Bending the Body, Keeping the Mind Upright: The Pedagogy of Bodily Comportment in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Open Access

Abstract

This dissertation explores the pedagogical and ethical implications of bodily comportment on how vinaya (Buddhist monastic discipline) is integrated into the daily routine of a newly ordained monk. A disciplined life is expressed through bodily comportment and through interactions with others. Such comportment cultivates habits of embodied attention with an attitude of care toward both the community and the environment in which one lives. A monk with disciplined bodily comportment is deeply self-aware and also sensitive to potential transformative effect of such comportment on others.

Beginning with various “scenes of instruction” involving novice monks in the canonical Vinaya narrative texts belonging to the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, the dissertation moves on to examine a training manual for novice monks attributed to the Indian Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna, along with its commentary, attributed to the Buddhist scholar Kamalaśīla. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya canonical texts and related commentaries and manuals continue to be utilized in Tibetan monastic education to this day.

Based on these texts, this dissertation foregrounds questions pertaining to the underlying pedagogical visions of Buddhist educators in order to transform newly ordained monastics into publicly-visible Buddhist monks who embody important ethical norms. The dissertation analyzes how Vinaya texts self-referentially describe Vinaya as a subject of study in the monastic curriculum, focusing on how narratives and various bodily practices such as filtering water for communal consumption and prostrating in front of elder monks are used to cultivate interior and exterior qualities such as devotion, embodied attention, and inter-personal care.

My research broadly explores how Buddhist educators conceive and implicitly theorize ethical transformation as rooted in the relations between monastic members performed through routinized activities. As such, my research also reveals a broader notion of vinaya as a disciplined practice of kinesthetic awareness, which will contribute to educational practices outside of Buddhist monastic context.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements-----i-v

 

Table of Contents-----vi–vii 

 

Introduction-----1­–20

           

Main Argument and Clarification of Terms-----1–5

           Vinaya Textual Sources-----5–11

           Guiding Questions----- 11–16

           Chapter Outline-----16–20

 

Chapter 1

Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Studies:

Trends and Trajectories-----21–51 

 

1.1. Socio-historical Approach to Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya-----22–36

1.2. Legal Approach to Vinaya Studies-----37–42

1.3. Ethical Approach to Vinaya Studies-----42–50

1.4. Concluding Remarks: Future Trajectories-----50–51

 

Chapter 2

Self-referentiality in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya:

Pedagogical and Hermeneutic Implications-----52–82        

 

2.1. Vinaya Metaphors to Live by-----52–64

2.2. Vinaya: A Difficult Subject of Study----- 64–70

2.3. Benefits of Studying the Vinaya-----71–77

2.4. How to Study the Vinaya?-----77–81

2.5. Conclusions-----81–82

 

Chapter 3

Outer as Reflecting the Inner:

Gestural Routines and the Performance of Monkhood-----82–127

 

3.1. vinaya as an Embodied Quality: The Case of an Unmarried Woman-----87–94

3.2. Ācāra or the Captivating Conduct: The Case of a Buddhist Monk-----94–100

3.3. vinaya as a Way of Life: An Interpretive Framework-----100–112

3.4. Gestural Routines, Kinesthetic Awareness & Transformative Affect-----112–127

3.5. Conclusions-----127–128

 

Chapter 4

Teachers, Friends, and Rivals:

Caring Relation and Ethical Frailty in Vinaya Narratives-----129–177

 

4.1. Preceptors and Instructors-----132–143

4.2. Child Monks and a Pedagogy of Care-----143–152

4.3. Institutional Rules and Tacit Principles of Friendship-----152–165

4.4. Monastic Rivals and the (Mis)use of Rules-----165–174

4.5. Conclusions-----174–176

 

Chapter 5

Protect the Training Like One’s Own Body:

Integrative Pedagogy with Transformative Foresight-----177–214

 

5.1. The Training Manuals, Integrative Pedagogy & Transformative Foresight-----178–185

5.2. Training in Devotion-----185–191

5.3. Training in Attention while Performing Daily Tasks-----191–196

5.4. Training in Care and Institutional Cohesion-----196–202

5.5. Training in Removing Afflictive Thoughts and Emotions----- 202–212

5.6. Conclusions-----212–213

 

Conclusion: Why Vinaya/vinaya Pedagogy Matters-----214–222

 

Bibliography-----223-233

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Religion
Subfield / Discipline	West and South Asian Religions
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Ethics Education, Religious Religion, General
Keyword	bodily comportment Buddhist Studies pedagogy vinaya monasticism ethics of care ethical formation relationality
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Sara McClintock, Emory University Charles Hallisey, Harvard University Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, Emory University Eric Reinders, Emory University

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