual observances in ways that emphasized their personal relationship with the Buddha. In the disjuncture between individualism and communalism, the laity continued to favor individualism.

One of the difficulties in discussing Buddhism in the second century bce through the second century GE is distinguishing those practices that developed at this time from those practices that merely become visible in the archaeological record for the first time. In the previous chapters I discussed the tension between the individual and the group in early Buddhism. Given the paucity of evidence concerning Buddhism prior to the second century bce, my identification of this tension at that time was somewhat tentative. Beginning in the second century bce, however, the material evidence for this tension dramatically increases. Whether or not this tension existed prior to this, the material evidence shows that, beginning in the second century bce, Buddhists of all sorts sought to exploit, overcome, and ignore the persistent social disjuncture between individualism and communalism.

Contrary to the traditional histories that claim the members of the sangha were initially isolated ascetics who were progressively corrupted through their interactions with the laity, the material remains of early Buddhism indicate something else—that asceticism was a later, first-millennium CE ideal that the sangha projected onto their own history. That is, while asceticism may well have been practiced in the first few centuries of Buddhism, perhaps by the third century bce and certainly by the first and second centuries bce, the sangha had abandoned the wandering ascetic lifestyle in favor of sedentary life in monasteries and a high degree of interaction with the Buddhist laity. Rather than an ascetic sangha being contaminated by the communal practices of the laity, in the second century bce through the second century CE, it was the laity who preserved the long-standing emphasis on individualism over monastic attempts to promote a new communal Buddhist identity centered on the sangha.

In this chapter I examine the ways that the sangha attempted to routin-ize the charisma of the Buddha and establish themselves as the leaders of the larger Buddhist community. These attempts are shown in the creation of new architectural spaces at monasteries, and through physical and symbolic manipulations of stupas placed within these new architectural spaces. At the same time, I examine the ways the Buddhist laity resisted the sangha’s legitimations by preserving and maintaining their ritual preferences. The differences between lay Buddhism and monastic Buddhism are shown through the differences in the design and layout of Buddhist pilgrimage centers and monasteries. To a large degree, the differences between lay and monastic Buddhism are shown in the diverging ways that each sought to accommodate the disjuncture between individualism and communalism. Before examining the archaeological evidence, however, I first provide a general background on the history, epigraphy, and archaeology of the period.