Yogavacara Traditions in Theravada Buddhist Societies

南传佛教团体的瑜伽空行传统

• 批准号: AH/H009132/1
• 负责人: Henrietta Kate Crosby
• 金额: $ 7.79万
• 依托单位: School of Oriental and African Studies
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2009 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FH009132%2F1
• 关键词: Yogavacara; Traditions; Theravada; Buddhist; Societies

Theravada Buddhism is regarded as a conservative form of Buddhism that preserves 'early' Buddhism, in keeping with early Buddhist texts, while other forms of Buddhism (broadly Mahayana and Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism) developed new expressions. However, it is clear from manuscript and practitioner lineages that Theravada is not monolithic. Yogavacara designates a system of Theravada practice open to lay and ordained practitioners that involves incorporating qualities of the Buddha into the body and applying the power thus gained to soteriological and practical ends, e.g. healing and protection in warfare.There are striking similarities between yogavacara and Vajrayana in terms of somatic practice and ritual enactment, although there is no evidence of non-Theravada terminology or pantheon. It is our view that these similarities relate to the shared influence of developments in understanding of such sciences as embryology, alchemy, and group theory mathematics throughout the Indian subcontinent and broader region. Yogavacara can be seen not as a corruption of Theravada, but as its development in keeping with the science and world view of pre-modern Asia.Partly under the influence of European colonialism, reforms swept Theravada countries during the 18-20th centuries. These based themselves on early canonical materials predating yogavacara developments. They also sought to present Buddhism as consistent with Western science, but emphasised the superiority of Eastern mind-culture in the face of the apparent superiority of Western somatic culture. The result obscured forms of Theravada such as yogavacara which did not fit with this model of Buddhism. We have clear evidence of this struggle between reform and traditional Theravada in French Cambodia. As a result of such reforms and exacerbated by the destruction of Buddhist lineages and material culture-e.g. under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia-yogavacara today is marginal, surviving in lineages in Cambodian boran Theravada (now in a process of revival), in Thailand in dhammakaya practices (under threat) and in a small number of Bangkok temples, and possibly in some Bangladeshi and Burmese 'non-orthodox' lineages (subject to secrecy). Textual remains, especially meditation manuals, are also found in some Sri Lankan and Southeast Asian collections, but have been little documented, identified or edited because their content has not been recognised or understood by classically-trained (in canonical Theravada) scholars.There is nevertheless an increasing scholarly recognition of the importance of yogavacara. It needs to be established whether yogavacara was the dominant form of Theravada in the pre-reform period. Put another way, is the perceived similarity of modern Theravada to early Buddhism the result of reform rather than continuous tradition and did pre-modern Theravada look more like the esoteric forms of East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism?The researchers on this project, Kate Crosby and Catherine Newell, working on Sri Lanka and Thailand respectively, have noted a range of evidence for court and high-ranking monastic sponsorship of yogavacara in the 18-19th centuries. In this project they will, through archival research, seek to clarify the extent to which yogavacara was the dominant form of Theravada and what led to its demise and marginalisation. They will also bring together the primary and secondary materials relevant to yogavacara studies on a single website, through which the planned database will be accessible. Interested academics and other stakeholders will be invited to join a discussion network based around a LISTSERV-style email list. In addition to writing scholarly articles on the transition of yogavacara's standing during the reform and colonial periods, they will incorporate the findings in teaching materials, including the forthcoming Wiley-Blackwell Theravada Buddhism, to ensure the findings feed directly into broader representations of Theravada.

小乘佛教被认为是佛教的一种保守形式，保留了“早期”佛教，与早期的佛教文本保持一致，而其他形式的佛教（广泛的大乘和金刚乘或密宗佛教）发展了新的表达。然而，从手稿和实践者的传承中可以清楚地看出，小乘不是单一的。瑜伽行指的是一种向平信徒和受戒修行者开放的小乘修持体系，包括将佛陀的品质融入身体，并将由此获得的力量应用于救赎和实际目的，例如在战争中治疗和保护。在身体实践和仪式制定方面，瑜伽行乘和金刚乘之间有惊人的相似之处，尽管没有证据表明非小乘术语或万神殿。我们认为，这些相似之处与整个印度次大陆和更广泛地区对胚胎学、炼金术和群论数学等科学的理解发展的共同影响有关。Yogavacara不能被看作是上座部的腐败，而是它与前现代亚洲的科学和世界观保持一致的发展。在欧洲殖民主义的影响下，改革在18-20世纪席卷了上座部国家。这些都是基于早于瑜伽行发展的早期规范材料。他们还试图将佛教呈现为与西方科学相一致，但面对西方肉体文化的明显优势，强调东方心灵文化的优越性。结果掩盖了小乘的形式，如不符合这种佛教模式的瑜伽行。我们有关于法属柬埔寨改革和传统小乘之间斗争的明确证据。由于这些改革的结果和佛教血统和物质文化的破坏而加剧。在柬埔寨的红色高棉统治下，瑜伽行如今已处于边缘地位，仅存于柬埔寨的佛教小乘部（现正处于复兴过程中）、泰国的法身修行（受到威胁）和少数曼谷寺庙中，可能还存在于一些孟加拉国和缅甸的“非正统”传承中（保密）。在斯里兰卡和东南亚的一些收藏中，也发现了一些文本遗迹，尤其是冥想手册，但很少有文献记录、鉴定或编辑，因为它们的内容没有被受过经典训练的（正典小乘部）学者认可或理解。然而，越来越多的学者认识到瑜伽行术的重要性。需要确定的是，在改革前的时期，瑜伽行是否是小乘部的主要形式。该项目的研究人员Kate Crosby和Catherine Newell分别在斯里兰卡和泰国进行研究，他们注意到18-19世纪宫廷和高级寺院赞助瑜伽行术的一系列证据。在这个项目中，他们将通过档案研究，试图澄清瑜伽行在多大程度上是小乘佛教的主要形式，以及导致其消亡和边缘化的原因。他们还将把与瑜伽行研究有关的主要和次要材料汇集到一个网站上，通过这个网站可以访问计划中的数据库。感兴趣的学者和其他利益相关者将被邀请加入一个基于listserv风格的电子邮件列表的讨论网络。除了撰写关于瑜伽行在改革和殖民时期地位转变的学术文章外，他们还将把这些发现纳入教材，包括即将出版的威利-布莱克威尔小乘佛教，以确保这些发现直接融入到小乘佛教的更广泛的表现中。