Flirtation with the other: an examination of the processes of othering in the Pali Vinaya

Flirtation with the other: an examination of the processes of othering in the Pali Vinaya

Author: 
Maes, Claire
Publisher: 
Cambridge University Press
Date published: 
2016
Record type: 
Journal Title: 
Bulletin of the school of Oriental and African studies
Source: 
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 79, No. 3, October 2016, pp. 535-557
Abstract: 

This article identifies and examines processes of othering in an early Indian Buddhist ascetic text, the Pali Vinaya of the Theravadins. By means of: (1) a critical discussion of the fact that the Pali Vinaya holds several terms for the early Buddhists' ascetic others; and (2) a close reading and analysis of a small group of - easily overlooked - Pali Vinaya passages with explicit references to supposed practices of the early Buddhists' ascetic others, I make explicit two aspects of the processes of othering of the early Buddhist ascetic community. I show how through processes of othering Buddhist bhikkhus, or at the very least the monk-editors of the Pali Vinaya, both negotiated a collective identity notion, and reflected on the significance of their own practices and values in direct relation to those of their ascetic others, whether real or imagined.

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CITATION: Maes, Claire. Flirtation with the other: an examination of the processes of othering in the Pali Vinaya . : Cambridge University Press , 2016. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 79, No. 3, October 2016, pp. 535-557 - Available at: https://library.au.int/flirtation-other-examination-processes-othering-pali-vinaya