Abstract
https://www.academia.edu/40301746/A_Cas ... rpretationA Case for Celibacy: The Sudinna Tale in the Pāli Vinaya and Its Interpretation
By Achim Beyer
(Dongguk University, Seoul)
While Indian Buddhist monastic regulations consistently prescribe celibacy, the Vinaya textbooks as a rule do not provide the reasons for this prescription in a factual, analytic manner. Narratives, allusions and metaphors, often strongly emotionally charged, are preferred as modes of expression.
This article is an attempt to elicit the arguments that the Pāli monastic code brings forth in favour of celibacy and to evaluate them in the light of passages that provide reasons different from the official ones. In the Sudinna tale, the Buddha argues against sexual intercourse as increasing "thirst" and involvement in worldly matters quite explicitly, while showing concern for the laypeople's opinion in rather ambiguous allusions only. Some narrative elements, though, hint at a major concern for the public reputation of the Sangha. I argue that Buddhist monastic rules need to be analyzed in the context of general Indian sexual norms, such as found in the rules of chastity for the Veda student, if one wishes to determine what Buddhism, in turn, contributed to sexual norms in ancient Indian society.