Pāli and Sanskrit International Bhikkhu Exchange Programme 2022 – 2027 Second Phase

The first phase of the Pāli and Sanskrit International Bhikkhu Exchange Program, which was started for the first time in the world based on the noble concept of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, commenced in December 2022 in Bodhgayā, and Buddhist monks from Tibet, Sri Lanka, and Thailand participated in this program. The inauguration of this program was held in Bodhgayā from 27^th December to 04^th January, and from 04^th January to 19^th of the same month, all the monks were sent from Bodhgaya to Mungod to join the second part of the first phase.

Bhikkhu Village

When the people who lost Tibet came to seek refuge in India as political refugees, India extended its hands of brotherhood and donated large areas in several states for them. This Bhikkhu Village located in Mungod is spread over a vast area of ​​more than three thousand acres of land thus gifted. Although this village, where thousands of Tibetan monks and novices live, is very beautiful, the story behind it brings back the dark memories of a brutal past. Among the areas that India donated with the brotherhood to the Tibetans including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who survived the inhumane Buddhist massacre in Tibet due to the brutal invasions of Communist China, Mungod is a prominent educational centre as well as among the colonies that were thus born. These Tibetan monks have contributed a large part of the total manufacturing economy of India by harvesting the free land they got from India with great effort. Also, there is a special place for education in this colony, and in this city where there are many Tibetan pirivens and Buddhist monastery complexes located, approximately ten thousand Tibetan monks live and study. Most of the monks are engaged in agriculture, food production, cloth weaving, animal husbandry, industrial sector, writing books, education as well as management fields in this village, and foreign scholars and tourists also come here to identify the structure of monk-centred education in Tibet and the systems of Tibetan piriven-monastery complexes.

Inauguration Ceremony

The piriven complexes at Mungod Bhikkhu Village represent two schools, Drepung Gomang and Drepung Loseling. An inauguration ceremony for the first phase of this Bhikkhu Exchange Program was organized again at the upōsathāgāra, the most sacred building of the Drepung Gomang Pirven complex. Here, first, the Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka and Thailand engaged in chanting stanzas in Pāli according to the Thēravāda tradition, and then the Tibetan monks followed their tradition in Tibetan. Konchok Pasang Mahā Thero, Pirivenādhipati of both Drepung Gomang and Drepung Loseling (Drepung Tripa), presided over the inauguration ceremony. Many senior monks led by Ben Rimpowe Geshi Jigme Gyatso Mahā Thero, Head monk of the Drepung Gomang Piriven University, and distinguished guests representing the organizing committee of this Bhikku Exchange Program were also present on this occasion. Here, three monks addressed the audience representing all three groups of monks who joined the Bhikku Exchange Program from the Thai, Sri Lankan, and Tibetan traditions, and Pūjyapāda Nithulēmaḍa Sugata Rakkhita Thero addressed the gathering on behalf of the Maha Sangha of Sri Lanka. He expressed his gratitude for this program on behalf of Sri Lanka, recalling the personal experiences he had gained through such an exchange program as well as the opportunities that his team had. Mr. Pari Jinpa, organizer, Mrs. Shermila Milroy, educationist, and Ratneswar Chakmā Thero, on behalf of the Thai Bharat Society, addressed the congregation respectively, representing the organizing committee of this Pāli and Sanskrit international Bhikku Exchange Program that was organized for the first time. All of them were of the opinion that they would give their fullest support to continue this program for five years continuously, and that it is of timely value that the monks of all traditions spread around the world gather around the word of the Buddha.

Pāṭimokkha Sermon

We are aware that the rituals, dhamma discussions, and chantings related to the Sambuddha Sāsana have evolved in different ways throughout the Buddhist world.  Pāṭimokkha sermon of Vinaya Piṭaka can be called as another unique aspect of the Buddhist order. The Pāṭimokkha Sermon is another part of the Vinaya Piṭaka and it has two main parts namely Bhikkhu Pāṭimokkha and Bhikkhunī Pāṭimokkha. The Pāṭimokkha sermon is extremely important for the creation of a disciplined monk, and among the disciplinary precepts recited here, Satara Pārājikā (the four heaviest irremediable offences that automatically and irrevocably end Bhikkhu life), Saṃghādisēsa (a class of thirteen serious offences), Aniyata (the section of rules that are undetermined or indefinite, and require community inquiry), Nissaggiya Pācitta (an offence requiring forfeiture of some prohibited article together with ‘confession’ to another bhikku or bhikkus), Pācittiya (confession; 92 offences that can be cleared by formal ‘confession’ to another bhikkhu), Pāṭidesanīya (four offences ‘to be acknowledged’), Sēkhiya (75 training rules concerned with various aspects of etiquette), and Adhikaraṇa Sammata (last seven rules of Pāṭimokkha‘s 227 rules), etc. are expounded here. According to the custom, the monks gather in the Vihāra Geya or the Pohoya Geya and perform this Pāṭimokkha sermon, and neither the novices nor laymen can participate in this.

All participant monks of the Bhikkhu Exchange Program gathered at the Drepung Gomang Upōsathāgāra and, it paved the opportunity to identify some minor differences related to this Pāṭimokkha sermon in the Thēravāda tradition and the Tibetan tradition. In considering the content, a numerical difference in Sēkhiya and Aniyata parts was found in these Buddhist traditions based on Thēravāda and Mahāyāna, but apart from that, the content of the Pāṭimokkha sermon was found to be the same in each tradition. During the Pāṭimokkha sermon, novice monks are not allowed to come to the Pohoya Geya premises, as is customary, and Tibetan monks follow the same rule as in the Thēravāda tradition of Sri Lanka and Thailand. However, a special feature is that the Tibetan monks hold a special Pāṭimokkha sermon for the novice monks first. This Pāṭimokkha Sermon prepared especially for the novices can be called a simplified summary of the entire Pāṭimokkha Sermon and only the Sēkhiya part is included in it. However, as this was another attractive aspect of the Bhikkhu Exchange Program, the practical opportunity given to the monks to study the differences in different traditions together was also valuable.

Debates in the Tibetan Bhikkhu Tradition

The debates of the Tibetan monks can be mentioned as another special occasion seen in the Mungod monastery complex. Among a group of thousands of monks who gather in the courtyard of a selected piriven complex, monks educated by different teachers come forward and discuss the dhamma they have learned comparatively. Although these debates seem violent externally, the method here is to meet with the teachers again to discuss the problems that remain unresolved at the end of each debate and join the debate again the next day. The most unique feature that can be seen here is that every monk joins this debate without any paper, manual, or mobile phone in their hands, and discusses the dhamma by memory. As mentioned above, even if it appears violent to some degree, the maximum extent of these conversations will be to push the monk by putting his hand on the head of the opponent monk, and by holding and pushing him by the shirt worn by the monks. Even though sometimes one can wonder if this method is compatible with Buddhist philosophy, monks walk out of the debating courtyard with no offence, but with the Buddhist brotherhood. Therefore, what takes place here is only analysing dhamma matters comparatively according to different schools.

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