This 1991 book provides a brief yet detailed account of the ideal way of life prescribed for Buddhist monks and nuns in the Pali texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism. The author describes the way in which the Buddha's disciples institutionalized his teachings about such things as food, dress, money, chastity, solitude and discipleship. This tradition represents an ideal of religious life that has been followed in South and Southeast Asia for over two thousand years. In previous writing on the early period of Buddhist monasticism, scholars have usually tried to give an historical account of the evolution of the monastic order, and so have seen the extant Vinaya texts as coming from distinct historical periods. This book takes a different approach by presenting a synchronic account, which allows the author to show that sources are in fact predominantly consistent and coherent.

This book provides a vivid and detailed picture of the daily life and religious practices of Buddhist monks and nuns in the classic period of Theravada Buddhism. The author describes the way in which the Buddha's disciples institutionalized and ritualized his teachings about food, dress, money, chastity, solitude, and discipleship. This tradition represents an ideal of religious life that has been followed in India and South Asia for more than two thousand years. The introduction by Steven Collins describes Theravada Buddhist literature, discusses the issue of the historical reliability of the texts, and offers extensive suggestions for further reading. The book will be of interest to scholars and students in Asian studies, religious studies, anthropology, and history.

E-Textbooks are now available to purchase or rent through VitalSource.com! Please visit VitalSource for more information on pricing and availability. As of January 1, 2021, Smart Sparrow Companion Websites are no longer available for any of our textbook programs. New companion websites are coming soon, and will be hosted by Lingco. Instructors may sample the new companion websites now by visiting GUPTextbooks.com/companionwebsites. The full websites will be available for fall 2021 course adoption. Until the new companion websites become available, eBook Workbooks with exercises from the Smart Sparrow Electronic Workbook are available for purchase on the GUP website and VitalSource.com, as are Workbook Answer Keys. They will both be sold in eBook format only. C'est ce qu'on dit is a second-year (intermediate-level) companion textbook to the beginning-level textbook Comme on dit, and as such follows the same basic format and principles: students work with hundreds of samples of authentic, nonscripted spoken and written French and are led in a step-by-step manner from rule discovery to the acquisition of speaking, reading, writing, and listening competence. The homework activities and inductive presentation of grammar guarantee a completely student-centered approach, as student input is required in each and every exercise. Given the more advanced focus of C'est ce qu'on dit, exercises lead students to expand their competence not just with conversational registers but with formal written and spoken registers, as well. Programs that take advantage of the full range of speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar, and cultural expansion activities in C'est ce qu'on dit will find it to be a robust standalone program; however, in the event that programs prefer to include an outside content component, suggestions are offered in the preface and throughout each unit for ways to free up classroom time. By the end of C'est ce qu'on dit, an average student can be expected to have attained the competency objectives described as Advanced-Low on the ACTFL proficiency scale and as a B1 level on the Common European Framework scale (CEFR). For Instructors: To sample the eTextbook, please visit VitalSource.com to create an account. After you login, you may request a free copy by clicking on "Faculty Sampling" in the upper right-hand corner, searching for the "Digital Exam Copy," and selecting "Request Sample". The corresponding workbook and workbook answer key are also available to sample on VitalSource.com.