Where Text Meets Flesh Essays

Where Text Meets Flesh Essays Where Text Meets Flesh Essay Where Text Meets Flesh Essay In his article â€Å"Where Text Meets Flesh, â€Å" James Benn details the textual justifications for the burning of flesh in the Buddhist tradition in China and other Sinitic countries.   According to Benn, the relationship between this practice and its textual precedents is a tenuous one.   He believes that this practice was kept alive simply because those whose interests it served to continue this form of body modification wrote texts to solidify it into Eastern Buddhist practice. He cites two specific cases where this practice was justified, the Fanwang jing and the Shouleng’yan jing, both apocryphal texts, where these writings were â€Å"not only justified such extreme acts as autocremation and the burning of fingers but were also used to establish burning at ordination.†Ã‚   His thesis is that this act was not originally endorsed by Indian Buddhist monks, citing that, â€Å"no clear and unambiguous justification for burning the body could be found in texts of non-Chinese origin hence texts†¦were created in order to provide one.† Benn’s arguments against the inherent approval in Buddhism self-immolation and moxibustion are convincing and correct.   That is, he is completely justified in saying that the practice of the burning of the flesh is only established in the texts and, as such, exists as a rite simply because of the incorporation of pre-Buddhist rituals into pre-Buddhist literature.   His arguments are sound because he conducts an extensive literature search and does well in linking the statements of the literature to the historical context of the era.   He also cites anecdotal cases where necessary.   All of these elements   together do a good job in convincing the reader of Benn’s thesis. One   of the first things the author does is establishes the credibility of the practice in pre-Buddhist ritual.   He writes, â€Å"The practice existed in China long before the composition of the Fanwang jing or the Shouleng’yan jing†¦in the forms of (1)moxibustion and (2) ritual autocremation in praying for rain.† In emphasizing this, he underlines the strong link between Chinese traditions and this practice.   Buddhism was a foreign religion imported into China, so it is believable that some justifications were created to incorporate indigenous practices into formal rituals.   He backs up his ideas with references from the literature, stating that â€Å"the inspiration for this†¦precept is most likely drawn from the Lotus Sutra†¦what contains a story of a bodhisattva who burned his arms,† continuing with, â€Å"body burners†¦could point to this text with some confidence and say that†¦they were merely doing as the Buddha had told them,† citing invoking strong proof that this practice is linked to texts that instruct the faithful to carry them out in a similar manner. He also cites specific instaces of justification for autocremation and self-immolation by the use of the Fanwang jing or the Shouleng’yan jing.   One such instance was of the Song Tiantai master Zhili, â€Å"who used the two passages to justify his own proposed autocremation.†Ã‚   Zhili wrote letters to the Song writer Yang Yi, who asked Zhili not to perform these acts and remain alive. In these letters, the master â€Å"explicity cites both the Fanwang jing or the Shouleng’yan jing   as justification for his actions.   This letter by Zhili is probably as close to the mind of a self-immolator as it is possible for us to get.†Ã‚  Ã‚   He also excecises credibility by using the accounts of observers, such as J.J.M. de Groot and Johannes Prip-Moller , who actually spent time at monestaries supporting this practice. In summary, there are several methods that Benn uses which make it easy to conclude that self-immolation in China is linked solely to justification of written Chinese Buddhist texts.   First, the author establishes the practice as pre-Buddhist and cites non-Buddhists, such as Zhili, who used the practice in praying for rain.   Second, he specifically cites the two sources that justify this practice in a Chinese context.  Ã‚   And third, he cites the observations of actual anthropologists who recorded at monasteries, to add to his convincing evidence.