Buddhism
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Buddha and Buddhism
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World Religions & Traditions
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World Geography: Fact or Fiction?
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People & Places
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Structures of Government: Fact or Fiction?
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Space Exploration
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The American Revolution
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Germany and World War II
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A Study of William Shakespeare
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Journey Around the World
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Famous Poets and Poetic Form
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A Study of History: Who, What, Where, and When?
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American Civil War Quiz
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Ancient Civilizations: Fact or Fiction?
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Important Locations in U.S. History
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Disasters of Historic Proportion
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Early Aviation
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History of Warfare
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List of Lists: 6 Extremely Random Historical Catalogs
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7 Women Warriors
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Spies Like Us: 10 Famous Names in the Espionage Game
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The Six Deadliest Earthquakes since 1950
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6 Fictional Languages You Can Really Learn
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7 Collections of Writing Tips from Acclaimed Authors
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All the World's a Stage: 6 Places in Shakespeare, Then and Now
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10 Failed Doomsday Predictions
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7 Monarchs with Unfortunate Nicknames
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7 Bizarre Spa Treatments
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13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
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11 Historical Head Turners
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10 Chicago Writers
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10 Frequently Confused Literary Terms
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9 Diagnoses by Charles Dickens
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When Losers Finish First: Top 10 Second Place “Victories”
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7 Particularly Prolific Encyclopedists
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Order in the Court: 10 “Trials of the Century”
The transformation of the sangha from a group of wandering mendicants, loosely bound together by their commitment to the Buddha and his teachings, to monks living closely together in a permanent monastery necessitated the development of rules and a degree of hierarchical organization. It appears that the earliest organization within Indian monasteries was democratic in nature. This democratic character arose from two important historical factors. First, the Buddha did not, as was the custom among the teachers of his time, designate a human successor. Instead, the Buddha taught that each monk should strive to follow the path that he had preached. This decision placed every monk on the same footing. There could be no absolute authority vested in one person, for the authority was the dhamma that the Buddha had taught. Second, the region in which Buddhism arose was noted for a system of tribal democracy, or republicanism, that had existed in the past and was preserved by some groups during the Buddha’s lifetime. Within this tradition each polity had an elected assembly that decided important issues. This tradition, which was consonant with the antiauthoritarian nature of the Buddha’s teaching, was adopted ... (200 of 42,944 words)Internal organization of the sangha