Family Affairs in Buddhist Monasticism: A Reconsideration of the Buddha’s First Monastic Community
Hwasoo Kim, Yale University
Historically, the Confucian literati refuted Buddhism on the basis that Buddhist monasticism is premised on the abandonment of family, namely leaving one’s parents, wife, and children to pursue enlightenment. This renunciant lifestyle contradicted the Confucian schema of the five fundamental relationships. Confucian intellectuals consistently lodged their criticism of the nature of Buddhist monasticism as incompatible with the Confucian sensitivity toward family values and thus that Buddhism was fundamentally deleterious to society. Buddhists defended their religion by asserting that becoming a monastic and striving for enlightenment generated salvation for their family, thereby fulfilling obligations of filial piety.
In this talk, I propose a different picture of the origins of Buddhist monasticism by revisiting the first mendicant community established by the historical Buddha. Tradition has it that the Buddha abandoned his family, renounced home life, and founded a monastic community with those who also left their families. It is also well-known that not long after the Buddha started teaching, his young son, his foster mother, his wife, his half-sister, and several of his cousins ordained and joined the celibate community, and they faithfully followed the Buddha’s teachings without allegedly any preferential treatment.
However, a more complex picture emerges if one reads primary texts about the Buddha’s teaching and life carefully. Not only did the Buddha live with his family members on the same campus and interact with them on a daily basis, but also some of them took leadership roles in operating the community until he passed away. Their biological connection to the Buddha was recognized by their fellow monastics, and they themselves were conscious of their familial background as well. Therefore, the Buddha did not renounce his family in a literal sense but continued to cohabitate with them. From this perspective, the Buddha fulfilled his familial obligations, much in line with Confucian ethics. The involvement and proximity of the Buddha's family members, if taken seriously and critically, undermine the image of the Buddha as someone who abandoned his family. With this view of the Buddha’s inclusion of his family in the sangha, I suggest the future conversation between Confucians and Buddhists could take somewhat different routes, one that perhaps begins with what may be some common ground regarding familial relationships.
In this talk, I propose a different picture of the origins of Buddhist monasticism by revisiting the first mendicant community established by the historical Buddha. Tradition has it that the Buddha abandoned his family, renounced home life, and founded a monastic community with those who also left their families. It is also well-known that not long after the Buddha started teaching, his young son, his foster mother, his wife, his half-sister, and several of his cousins ordained and joined the celibate community, and they faithfully followed the Buddha’s teachings without allegedly any preferential treatment.
However, a more complex picture emerges if one reads primary texts about the Buddha’s teaching and life carefully. Not only did the Buddha live with his family members on the same campus and interact with them on a daily basis, but also some of them took leadership roles in operating the community until he passed away. Their biological connection to the Buddha was recognized by their fellow monastics, and they themselves were conscious of their familial background as well. Therefore, the Buddha did not renounce his family in a literal sense but continued to cohabitate with them. From this perspective, the Buddha fulfilled his familial obligations, much in line with Confucian ethics. The involvement and proximity of the Buddha's family members, if taken seriously and critically, undermine the image of the Buddha as someone who abandoned his family. With this view of the Buddha’s inclusion of his family in the sangha, I suggest the future conversation between Confucians and Buddhists could take somewhat different routes, one that perhaps begins with what may be some common ground regarding familial relationships.