A Comparative Study of Abhisamacarika (An Old And Rare Book)

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Since my school days at Nalanda I had been seeing the yellow-robed monks who visited the site of the ancient Nalanda University. I had a mind to know in detail about these Bhiksus some day. When the country was emancipated from foreign domination, the old Nalanda University was reborn as Nava Nalanda Mahavihara and I had the opport- unity to study the teachings of the Buddha and the rules of the Buddhist monastic life. In the course of this study I came to know that it was the Mahäsämghikas who had first segregated from the main body of the Buddhist confraternity. I had a strong desire to know the monastic rules of the Mahäsämghikas. It so happened that the photostat copy as well as a deciphered copy of Bhikşuprakiraņaka, a Vinaya text of the Lokottoravāda sect of the Mahäsämghikas, was brought from K. P. Jayaswal Institute, Patna by Dr. B. Jinanand for editing. I expressed my desire to make a comparative study of Bhiksuprakīrņaka with Päli Vinaya. Dr. Jinanand was kind enough to give his consent to guide me. He was later appointed in the University of Delhi. As it was far away from Nalanda, I requested Dr. U. Dharmaratna of the Mahavihara to supervise my work and he kindly agreed to do so.

I went on working with the manuscript of the Bhikşuprakīrņaka and was eagerly waiting for the publi- cation of the text. Unfortunately it was not published up till 1972 and I had to keep my work unfinished till then. As soon as the text was published, I finalised my work. I have been amply benefitted by the publication of the text, the correct title of which has rightly been given as Abhisamācārikā. The Bhiksuprakīrņaka is a separate text.

The editor of Abhis. has not been able to trace a parallel text in any other source, viz. Pāli, Buddhist Sanskrit, Chinese or Tibetan.