A Pure Mind in a Clean Body : Bodily Care in the Buddhist Monasteries of Ancient India and China

• Main Authors: Heirman, Ann, Torck, Mathieu
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Academia Press 2012
• Subjects: Asia; bodily care; Book Industry Communication; Buddhism; Buddhist life & practice; Buddhist life and practice; c 500 CE to c 1000 CE; c 500 to c 1000 CE; CE period up to c 1500; China; Chinese language; East Asia, Far East; English; For adult emergent readers; For emergent readers (adult); Geographical Qualifiers; Germanic and Scandinavian languages; History; History of China; Humanities; India; Indian sub-continent; Indo-European languages; Interest age & special interest qualifiers; Interest age / level; Interest qualifiers; Language qualifiers; Monastery; Monk; Philosophy and Religion; Place qualifiers; Religion; Religion & beliefs; Religion and beliefs; Sangha; South Asia (Indian sub-continent); thema EDItEUR; Time period qualifiers; Time periods qualifiers; Vinaya
• ISBN: 9789038220147; 9038220146
• DOI: 10.26530/OAPEN_466590

Buddhist monasteries, in both Ancient India and China, have played a crucial social role, for religious as well as for lay people. They rightfully attract the attention of many scholars, discussing historical backgrounds, institutional networks, or influential masters. Still, some aspects of monastic life have not yet received the attention they deserve. This book therefore aims to study some of the most essential, but often overlooked, issues of Buddhist life: namely, practices and objects of bodily care. For monastic authors, bodily care primarily involves bathing, washing, cleaning, shaving and trimming the nails, activities of everyday life that are performed by lay people and monastics alike. In this sense, they are all highly recognizable and, while structuring monastic life, equally provide a potential bridge between two worlds that are constantly interacting with each other: monastic people and their lay followers. Bodily practices might be viewed as relatively simple and elementary, but it is exactly through their triviality that they give us a clear insight into the structure and development of Buddhist monasteries. Over time, Buddhist monks and nuns have, through their painstaking effort into regulating bodily care, defined the identity of the Buddhist saṃgha, overtly displaying it to the laity.