This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Tradition tells a specific story about why the Dashavaikalika Sutra exists at all. The teacher Shayyambhava is said to have had a young son who, unaware his father had already taken monastic vows, was startled to learn of it and asked to be ordained himself on the spot. Faced with a child now bound to a monk's discipline he had not been raised to expect, Shayyambhava is said to have drawn together a short, clear introduction to right conduct so his son could begin monastic life with something manageable to study, rather than being handed the full length and difficulty of the older Angas straight away.
Whatever the story's literal accuracy, the text that resulted fits the purpose the tradition assigns it. Its ten chapters move through practical territory in plain terms: what counts as right conduct and true religious practice, how a monk should behave while begging for alms without giving offense or taking more than is offered, how speech itself should be restrained and considered before it is used, and how the five great vows, non-violence foremost among them, govern daily monastic life down to small details of manner and etiquette.
That combination, real doctrinal seriousness delivered in compact, teachable form, is exactly why the Dashavaikalika has functioned for centuries as an entry point rather than a specialist's text. Newly ordained monks in the Svetambara tradition have long begun their formal study here, working through discipline and conduct before turning to the longer, more demanding Angas the Dashavaikalika was designed to prepare them for.