Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On Incompetent Monks and Able Urbane Nuns in a Buddhist Monastic Code

  • Published:
Journal of Indian Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Most modern scholars seem to assume that Buddhist monks in early India had a good knowledge of Buddhist doctrine and at least of basic Buddhist texts. But the compilers of the vinayas or monastic codes seem not to have shared this assumption. The examples presented here are drawn primarily from one vinaya, and show that the compilers put in place a whole series of rules to deal with situations in which monks were startlingly ignorant of both doctrine and text. One of these examples is particularly interesting for what it suggests about the linguistic sophistication of nuns, and another because it presents a case in which a nun is required to fill an important liturgical role in public and in the presence of monks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Banerjee A.C. (1957) Sarvāstivāda literature. D. Banerjee, Calcutta

    Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee A.C. (1977) Two Buddhist Vinaya texts in Sanskrit. Prātimokṣa sūtra and bhikṣukarmavākya. The World Press Private Limited, Calcutta

    Google Scholar 

  • Behl B.K. (1998) The Ajanta caves. Artistic wonder of ancient Buddhist India. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., London

    Google Scholar 

  • Chung, J. (1998). Die Pravāraṇā in den kanonischen Vinaya-Texten der Mūlasarvāstivādin und der Sarvāstivādin. Sanskrit-Wörterbuch der buddhistischen Texte aus den Turfan-Funden. Beiheft 7. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

  • Clarke S. (2000) The existence of the supposedly non-existent Śikṣ ādattā-śrāmaṇerī: A new perspective on pārājika penance. Bukkyō Kenkyū 29: 149–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke S. (2009) Monks who have Sex: Pārājika penance in Indian Buddhist monasticisms. Journal of Indian Philosophy 37: 1–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cone M. (2001) A dictionary of Pāli. Part I. The Pali Text Society, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowell E.B., Neil R.A. (1886) The Divyāvadāna. A collection of early Buddhist legends. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus G.B.J. (2003) The sound of two hands clapping. The education of a Tibetan Buddhist monk. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Durt, H. (1980). Mahalla/mahallaka et la crise de la communauté après le parinirvāṇa du Buddha. In Indianisme et bouddhisme. Mélanges offerts á Mgr Étienne Lamotte. Publications de L’Institut Orientaliste de Louvain 23 pp. 79–99). Louvain-La-Neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain.

  • Dutt, N. (1942–1950). Gilgit manuscripts (Vol. III, Pts. 1–4). Srinagar: Calcutta Oriental Press.

  • Edgerton F. (1953) Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit grammar and dictionary (Vol. II). Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Eimer, H. (1983). Rab Tu ’Byuṅ Ba’i Gži. Die tibetische Übersetzung des Pravrajyāvastu im Vinaya der Mūlasarvāstivādins. Asiatische Forschungen Bd. 82 (2 Teil). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

  • Falk, H. (2006). Three inscribed Buddhist monastic utensils from Gandhāra. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 156.2, 393–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein M.C. (2001) The new Tibetan–English dictionary of modern Tibetan. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Gnoli, R. (1978). The Gilgit manuscript of the Śayanāsanavastu and the Adhikaraṇavastu. Being the 15th and 16th Sections of the Vinaya of the Mūlasarvāstivādin. Serie Orientale Roma 50. Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.

  • Horner, I. B. (1938–1966). The book of the discipline (6 Vols.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Lévi, S. (1915). Sur la récitation primitive des textes bouddhiques. Journal Asiatique, 401–447.

  • Norman K.R. (1992) Collected papers (Vol III). The Pali Text Society, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldenberg, H. (1879–1883). The Vinaya Piṭakaṃ. One of the principle Buddhist holy scriptures in the Pāli language (5 Vols.). London: Williams and Norgate.

  • Onoda, S. (1992). Monastic debate in Tibet. A study of the history and structures of Bsdus Grwa logic. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 27. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien.

  • Peri N. (1917) Hārītī la mère-de-démons. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 17: 1–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pruitt W., Norman K.R. (2003) The Pātimokkha Sacred. books of the Buddhists 49. The Pali Text Society, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakaki, R. (1916). Mahāvyutpatti. Kyoto.

  • Sankrityayana R. (1981) Vinayasūtra of Bhadanta Gunaprabha. Singhi Jain Śāstra Śikṣāpṭha/Singhi Jain Series 74. Bombay, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

    Google Scholar 

  • Śāstrī D. (1964) The Kāmasūtram of Śrī Vātsyāyana Muni. Kashi Sanskrit Series 29. The Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, Varanasi

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen G. (1997) Bones, stones, and Buddhist monks. Collected papers on the archaeology, epigraphy, and texts of monastic Buddhism in India. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen G. (2000) Hierarchy and housing in a Buddhist monastic code. A translation of the Śayanāsanavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya. Part One. Buddhist Literature 2: 92–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen G. (2004) Buddhist monks and business matters. Still more papers on monastic Buddhism in India. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen, G. (2004b). On Buddhist monks and dreadful deities: Some monastic devices for updating the Dharma. In H. W. Bodewitz & M. Hara (Eds.), Gedenkschrift J.W. de Jong. Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph Series 17 (pp. 161–184). Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies.

  • Schopen G. (2004) Making men into monks. In: Lopez D.S. (eds) Buddhist scriptures. Penguin Books, London, pp 230–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen G. (2005) Figments and fragments of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India. More collected papers. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen, G. (2006). The Buddhist “Monastery” and the Indian garden: Aesthetics, assimilations, and the siting of monastic establishments. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 126.4, 487–505.

  • Schopen G. (2007) The learned monk as a comic figure: on reading a Buddhist Vinaya as Indian literature. Journal of Indian Philosophy 35: 201–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schopen G. (2008) On emptying chamber pots without looking and the urban location of Buddhist nunneries in early India again. Journal Asiatique 296: 229–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schopen, G. (2008b). Separate but equal: Property rights and the legal independence of Buddhist nuns and monks in early north India. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 128.4, 625–640.

  • Schopen G. (2009) On the absence of Urtexts and Otiose Ācāryas: Buildings, books, and lay Buddhist ritual at Gilgit. In: Colas G., Gerschheimer G. (eds) Écrire et transmettre en Inde classique. École française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris, pp 189–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen G. et al (2009) The urban Buddhist nun and a protective rite for children in early north India. In: Straube M. (eds) Pāsādikadānaṃ. Festschrift für Bhikkhu Pāsādika Indica. et Tibetica 52. Marburg, Indica et Tibetica Verlag, pp 359–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopen, G. (forthcoming a). The book as a sacred object in private homes in early or medieval India. In J. Jahner & E. Robertson (Eds.), Translations of the sacred: Medieval and early modern devotional objects in global perspective.

  • Schopen, G. (forthcoming b). On Buddhist nuns and business laws: Two examples from early India. In R. R. French (Ed.), Buddhism and law.

  • Schopen, G. (forthcoming c). The Buddhist nun as an urban landlord and a ‘legal person’ in early India.

  • Shinohara K. et al (2010) Taking a meal at a lay supporter’s residence. The evolution of the practice in Chinese Vinaya commentaries. In: Benn J.A. (eds) Buddhist monasticism in east Asia. Places of practice. Routledge, London, pp 18–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh S., Minowa K. (1988) A critical edition and translation of Abhisamācārikā Nāma Bhikṣu-Prakīrṇakaḥ. Buddhist Studies 12: 81–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Teiser S.F. (2006) Reinventing the wheel. Paintings of rebirth in medieval Buddhist temples. University of Washington Press, Seattle

    Google Scholar 

  • von Hinüber, O. (1997). Old age and old monks in Pāli Buddhism. In S. Formanek & S. Linhart (Eds.), Aging. Asian concepts and experiences past and present. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte 643 (pp. 65–78). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

  • Yamagiwa, N. (2001). Das Pāṇḍulohitakavastu. Über die verschiedenen Verfahrensweisen der Bestrafung in der buddhistischen Gemeinde. Indica et Tibetica 41. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag.

  • Zin, M., & Schlingloff, D. (2007). Saṃsāracakra. Das Rad der Wiedergeburten in der indischen Überlieferung. Buddhismus-Studien 6. Düsseldorf: EKO-Hauses der Japanischen Kultur.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1540, USA

    Gregory Schopen

Authors
  1. Gregory Schopen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory Schopen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schopen, G. On Incompetent Monks and Able Urbane Nuns in a Buddhist Monastic Code. J Indian Philos 38, 107–131 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-010-9085-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-010-9085-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation