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

[Richard P. Hayes]

> 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. 

Religious mendicants in Magadha at the time of the Buddha were expected
to be celibate. If you read the commentaries to the vinaya rules you
find it said again and again that Buddhist monks were expected to follow
various rules, lest the village people talk. Apparently one of the
things that caused villagers to talk was religious beggars who had
families to support. Moreverover, the Buddha seems to have been mindful
of taking precautions against his community being any kind of burden on
the supporting community. That is the reason for celibacy stated in the
vinaya.

> 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.

That reason is not the one given in the vinaya. Of course, the vinaya
may have been lying.

> I daresay the women would not have put up with monasticism, either!

Why not? Don't you think some women would prefer a well-behaved husband
to a gambler, drinker and womanizer? 

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico