Lay And Monastic Wisdom: Roles, Expectations, And Exemplars in Suttas Vs. Jātaka Narratives
PANNASIHA1 YESHPAL SHARMA2
1Research Scholar PhD, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut, U.P., India.
ashinpannasiha@55555gmail.com
2Assistant Professor, Supervisor, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut, U.P.,India.
This article analyses the role-based construction of 'wisdom' in early Buddhist literature through the lens of prescriptive sutta discourse and exemplary Jātaka storytelling. With respect to the lay and monastic positions as moral and cognitive exemplars, how do the contrasts between doctrinal education and narrative pedagogy construct social visions, what kinds of wisdom are communicated, and how are these communicated? The suttas articulate wisdom (paññā) as free discernment of insight, and the monastic exemplars, especially the Buddha and the accomplished disciples, through doctrinal authority and the promise of emancipation, articulate wisdom. The norm of monastic life is the consistent, enduring crucible for the cultivation of this insight and, as her teachings' sutta' discretion speaks, of virtue, generosity, stewardship, and lay wisdom' discrimination-making questions. These portrayals suggest the prevailing ideal of genuine, valuable wisdom. Domestic life needs the progress of the Saṅgha. The Zen of this life is interdependent, oriented toward support.
In contrast, the Jātaka narratives emphasise the socially constructive face of the virtue of wisdom, a combination of the social and the psychological, best illustrated by the virtues of prudence, patience, foresight, truthful speech, and a strategically compassionate approach to conflict, scarcity, and political power. The Bodhisattva, as a king, minister, merchant, parent, ascetic, and even as an animal, makes wisdom role-flexibly and publicly definable, 'proving' itself through ethical deeds and public consequences rather than through doctrinal exposition. The Jātaka narratives often emphasize the point that exemplary wisdom can and must be exercised within worldly life and often through good governance, the vertical and horizontal reconnection of social and political spheres, and the morally creative acts of 'repairing' fractured or broken relationships. The textual culture of early Buddhism, in dialogue with these two genres, demonstrates a dual pedagogy. On the one hand, the Jātakas nurture the ethical intelligence of the community by embedding wisdom in the ordinary and the civic, whereas the suttas, through a prioritization of a particular kind of wisdom, seek to produce transformative insight that ultimately liberates. Collectively, they articulate a social ethic of interdependence in which monastic power and lay agency are separate yet complement and strengthen one another, much like distinct yet interrelated pathways to Buddhist moral formation.
Keywords: Lay–Lay-monastic roles, Paññā (wisdom), Sutta discourse, Jātaka narratives. Ethical exemplars
