From the mahavagga we learn that just after his enlightenment Buddha

hesitated to preach his new doctrine to the people, not to speak of forming any
Savgha. But it was at the request of Brahma Sahampati that he undertook the task of
preaching his Dhamma to the populace. When he had taken up the idea of a Savgha,
he did his est to place it on as thorough a asis as far as possile. !very delinquency
on the part of a Bhikkhu reported to him had his immediate attention and a rule was
framed to avert its future repetition, and this was done with an idea to make the non"
elievers elieving and the elievers douling their faith in the words of the Buddha.
#hus the five ascetics converted $%abcavaggiyas&, 'asa and his friends, thirty young
men of respectale families $Bhaddavaggiyas&, (ruvela")assapa, *adi")assapa and
+aya")assaya and their followers, the ,atilas and many others who elonged to the
various sections of the society were converted to the new religion of Buddha. With
these disciples numering over one thousand Buddha made his first Savgha. #he
(pasampada ordination was then conferred y a very simple ceremonial, and it
consisted of an address of welcome y the Blessed -ne which contained only two
words .!hi Bhikkhu/ or .!tha Bhikkhavo/ according to the numer of converts was
singular or plural. #he applicant or applicants thus addressed immediately ecame a
Bhikkhu or Bhikkhus and did not go for many formalities which were introduced into
the Buddhist Savgha afterwards. #he first Savgha was formed ut there was no
vihara for the accommodation of all the Bhikkhus forming the Savgha. From the
0ahavagga we know that king Bimisara of 0agadha, who ecame a lay disciple of
Buddha, gave his amoo grove, veluvana, to Buddha and his followers for residence
of the hikkhus. #his was the estalishment of the first Buddhist vihara. Buddha then
went from 1ajagaha to )apilavatthu.here he allowed 1ahula to join te Savgha. 2t is
to e noted here that following the e3ample of 1ahula many other young Wakyas of
respectale families joined the Savgha. #hey were Ananda, 4nuruddha, (pali,
Bhaddiya, Bhagu, 0anda, Devadatta and )imila.
Buddha sent the first group of Bhikkhus to different places to propagate his new
doctrine. #hey returned with a large numer of disciples and Buddha ordained them.
#his gave him unnecessary troule. 2t was for this reason the rule was issued. #hen
every Bhikkhu ordained all his new disciples on ehalf of Buddha under the .#isarana
formula/ $in the name of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Savgha& wherever they
found them. Stricter laws were introduced into the Savgha for the restriction of the
people who wanted to join the Savgha to save themselves from humiliation and for
protection. 4t first, the Savgha did not make any difference in the estowal of the
%aajja and the (pasampada etween adults and oys elow the age of twenty.
4ttracted y the comfortale life of the Bhikkhus, some of the guardians of oys
allowed their wards to join the Savgha and to receive the %ajja and the
(pasampada. But these oys did not act in a proper way. #hus it was laid down that
no person elow the age of twenty should e ordained, and at the same time, it should
also e oserved that none elow the age of fifteen received the %aajja, ut due to
some unavoidale circumstances, oys elow the age of fifteen were allowed to join
the Savgha. 4fter the %aajja, a Samanera $novice& was asked to oserve only the
ten precepts and after the (asampada a Bhikkhu was told to oserve the four
%arajikas and other rules of the %atimokha. 4fter the (pasampada, the Bhikkhu was
informed upon them. But it is to e noted here that at the time of the %aajja no one
was allowed to mention these resources, ecause it had a very ad effect on the
growth of the Savgha itself. 2t was allowed only at the time of the estowal of the
(pasampada.
When the Savgha ecame a centre of teaching and discipline under the
guidance of Buddha, then new ideas were introduced into the Savgha. 4s a result, we
see that Bhikkhus were divided into groups of teachers and pupils in the Savgha. 4
teacher who had the training for at least ten years could e a competent Bhikkhu. 2t
was his duty to guide his students to follow the 5inaya rules properly.
2n maintaining the high moral standard of the Savgha, further restrictions on
admission to the Savgha were made y not allowing particular sets of people who
were immoral or had any liaility to eh society or to the state. #hey were soldiers,
criminals etc. also men suffering from odily defects or diseases and addicted to vice,
were not allowed to join the Savgha. #hus from the aove facts it is clear that the
whole ody of the Savgha discarded everything that was morally impure and
defective, and, as a result, it ecame a very well"organised centre of learning and
discipline.
Buddha then introduced into his Savgha the (posatha ceremony ate the
suggestion of )ing Bimisara of 0agadha. Buddha/s instruction to his disciples
regarding the oservance of this ceremony of the (posatha was that, instead of talking
aout the Dhamma, they should recite the %atimokkha on this particular day. #he
(posatha ceremony was to e held only once in fortnight either on the 67
th
or 68
th
.
#he oservance of the 5assa 5asa ecame very popular among the Bhikkhus. 4t eh
close of the 5assa 5asa there was the %avarana ceremony and the )athina
ceremony. #hus from the aove facts it is clear that in order to maintain the discipline
and to preserve the purity of the Savgha the rules were framed and were introduced
into the Savgha one after another. But if a rule was found unworkale, it was
immediately amended.
*. Dutta gives an account of the origin and growth of the Buddhist Savgha. 9e
states, :Buddha started his mission as an eremitical teacher and had hardly any
intention of forming a Savgha. #he 5inaya tradition shows that the idea of a Savgha
was thrust upon him, ut once he had taken it up, he did his est to place it on as
through a asis as possile. !very delinquency on the part of a Bhikkhu reported to
him had his immediate attention, and a rule was framed to avert its future repetition,
and this was done with a view to, in the words of Buddha, appasannanaj va pasadaya
pasannaj va hiyyohavaya $.to make the non"elievers elieve and the elievers
douling their faith/&.
#he story of his forming the first and of disciples is related thus in the 5inaya
%itaka.
Buddha/s first converts were the five Bramins 4bbata )ondabba, 5appa,
Bhaddiya, 0ahanama, and 4sajji, his quondam companions. #he words in which
they sought admission into the order were simply :laeyyama mayaj hante
hagavato santike paajjaj, laeyyama upasampadan ti.; #here was no formality,
the only reply given y the #eacher was :etha Bhikkhavo ti.; #he ne3t atch of
persons to accept his teaching was 'asa of Benares and his four friends 5imala,
Suahu, %annaji, and +avampati, and his fifty other friends, and the procedure for
admission was the same as aove, now there were in all si3ty disciples who were all
4rhats. Buddha then sent out the si3ty 4rhats to as many places as they could reach,
directing them not to go to one place even in twos. 9e himself went to (ruvela Sena"
nigamo.
#he 5inaya is silent aout the activities of the si3ty arahats though it mentions
the difficulties e3perienced y them in admitting persons into the order y having to
present them efore Buddha for the purpose of ordination. 2t relates in detail how
Buddha converted the thirty Bhaddavaggiya youths and the ,atila teachers, the three
)assapas with their disciples, and how one of the five Brahmana ascetics, 4ssaji, was
instrumental in ringing aout the conversion of Sariputta. #he ordination so far
effected was made y Buddha personally y uttering the two words< :ehi hikkhu;.
*either the 5inaya nor the *ikayas continue the story of conversion any further,
though they speak of stray converts made y Buddha from time to time, ut a
continuous story has een attempted in the later works like the Buddhavajsa and the
4tthakathas. 4fter the conversion of Sariputta and 0oggallana, Buddha naturally
turned his eyes to his homeland, )apilavatthu. 9ere he permitted 1ahula to join the
order and asked Sariputta to give him the ordination. 4mong other Sakyas that joined
the order were *anda, Ananda, Devadattha, 4nuruddha, Bhaddiya, Bhagu, )imila
and the arer (pali. 0ost of these figured notaly in the susequent history of the
religion and formed in fact the main props of the religion.
2t will e oserved that 1ahula was ordained y Sariputta and not y Buddha
and that Sariputta acted as 1ahula//s acariya. 2t was on this occasion that Buddha
empowered his disciples to confer ordination. Buddha himself did not oserve any
rule for conferring ordination. 4fter the conversion of Sariputta and 0oggallana, he
admitted into the Savgha a few other like 4vgulimala y the words :ehi hikku.;
2t was while Buddha was staying at )apilavatthu that he enlarged the rules of
initiation, which were first introduced y him while he was staying at 1ajagaha.
#he si3ty disciples sent out y the #eacher for propagating his now teaching
had hitherto no authority confer ordination on desiring entrants and had to ring them
from different parts of the country to the place where Buddha was staying at the time.
#his was sometimes found impracticale and led Buddha to delegate his power of
ordination to his disciples who were however directed to oserve certain rules.
Several restrictions were also imposed to avoid unworthy persons getting into the
Savgha. #he rules and restriction were generally as follows.