Monks’ Lives Shaped by Food: A Case Study in Myanmar
Theravāda Buddhist monks are strictly limited by the Vinaya (monks’ rules) with regard to their way of acquiring, owning, and consuming food. The most important principle for them is to live as beggars, and to depend on dāna (religious gifts) given by lay people. In Theravāda Buddhism, this way of l...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2018
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| In: |
Religious studies in Japan
Year: 2018, Volume: 4, Pages: 47-64 |
| Further subjects: | B
Myanmar
B Secular B Vinaya B Monks B Religion B Theravāda Buddhism B Monasteries |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Theravāda Buddhist monks are strictly limited by the Vinaya (monks’ rules) with regard to their way of acquiring, owning, and consuming food. The most important principle for them is to live as beggars, and to depend on dāna (religious gifts) given by lay people. In Theravāda Buddhism, this way of life is thought to be the optimum approach, though not the only one, to achieve nibbāna (the doctrinal ideal of Theravāda Buddhism). Monks, however, cannot live without any food. This is an enormous dilemma for monks. How do monks deal with this food problem? How does this problem influence the religious practice of monks? In this paper, I adopt an anthropological approach that is characterized by fieldwork and that aims to reveal processes of trial and error in the monks’ lives, taking Myanmar as an example. By doing this, I try to clarify one side of the religious practice of monks—for example, the reason why they become monks, the way their lives develop, the way a monastery is organized, and so on. These facts cannot be adequately discussed if we are particular about the distinction between the words "religion" and "secular," which are ideas of modern European origin. |
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| ISSN: | 2186-9952 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religious studies in Japan
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