Whose Monastery Is It? : The Ownership of Goods in Myanmar Theravada Buddhism
僧院は誰のものか : ミャンマー上座仏教における財の所有

Ryosuke Kuramoto
Journal of Pali and Buddhist Studies  
re tsSkl ea me di 5 cD h> lic tz -7 --LlliE・illStw ez ts }t 6 fU'OEilits ma zts gg fi Whose Monastery Is It?: The Ownership of Goods in Myanmar Theravada Buddhism Kuramoto, Ryosuke How should Theravada monks deal with geods? That is one of their most important problems. This study aims to investigate the Vinaya [monk's rulel with regard to the owr}ership of goods, especially in the monastery. Previeus studies have examined the V;maya Pitaka [The Book of the Discipline] through a philological
more » ... roach, such as Hirakawa [1960, 1964] and Sato [1963], among others; however, it is difficult to understand the rules about goods without considering the monk's real life. Therefbre, in this paper I adopt an anthropological approach in the context of the monks' interpretation and administration of the Vinaya rules in their lives, taking Myanmar as an example. The fbllovving two documents are used in this papeg that is [1] the commentaries on the Vinaya by the Myanmar scholar monks and [2] the law reports ofthe religious court ofMyanmar. Chapter 2 considers the rule of the Vinaya with regard to the ownership and distribution of goods. The most fundamental factors that define the process that the goods go through are [1] to whom donators donate; that is, "individual monk" or "Sangha" = "paramattha sangha" whieh is one of a Triad of Gems and [2] what they donate; that is, "lahu bharpqa" light goods or "garu bhai)da" heavy goods. The ownership ofthe goods is split up into "puggalika" belonging to a single person, "sammulthi-bhUta sanghika" belonging to the monks who stay on site, "drZma-ttha sanghika" belonging to the monks of the monastery) "catuddisa sanghika" belonging to the monks who come or will come to the Society for the Study of Pali and Buddhist Culture NII-Electronic Library Service
doi:10.20769/jpbs.24.0_25 fatcat:kdbdvbf3hnckpot5m2xvdghe2a