Search Results

This book studies Buddhist monks and nuns and their continued familial relationships by drawing on monastic law codes, or vinaya. As an introduction, this chapter discusses the family as it relates to the study of Indian Buddhist monasticisms. It first considers what we know about the Buddha's family before turning to an important example from some of the earliest known strata of Buddhist literature: the Rhinoceros Horn Sūtra. It then examines V. Fausböll's claim that there are two Buddhisms: a pure or original form of Buddhism as exemplified by the Rhinoceros Horn ideal, and a later, presumably degenerate, monastic form. It also explores conflicting vsions of the ideal monk, Indian monastic law codes and concludes by providing a preview of the chapters contained in the book and explaining the scope of the study.

This chapter examines issues surrounding monastic motherhood by focusing on pregnant nuns. Indian Buddhist epigraphical records show that some nuns had children, but they do not specify whether mothers became nuns or nuns became mothers. In the corpus of monastic law codes, however, we see that monastic jurists not only envisaged the possibility that pregnant women might enter nunneries, but also legislated a place for motherhood in Indian Buddhist nunneries. This chapter begins by considering what the authors/redactors of the extant monastic law codes have to say about the ordination of pregnant women before discussing the distinction between prohibition and rule of law. It then explores the rules in their narrative context in the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, the issue of monastic motherhood in all extant vinayas, and a prātimoksas rule which seems to offer evidence that nuns should not raise children. It argues that motherhood and the sisterhood were not as incongruous in Indian Buddhist monasticisms as some readings of the prātimoksas might lead one to assume.

This chapter describes a number of early Indian inscriptions which mention Buddhist monks, nuns, and laymen in terms of familial relationships. These inscriptions could be explained away as records of children who were abandoned and forsaken by their parents when the latter “left home for the religious life.” Extant Buddhist monastic law codes, however, preserve stories about men “leaving home” to become monks with their young children, and children who, after joining the monastery, still call their monk-fathers “Daddy.” There are also narratives of mothers and daughters who leave home for the religious life together. Such narratives raise questions of interpretation with regard to the phrase “to go forth from home into homelessness,” which lies at the very heart of our understanding of the nature of Buddhist renunciation. This chapter argues that the phrase is best understood figuratively rather than literally.

This book has explored the familial and marital relationships of Buddhist monks and nuns in India, thus highlighting a scholarly misperception in the study of Indian Buddhism: that world renunciation means severing all ties with kith and kin. Drawing on early epigraphical evidence, it has shown that Indian Buddhist monks and nuns who had left home for the religious life continued to be identified with their family members; monks also continued to interact and associate with their former wives. Finally, the book has shown that the authors/redactors of the vinayas seem to have negotiated a place within their religious institutions for monastic mothers. This concluding chapter examines issues surrounding family matters both presupposed and legislated by the authors/redactors of the extant monastic law codes and argues that family-friendly forms of monasticism may have been more common in India than previously assumed. It also discusses the ramifications of the book's findings for how we study Buddhist monastic life in comparative light, along with the utility of vinaya texts for the study of Indian Buddhist monasticisms.