Vinaya; Family Matters; Indian; Monastic; Buddhism
摘要
It is generally assumed that when men and women left home for the religious life in India they left their families---spouses and children---behind. The religious are said to "go forth from the home into homelessness." Although this phrase is usually taken to imply the complete severance of a monastic's familial ties, evidence from Buddhist monastic law codes (vinayas ) suggests that this phrase should not be understood literally.
Indeed, according to the extant monastic law codes, monks and nuns who go forth into homelessness do not necessarily sever ties to their families. In fact, all available evidence suggests that they sometimes took their families with them into homelessness. For the monastic legislators, the authors of normative Buddhist legal codes, there seems to have been no question that monks and nuns could embark on religious quests with their children. It is the Buddhist monasticisms envisioned and sanctioned by the authors or redactors of these law codes that the present study seeks to explore.
Through a detailed study of provisions in the extant monastic law codes the present study examines the rôle of family in Indian monastic Buddhism. Issues addressed include continued contact between lay and monastic spouses and family members; renunciation not of but with family members (monks leaving home with children or spouses); the lack of any provisions for marital dissolution prior to renunciation (married monks); pregnant nuns and monastic motherhood; and celibacy, its transgression, and the atonement thereof.
Contrary to modern scholarly depictions of Buddhist monasticism, the picture that emerges from a detailed study of internal Buddhist law codes and corroborative data from Indian inscriptions and Sanskrit drama suggests the continued importance of the family in Indian monastic Buddhism.
