[Buddha-l] Re: Rational or mythological Buddhism and WesternBuddhist lay practice

[jkirk]

> On Fri, 2005-03-25 at 15:50 +0100, Mikael Aktor wrote:
>
> > Also in monastic Buddhism I guess there is a reason for demanding
> > celibacy, and if the Milindapañha denies that celibacy is a
> > prerequisite for higher goals, there is the more reason to ask why it
> > should  be demanded at all.
>
> That is very easy. Monks begged for a living and could not as easily do
> so if they had dependants, such as wives, mistresses, children or even
> pet animals.
>
> --
> Richard Hayes
> Department of Philosophy
> University of New Mexico
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With all due respect, I don't see why merely having wives, mistresses or
pets would, in and of themselses, would impede begging. Beggars throughout
history have had wives and children, whom they often inveigled into begging
as well.
No, the reasons for requiring celibacy were otherwise, most importantly
perhaps that married men with children could not be expected to submit to
the routines nor the discipline of monastic communitarian living. Having
menstruating wives, and kids running all over the place, would not have been
conducive to scripture memorizing, debating, or meditation!
I daresay the women would not have put up with monasticism, either!
Joanna