Sleep well! Sleeping practices in Buddhist disciplinary rules

Abstract

The present paper gives a detailed analysis of the guidelines on sleeping practices as stipulated in Buddhist monastic disciplinary texts and in Chinese manuals. It shows how sleep is perceived in normative texts, both in India and in China, and how monastics should deal with their daily need for sleep. The analysis reveals a striking contrast between sleep as a relatively innocent time when one’s actions incur no guilt, and sleep as a potentially harmful time of the day, given its assocation with disrespect, inactivity and sexual practices, and given the fact that during one’s sleep one might unwillingly display one’s true nature, which for some monastics appears to be quite detrimental.