Anthony Fiorucci
PhD from Uppsala University. I study early Indian history, culture and religion with a focus on early Buddhist monasticism. Interests include the relation between culture, materiality and corporeality.
Address: Solna, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Address: Solna, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
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This study explores the import of kāma as portrayed in the canonical Pali literature, delineates Buddhist doctrinal stances towards kāma, and examines how kāma relates to the program of monastic discipline as reposited in the Pali Vinaya. Drawing on theories of the senses and´aesthetics in anthropology and cultural studies, the study gears analytic attention to how kāma relates to affect, corporeality, and materiality.
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This study argues that the Buddhist tradition developed in ambivalent and dialectical relation to notions of kāma. On the one hand antagonistic to it, Buddhist thought in fact sublimates kāma within its larger ethical framework. Therein endowment with the objects of sensual enjoyment (kāmaguṇa), whether on the human plane or in the various Buddhist heavens, is presented as consonant with one’s prior performance of meritorious actions. Although an entirely legitimate ethical domain for householders, the monastic vocation is conversely premised on the renunciation of sensual pleasures. Accordingly, in the Pali Vinaya a plethora of behaviors—covering domains as diverse as sexuality, bodily care, ornamentation, dress and furnishings, consumption of music, and everyday social interactions—are formally prohibited to monastics purportedly due to their associations with sensuality. This study examines in detail the kinds of material practices associated with kāma and how they become restricted in the Pali Vinaya. The study uncovers how one persistently central category of Indic thought, kāma, finds expression in early Buddhism, contributing thereby not only to the study of early Buddhist monasticism but to South Asian cultural history more generally.
https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-513460
Key words: alms, asceticism, corporal discipline, dāna, dakkhiṇā, domestication, food, forest renunciation, gift, health, liberality, merit, monasticism, meat, medicine, middle way, monastic discipline, pāṭimokkha, sacrifice, śaikṣa dharma, sampajañña, sekhiya dhamma, sikkhā, śikṣā, urbanism, vegetarianism, Vinaya.
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This study explores the import of kāma as portrayed in the canonical Pali literature, delineates Buddhist doctrinal stances towards kāma, and examines how kāma relates to the program of monastic discipline as reposited in the Pali Vinaya. Drawing on theories of the senses and´aesthetics in anthropology and cultural studies, the study gears analytic attention to how kāma relates to affect, corporeality, and materiality.
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This study argues that the Buddhist tradition developed in ambivalent and dialectical relation to notions of kāma. On the one hand antagonistic to it, Buddhist thought in fact sublimates kāma within its larger ethical framework. Therein endowment with the objects of sensual enjoyment (kāmaguṇa), whether on the human plane or in the various Buddhist heavens, is presented as consonant with one’s prior performance of meritorious actions. Although an entirely legitimate ethical domain for householders, the monastic vocation is conversely premised on the renunciation of sensual pleasures. Accordingly, in the Pali Vinaya a plethora of behaviors—covering domains as diverse as sexuality, bodily care, ornamentation, dress and furnishings, consumption of music, and everyday social interactions—are formally prohibited to monastics purportedly due to their associations with sensuality. This study examines in detail the kinds of material practices associated with kāma and how they become restricted in the Pali Vinaya. The study uncovers how one persistently central category of Indic thought, kāma, finds expression in early Buddhism, contributing thereby not only to the study of early Buddhist monasticism but to South Asian cultural history more generally.
https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-513460
Key words: alms, asceticism, corporal discipline, dāna, dakkhiṇā, domestication, food, forest renunciation, gift, health, liberality, merit, monasticism, meat, medicine, middle way, monastic discipline, pāṭimokkha, sacrifice, śaikṣa dharma, sampajañña, sekhiya dhamma, sikkhā, śikṣā, urbanism, vegetarianism, Vinaya.