This dissertation is a study of the concept of etiquette in the monastic law codes of early Indian Buddhism. This category of texts, called vinaya, is considered within and outside of the tradition to be based on Buddhist ethical ideals. However, vinaya texts also contain a great deal of material that appears to be inherited from pre-Buddhist cultural habits, and is not uniquely Buddhist. That material is useful to us in reconstructing the world of early Buddhists, as literary examples of the kinds of interaction Buddhists portrayed themselves having with Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, and various political and kinship groups in premodern India. The degree to which this body of literature is representative of actual historical situations is open to debate, but the texts arguably illustrate an ideal of behaviour in social relationships. Etiquette in general manifests as a kind of public performance involving respect for boundaries and acknowledgment of social roles. The various rituals that are considered to embody etiquette in any particular culture often look arbitrary from the outside, yet there is always an internal logic that helps to determine which behaviours are considered appropriate and which are “impolite.” I argue here that the etiquette rituals of early Indian Buddhist monastics are modeled on a conception of disgust that Buddhists shared with various other Sanskritic cultures of premodern northern India. I employ some of the ideas from linguistic politeness and from contemporary theories of disgust to help in my analysis of these premodern law codes. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation is a study of the concept of etiquette in the monastic law codes of early Indian Buddhism. This category of texts, called vinaya, is considered within and outside of the tradition to be based on Buddhist ethical ideals. However, vinaya texts also contain a great deal of material that appears to be inherited from pre-Buddhist cultural habits, and is not uniquely Buddhist. That material is useful to us in reconstructing the world of early Buddhists, as literary examples of the kinds of interaction Buddhists portrayed themselves having with Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and various political and kinship groups in premodern India. The degree to which this body of literature is representative of actual historical situations is open to debate, but the texts arguably illustrate an ideal of behaviour in social relationships. Etiquette in general manifests as a kind of public performance involving respect for boundaries and acknowledgment of social roles. The various rituals that are considered to embody etiquette in any particular culture often look arbitrary from the outside, yet there is always an internal logic that helps to determine which behaviours are considered appropriate and which are “impolite.” I argue here that the etiquette rituals of early Indian Buddhist monastics are modeled on a conception of disgust that Buddhists shared with various other Sanskritic cultures of premodern northern India. I employ some of the ideas from linguistic politeness and from contemporary theories of disgust to help in my analysis of these premodern law codes.
