Married Monks: Buddhist Ideals and Practice in Kroraina

Abstract

This article examines the documents recovered from the Central Asian kingdom of Kroraina (Chinese Shanshan 鄯鄯), from the third to fourth centuries, as rare records of the way Buddhism was adapted outside of India during the Gupta period. In particular, the evidence for the existence of married Buddhist monks (śramana) is examined, and the reasons why this situation might have developed are explored. The introduction examines in brief the evidence for monastic marriage in other Buddhist cultures, concluding that only in Meiji-era Japan was this situation both widespread and supported by the ruling powers. This is followed by an overview of the sources, documents in Gāndhārī from the archaeological site of Niya, which reveal the existence of śramana with wives and children, and manuscripts in Sanksrit which show that the normative ideals of Buddhism, including the pratimokṣa vows of monks and nuns, were not unknown in this region. Finally, a possible explanation for the state-sanctioned existence of married monks is presented in the context of the Buddhist state rituals described by the pilgrim Faxian in the neighbouring kingdoms of Khotan and Kashgar.