Pāṃśukūlika as a standard practice in the Vinaya

There is a prominent school of thought, both in the academic discipline of Buddhist Studies and in the Buddhist tradition itself, which views the Buddhist monastic lifestyle as either the mean between the two extremes of self-indulgence and asceticism, or, in certain cases, as openly hostile to the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Witkowski, Nicholas
Other Authors: Andrews, Susan
Format: Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: projekt verlag 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148321
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:There is a prominent school of thought, both in the academic discipline of Buddhist Studies and in the Buddhist tradition itself, which views the Buddhist monastic lifestyle as either the mean between the two extremes of self-indulgence and asceticism, or, in certain cases, as openly hostile to the ascetic enterprise. However, it is my contention that a careful examination of certain sections from the Vinaya, with its idiosyncratic emphasis on details which illuminate sociological, political, and economic realities, will reveal that the ascetic practice of pāṃśukūlika was regarded as what I will term a standard practice in monastic communities of the middle period in Indian Buddhism.