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.