Pabbajjā

pabbajjā / pravrajyā

Going forth from the home life into homelessness. An act and a status, still used in ordination. Not a mood called renunciation.

Etymology

Pali pabbajjā from the verb pabbajati, to go forth. Sanskrit pravrajyā, same office. English ‘renunciation’ carries later Christian weight. Prefer going forth when the text is doing robe, hair, and gate.

Historical usage

In MN 26 the Buddha describes his own pabbajjā: young, parents weeping, hair and beard cut, ochre robe, home to homelessness.

Mahābhiniskramaṇa, the great departure, is the later biographical name for a night ride and four sights. That name is reception. It is not the sutta’s diction.

Later development

Comparative religion sometimes files this under ‘the hero leaves home.’ The living rite is not a specimen of that file. Campbell’s return with a boon is a later paste.

Why it matters here

Use pabbajjā when the story is actually a going forth. Do not spray it on every departure. Odysseus leaving Ithaca for war is not pabbajjā.

Do not treat a living Buddhist ordination as a dead myth. Do not back-read the four sights into MN 26.

Stories that hold this word

Relationship type is not optional

A word present in a source text is not the same as a later critical term applied to that story.

In the source text
The Going Forth
The act of this road. Home to homelessness. Not nostos.

In the source text
The Going Forth