[Buddha-l] Back to the core values?

[Christopher Fynn]

Joy Vriens wrote:

> Lance, 
>> Joy

...

>>> Again I think so for pragmatic reasons. Think of a group of bhikkus  
>>> traveling from place top place, from hamlet to hamlet. It's easier  
>>> to travel and to find food in small groups. It is cute to believe in  
>>> a very charismatic person, the Buddha, to whom everybody wants to be  
>>> close to and everybody wants to travel with. But how could that work  
>>> in practice?  

>> Think of it as like the arrival of a large fair.  

> That actually helps a lot. But it would be a later development. It's 
> easy to imagine the persuasive power (and glory) of a whole caravan 
> coming to a small village. It must have been impressive. It's also easy 
> to imagine that it could have become a sort of tactic. But I expect it 
> would require some organization. The villages would be warned in advance 
> that a caravan was approaching so they could make the necessary preparations. 
> There goes the romantic idea of free roaming bhikkus...  

Lance

Are their any population estimates for large towns & cities in Magadh at the
time of the Buddha?

- Chris