When and Where is a Monk No Longer a Monk? On Communion and Communities in Indian Buddhist Monastic Law Codes
General Material Designation
[Article]
First Statement of Responsibility
Shayne Clarke
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Leiden
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Brill
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"Indian Buddhist monks and nuns who commit pārājika offences are generally deemed to be asamvāsa ("not in communion"). In this paper I question the simplistic equation of asamvāsa with "expulsion." I discuss the case of a matricide monk who, having been expelled, went down the road and set up a new monastery. I use this example to throw light on local and translocal aspects of Buddhist monastic ordination, suggesting that asamvāsa may refer not to a loss of communion from the Sangha of the Four Quarters, but from a specific, local monastic community."