1999 Meeting Abstracts A132: Sangha Issues

A132 Can the Sangha be Immoral?
Maria Hibbets, Harvard University

Drawing on a number of Pali commentarial texts, this paper explores the nature of the monastic Order (Sangha) as a moral community. Efforts to define the nature of the Sangha occur frequently in the Pali commentaries and the medieval anthology literature in discussions of gift-giving. In these discussions, the doctrine of the worthy recipient -- that is, the idea that the merit one earns from giving is proportionate to the worthiness of the recipient of the gift -- leads to the view that gifts should not be given specifically to individual monks (with all their idiosyncratic moral failings) but instead to the idealized Sangha (which is infallible). The texts prescribe detailed ritual behavior that is aimed at defining the Sangha as an idealized collective. I argue that these discussions posit a very distinctive notion of the Sangha as a community and institution that is to be carefully distinguished from its members.

A132 History From Here: Suggestions for the Creation of a Zen Buddhist History for Women

Jennifer Dumpert, Graduate Theological Union

Reconciling Zen's patriarchal history with feminist values that influence Zen in the US, some Americans have undertaken revision of Buddhist history to draw out a history which is usable for women. Though a worthwhile undertaking, this project faces difficulties. Historical revisionists often engage in selective forgetting, glossing over or ignoring difficult historical truths, potentially leading to the forgetting of important political realities and to oversimplified idealization. Revisionists also frequently develop compensatory histories which rely on tokens. Valorizing women who bested men in men's terms, though providing role models and placing women within history, perpetuates patriarchal historical values. Furthermore, changing or rejecting aspects of Buddhist history which are seen as incompatible with American culture potentially strips the religion of essential qualities. Strategies to create a usable history should reformulate historical values, looking through history to identify the particular ways in which women have participated in Buddhism, identifying and valorizing feminine ways of participating in history.

A132 "Americans Need Something to Sit On": Zen Meditation Materials and Buddhist Diversity in North America
Douglas M. Padgett, Indiana University,

Some aspects of Buddhism's entry onto the American scene have proven problematic for scholars and practitioners of Buddhism and engendered a rancorous debate over what models Buddhist Americans should use to determine the character of their practice? This paper takes this issue seriously with respect to the material culture of Buddhist American meditators, referred to by one scholar as "elite Buddhists." This paper uses ethnographic research and anthropological assessments of commodification and consumption to discuss the market in meditation cushions, which is highly conditioned by the American encounter with Zen. Drawing upon writings and interviews with Buddhist Americans and literature on authenticity, it then explores the ways in which the marketing and use of Zen-Style meditation materials reflect elite Buddhists' notions of Buddhist authority and authenticity. Of particular concern is how the use of mediation cushions may be indicative of the development of a Zen monoculture among elite Buddhists.

A132 The Paradox of Monastic Tantrism in Late Indian and Tibetan Buddhism

Paul Donnelly, Northern Arizona University

One of the most curious aspects of late Indian and Tibetan monastic Buddhism is its inclusion of the practices and ideology of tantra which have their origins with the enigmatic lay yogins known as siddhas. The paradox lies in the fact that both late Indian Buddhism and the Tibetan traditions which succeeded it were and are overwhelmingly monastic. In the final days of Indian Buddhism the monks of the great scholastic colleges of Northern India appropriated, subsumed and synthesized the practices of the early lay tantric figures such as Naropa within a thoroughly monastic framework. This paper examines the strategies employed by Indian and Tibetan monastic Buddhists for bringing transgressive, antinomian ideas and practices into line with a monk's life and quest for Buddhahood. It will discuss the tensions between these two Buddhist paths, how Buddhist institutions were able to overcome the dilemma and how the problem manifests yet today.