| Where do we locate the effects of monastic training? Are these located primarily in the interior of a person's psyche or on the exterior of the body? This thesis argues that according to the Sik&dotbelow;asamuccaya , a Sanskrit Buddhist compendium of monastic discipline, virtue is as much a feature of the body as it is an inner quality---a perception which has wide resonance in the Buddhist literature of many schools. Morality is persistently associated with the body in this text. Beings are adorned or perfumed with virtue; likewise they are disfigured by sin or reek with the stench of their immoral conduct.;Chapters one and two demonstrate that monastic training centers on transforming the embodied subject, physically and morally. Chapter one examines the Sanskrit vocabulary for body. A central concern throughout the thesis is to demonstrate that mistranslation of technical vocabulary has obscured the body's significance in Buddhist literature. Chapter two describes the biological features which mark "virtuous bodies," such as beauty and health. It argues that the Siks&dotbelow;asamuccaya regards both body and morality as extraordinarily pliable---that is, capable of transformation through a broad range of monastic practices.;Chapter three investigates the physical effects of eradicating the defilements (passion, anger, and delusion) attained by meditating on the body's foulness, impermanence, and lack of enduring essence. Elimination of defilements produces a Buddha's irresistibly beautiful body. The chapter argues that a philosophical analysis of the body (paramarthasatya) is in the service of an ethical perspective (sam&dotbelow;vr&dotbelow;tisatya). Attention is paid to the rhetorical function of gender in eradicating defilements.;Chapter four investigates the effects of encounters with the virtuous bodies of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and disciplined monks. In particular, the chapter explores how aesthetic, medical, and alchemical discourses suggest that bodhisattva bodies, which delight, heal, transmute, and purify living beings, transform others, physically and morally. Whereas chapter three explores the transformative effects of cultivating detachment from the body, chapter four examines the effects of attraction to certain kinds of bodies. The Siks&dotbelow;amuccaya regards association with the virtuous bodies of others as highly productive of virtue. |
