1887
Volume 20, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1566-5852
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9854
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This paper focuses on the concepts of etiquette and politeness within a genre of Buddhist texts known as “vinaya”, or monastic law. These texts were created for the purpose of regulating behavior within the monastic institution. While they are often described by the tradition as a set of ethical principles, the content of monastic law codes also includes many things that would be better categorized as examples of normative protocol, encompassing mundane, everyday social situations that promote harmony between the monastic institution and its economic patrons. I argue here that a distinct concept of politeness can be gleaned from the narratives in these texts, despite the lack of such a category in the tradition’s own account of itself. To illustrate this point, I analyze several stories concerned with the proper deportment of monastics, demonstrating that the standards for monastic behavior were sometimes at odds with the expectations of the lay communities that supported them.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.00031.han
2019-12-10
2024-12-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bailey, Greg and Ian Mabbett
    2003The Sociology of Early Buddhism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511488283
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511488283 [Google Scholar]
  2. Brown, Penelope and Stephen Levinson
    1987Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511813085
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085 [Google Scholar]
  3. Elias, Norbert
    1978 [1939]The Civilizing Process: The History of Manners. (Translated byEdmund Jephcott.) New York: Pantheon Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. 1982 [1939]Power and Civility. (Translated byEdmund Jephcott.) New York: Pantheon Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Gombrich, Richard
    2009What the Buddha Thought. London: Equinox.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Harvey, Peter
    2000An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511800801
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511800801 [Google Scholar]
  7. Heim, Maria
    2004Theories of the Gift in South Asia: Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Reflections on Dāna. New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203502266
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203502266 [Google Scholar]
  8. Holt, John Clifford
    1983 [1981]Discipline: The Canonical Buddhism of the Vinayapitaka. Columbia, MO: South Asia Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Horner, I. B.
    (Translator.) 1996–1997 [1938–1966]The Book of the Discipline: Sacred Books of the Buddhists. (Sixvolumes.) London: Pali Text Society.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Kádár, Dániel
    2017Politeness, Impoliteness and Ritual: Maintaining the Moral Order in Interpersonal Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781107280465
    https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107280465 [Google Scholar]
  11. Karashima, Seishi
    (Translator.) 2012Die Abhisamācārikā Dharmāḥ: Verhaltensregen für buddhistische Mönche der Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravādins. (Threevolumes.) Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. 2014 “The Language of the Abhisamācārikā Dharmāḥ – The Oldest Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Text”. Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced BuddhologyXVII: 77–88.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Kielhorn, Franz
    (ed.) 1892The Vyākaraṇa-mahābhāṣya of Patanjali. (Twovolumes.) Bombay: Department of Public Instruction.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Nolot, Édith
    1999 “Studies in Vinaya Technical Terms IV–X”. Journal of the Pali Text SocietyXXV: 1–111.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Olivelle, Patrick
    (Translator.) 2003 [2000]The Dharmasūtras: Annotated Text and Translation. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. (Translator.) 2004The Law Code of Manu. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Prebish, Charles
    1996 “Śaikṣa-Dharmas Revisited: Further Considerations of Mahāsāṃghika Origins”. History of Religions35 (3): 258–270. 10.1086/463427
    https://doi.org/10.1086/463427 [Google Scholar]
  18. 2007 “The Role of Prātimokṣa Expansion in the Rise of Indian Buddhist Sectarianism”. Pacific World Third Series9: 33–48.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Rhys Davids, T. W.
    (Translator.) 1899Dialogues of the Buddha. London: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Schopen, Gregory
    2012 “A New Hat for Hārītī: On ‘Giving’ Children for Their Protection to Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Early India”. InVanessa R. Sasson (ed.), Little Buddhas: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts and Traditions, 17–42. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860265.003.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860265.003.0001 [Google Scholar]
  21. Sharma, Rama Nath
    2002–2003 [1987–2003]The Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini. (Sixvolumes.) New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Thanissaro, Bhikkhu
    (Translator.) 2013 [2001, 1994]The Buddhist Monastic Code. (Twovolumes.) Valley Center, California: Metta Forest Monastery.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Watts, Richard
    2003Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511615184
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615184 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.00031.han
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Buddhism; etiquette; law; monastic; politeness; vinaya
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error