 |
 |
medieval worlds • no. 12 • 2020
|
 |
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
|
medieval worlds • no. 12 • 2020, pp. 33-67, 2020/11/30
My early work on scholasticism initially focused on the Tibetan tradition, and later on scholasticism as a comparative category. This scholarship was based almost exclusively on the doctrinal writings of scholastics. While valuable in starting a conversation, in the intervening years I have realized that a more diachronic perspective that emphasizes the social and institutional aspects of scholastic communities is needed. This paper considers three moments in the history of Indian (and to a lesser extent Tibetan) monastic communities of learning: when they first came into being, when they were flourishing, and when they started to die out. Stability, writing, and a commitment to confronting rivals, I argue, are conditions without which Buddhist scholastic communities would not have emerged in India. Although much could be said about the character of these communities during their halcyon days, I focus on three practices that are important to scholastic identity in India and Tibet: debate, commentary, and prayer. Finally, I consider some of the internal challenges and external threats that these communities faced in their twilight.
Keywords: scholasticism; India; Tibet; stability; writing; literacy; orality; argumentation; debate; commentary; prayer; ritual; apophaticism; persecution; book burning