Between Love, Renunciation, and Compassionate Heroism: Reading Sanskrit Buddhist Literature through the Prism of Disgust

Shenghai Li

doi:10.3390/rel11090471

Abstract

Disgust occupies a particular space in Buddhism where repulsive aspects of the human body are visualized and reflected upon in contemplative practices. The Indian tradition of aesthetics also recognizes disgust as one of the basic human emotions that can be transformed into an aestheticized form, which is experienced when one enjoys drama and poetry. Buddhist literature offers a particularly fertile ground for both religious and literary ideas to manifest, unravel, and entangle in a narrative setting. It is in this context that we find elements of disgust being incorporated into two types of Buddhist narrative: (1) discouragement with worldly objects and renunciation, and (2) courageous act of self-sacrifice. Vidyākara’s anthology of Sanskrit poetry (Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa) and the poetics section of Sa skya Paṇḍita’s introduction to the Indian systems of cultural knowledge (Mkhas pa rnams ’jug pa’i sgo) offer two rare examples of Buddhist engagement with aesthetics of emotions. In addition to some developed views of literary critics, these two Buddhist writers are relied on in this study to provide perspectives on how Buddhists themselves in the final phase of Indian Buddhism might have read Buddhist literature in light of what they learned from the theory of aesthetics.

Highlights

Disgust has a complex history in Buddhist thought that is yet to be fully written
In addition to some developed views of literary critics, these two Buddhist writers are relied on in this study to provide perspectives on how Buddhists themselves in the final phase of Indian Buddhism might have read Buddhist literature in light of what they learned from the theory of aesthetics
The core of the Buddhist discourses surrounding the idea of disgust appears to be a contemplative practice in which repulsive aspects of the human body are intentionally visualized and cultivated

Summary

Introduction

Disgust has a complex history in Buddhist thought that is yet to be fully written. The core of the Buddhist discourses surrounding the idea of disgust appears to be a contemplative practice in which repulsive aspects of the human body are intentionally visualized and cultivated. A case in point is the section of the collection named the “Cremation Ground” (śmaśāna), the inclusion of which can be justified alone by virtue of the fact that horrific sights from that unfriendly environment is typically chosen to invoke the rasa of loathsome.6 This is a site of interest to Buddhist texts when they turn to the topic of repulsiveness, as we will see shortly. The roles that disgust plays in doctrinal texts differ from those that it takes on in literary works In the former, teachings on repulsiveness are assigned a place in the religious path; in the latter, it often assumes a role in the narratives that portray human lives. We will look at (1) two major forms of the repulsiveness meditation: contemplations on the impurities in the living body and in corpses; (2) the place of the repulsiveness meditation in the larger program of Buddhist meditation; and (3) ways in which this meditation relates thematically to the representation of the repulsive in literary texts

Two Spaces for Repulsiveness

Disgust Leads to Peace

Epilogue

31. Swisttal-Odendorf