Tracing ‘inequality’: An examination of the ārāmikas and the concept of kamma in Buddhist sources

Abstract

While acknowledging the humanitarian outlook of early Buddhism, this article enquires into how far the Buddhist monastic order, the Saṅgha, was itself based on egalitarian principles. It is argued that in time, if not from the beginning, the Saṅgha could not avoid the creation of a hierarchy among monks, and in time the presence of a numerous class of servants or attendants, called ārāmikas, became a part of Buddhist monastic life.