Journal of the International Association of

Buddhist Studies
Volume 22 Number 2 1999 Copyright c 1999 International Association of Buddhist Studies

ANANDA ABEYSEKARA Politics of Higher Ordination, Buddhist Monastic Identity, and Leadership in Sri Lanka ANNE M. BLACKBURN Looking for the Vinaya: a Monastic Discipline in the Practical Canons of the Therav da RODERICK S. BUCKNELL Conditioned Arising Evolves: Variation and change in textual accounts of the paticca-samupp da doctrine a JONATHAN SILK Marginal Notes on a Study of Buddhism, Economy and Society in China DONALD K. SWEARER The Bangkok Conference on Buddhist Studies ELI FRANCO Buddhist Studies in Germany and Austria 1971-1996 with a contribution on East Asian Buddhism by Michael Friedrich FRANK E. REYNOLDS Coming of Age: Buddhist Studies in the United States 1972 to 1997

ABSTRACTS

POLITICS OF HIGHER ORDINATION, BUDDHIST MONASTIC IDENTITY, AND LEADERSHIP IN SRI LANKA Ananda Abeysekara This paper examines a recent Buddhist monastic movement that challenges the contemporary Sinhala monastic practice of conferring higher ordination on monastic candidates on the basis of caste in Sri Lanka. The architect of the movement is a Buddhist monk named Inamaluwe Sumangala, the head of the wealthy Dambulla temple. Sumangalas challenge constituted by the new ordination can be seen as part of broader attempt to dene monastic identity at the Dambulla temple. Sumangalas redenition of monastic identity is central to his claim to the legitimate leadership of the temple. The challenge can be understood in the context of a reconceptualized space of the Dambulla temple. In this new space of the temple, made possible by specic political conditions, we nd complex ways in which terms, parameters, and questions about what it means to be Buddhist monk that is, whether or not caste is irrelevant to monastic identity, who can and cannot challenge the Rage-old traditions of ordaining candidates on the basis of caste, what is and is not the ideal relationship between Buddhist monks/temples and politics/politicians, etc. are debated and argued by Buddhists in contemporary in Sri Lanka. LOOKING FOR THE VINAYA: MONASTIC DISCIPLINE IN THE PRACTICAL CANONS OF THE THERAVADA Anne M. Blackburn The paper introduces a distinction between the formal and the practical canon, arguing that this distinction allows scholars of the Therav da to write hisa tories of Buddhist practice with greater precision. This distinction is used to frame examination of the way in which monks were taught about monastic discipline in a medieval Sri Lanka. Looking closely at three P li suttas and their commentaries, the paper shows the important role of these texts as disciplinary guides in the practical canons of Sri Lanka during the 12-13th and 18th centuries.

CONDITIONED ARISING EVOLVES: VARIATION AND CHANGE IN TEXTUAL ACCOUNTS OF THE PATICCA-SAMUPPADA DOCTRINE Roderick S. Bucknell Scholarly discussion of the doctrine of Conditioned Arising (paticcasamupp da) has usually focused on the well-known twelve-membered formula, a beginning with ignorance (avijj ). However, this is only one of several different a textual accounts of Conditioned Arising. In this article four versions of the doctrine are examined comparatively, using Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese sources. It is argued that these four are likely to be divergent derivatives of a single earlier version (now lost), which had a branching structure rather than the simple linear structure of the familiar twelve-membered formula. That reconstructed branching structure is shown to provide ready explanations for some otherwise puzzling contradictions evident in extant versions of the doctrine. MARGINAL NOTES ON A STUDY OF BUDDHISM, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN CHINA Jonathan Silk In 1995 Jacques Gernet published an English version of his classic work on Chinese Buddhist economy, Buddhism in Chinese Society. With regard to this generally excellent work, several remarks are nevertheless offered from the point of view of both Indian and Chinese materials concerning errors of fact, difcult interpretations, new materials, and problems with the English translation itself. Given the likelihood that the work will become a standard reference in English, certain suggestions may be found valuable. THE BANGKOK CONFERENCE ON BUDDHIST STUDIES Donald K. Swearer An international conference on the state of the eld of Buddhist studies during the past twenty-ve years was held at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, from December 16-18, 1997. The Center was founded in 1992 with the purpose of stimulating research in various aspects of Buddhism textual, doctrinal, and empirical. To promote these goals both nationally and internationally the Center publishes a journal, Phutas sanasuks (Buddhist Studies), offers lecture a a 3

series in both English and Thai, and has been instrumental in founding an M.A. in Buddhist Studies at Chulalongkorn University open to international and Thai students. The conference was organized by Dr. Wit Wisadavet, Director of the Universitys Center for Buddhist Studies. Eleven countries were represented Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the United States. Conference papers were presented by Bruce Matthews, Acadia University; Richard Gombrich, Oxford University; Louis Gabaude, cole Franaise dExtrme-Orient; Eli Franco, Hamburg University; Sanghasena Singh, University of Delhi; Kiyotaka Kimura, Tokyo University; Jae-ryong Shim, Seoul National University; Than Thun, Yangon University; Asanga Tilakaratne, PostGraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies; Somparn Promta, Chulalongkorn University; and Frank E. Reynolds, University of Chicago. Yijie Tang, Beijing University, who prepared a conference paper, was unable to attend. Although the conference had broad international representation, greater attention was given to a Indic, Therav da, South and Southeast Asian Buddhist traditions with particular attention to textual studies as stipulated in the conference guidlines. While scholars from some countries, for example, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria, were not represented at the conference, Buddhist studies in these countries were included in the papers prepared by Gabaude and Franco. Several nations, notably Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and Russia, were absent. Thus, the conference was broadly selective rather than inclusive. Each conference paper included substantial information regarding the state of Buddhist studies in that country. The Center will publish the proceedings in Thailand, and plans are underway to establish a website where they will also be made available. Collectively the papers constitute an important body of bibliographic and descriptive information. They also reveal substantive disagreement regarding the nature and method of Buddhist studies among different countries. Three major fault lines dene these differences: (1) the study of Buddhism as an empirical, objective, scientic eld of inquiry grounded in the texts, languages, and traditions of a particular historical eld of study; (2) Buddhist studies as an examination of Buddhist texts and traditions by adherents of the tradition or scholars who approach the study of Buddhism primarily from the perspective of its normative truth claims; (3) Buddhist studies as a dynamic, methodologically eclectic, and contextsensitive eld that includes descriptive, analytical, and comparative approaches to a broad range of subjects including texts and rituals and with increasing attention being given to the non-elite or popular lived/living tradition. The conference presentations and discussions demonstrated that these fault lines are not absolute 4

and frequently intersect. To the degree that each of these orientations to the study of Buddhism was represented by the conference presentations, the rst was most closely identied with England and Germany, the second with the Buddhist countries of Asia, and the third with North America, especially the United States. The French speaking world has had a signicant tradition of historical and textual studies exemplied by tienne Lamotte, L. de la Valle Poussin, Sylvain Lvi, Paul Demiville, Andr Bareau, and Paul Mus. Mus, who also taught in the United States, has had a strong inuence on American Buddhist studies, especially the Chicago school of the history of religions. The following papers by Eli Franco and Frank E. Reynolds each offer a valuable survey of the development of Buddhist studies over the past twenty-ve years in Germany and the United States, respectively. Omitted from Francos paper is an appended extensive bibliography that will be included in the conference proceedings published in Thailand. The two surveys, furthermore, provide insight into different approaches to the eld of Buddhist studies debated at the conference. BUDDHIST STUDIES IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA 1971-1996 WITH A CONTRIBUTION ON EAST ASIAN BUDDHISM BY MICHAEL FRIEDRICH Eli Franco I. Buddhist studies in Germany 0. Preliminary remarks 1. Generalia a. Bibliographies b. Dictionaries c. Organs of publication d. Periodicals e. Catalogues f. The Nepal Research Center and the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project 2. P li and canonical Buddhism a 3. The Turfan discoveries in Sanskrit and Central Asian languages 4. Abhidharma 5

5. Narrative and poetic literature 6. Epistolary literature 7. Madhyamaka 8. Yog c ra a a 9. Pram na a. 10. Tibetan Buddhism 11. East Asian Buddhism, by Michael Friedrich, Hamburg a. Generalia b. History and intellectual history c. Philosophy and schools of Buddhism d. Practice e. Art f. Literature and theory of translation g. East Asian Buddhism in modern times II. Buddhist studies in Austria Coming of Age: Buddhist Studies in the United States 1972 to 1997 Frank E. Reynolds Coming of Age: Buddhist Studies in the United States 1972 to 1997 considers the social, institutional and intellectual factors that have contributed to the rapid development of Buddhist studies that has occurred in the United States over the period in question. A creative tension is identied between the continuation of the style of scholarship inherited from the older, philologically orientated tradition of Buddhological studies originally developed and practiced in Europe and Japan, and the newer and more diverse modes of Buddhological scholarship that have emerged in recent years in the American academy. The essay incorporates specic bibliographic references to well over a hundred of the most important Buddhist studies books that have been published by American scholars in the past two and a half decades.