For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist Stories
This paper focuses on stories from the 13th century Rasavāhinī in which feeding a starving dog is described as an act of great merit, equal even to the care of a monk or the Buddha. It begins with a reevaluation of passages from Buddhist texts that have been taken by scholars as evidence of pan- Bud...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-03-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/3/183 |
| _version_ | 1811299286748495872 |
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| author | Phyllis Granoff |
| author_facet | Phyllis Granoff |
| author_sort | Phyllis Granoff |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper focuses on stories from the 13th century Rasavāhinī in which feeding a starving dog is described as an act of great merit, equal even to the care of a monk or the Buddha. It begins with a reevaluation of passages from Buddhist texts that have been taken by scholars as evidence of pan- Buddhist concern for taking care of animals. It argues that they have been over-read and that the Rasavāhinī stories are distinctive. The setting in which these acts occur, a catastrophic famine, helps us to understand the transformation of the despised dog into an object of compassion. In such dire circumstances, when humans themselves behave like animals, compassion for a starving dog is both a new recognition of a fundamental shared kinship between human and animal and a gesture of recovering lost humanity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:33:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8cd95377894e44e7bdee489f293750b4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:33:01Z |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-8cd95377894e44e7bdee489f293750b42022-12-22T02:58:02ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442019-03-0110318310.3390/rel10030183rel10030183For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist StoriesPhyllis Granoff0Department of Religious Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USAThis paper focuses on stories from the 13th century Rasavāhinī in which feeding a starving dog is described as an act of great merit, equal even to the care of a monk or the Buddha. It begins with a reevaluation of passages from Buddhist texts that have been taken by scholars as evidence of pan- Buddhist concern for taking care of animals. It argues that they have been over-read and that the Rasavāhinī stories are distinctive. The setting in which these acts occur, a catastrophic famine, helps us to understand the transformation of the despised dog into an object of compassion. In such dire circumstances, when humans themselves behave like animals, compassion for a starving dog is both a new recognition of a fundamental shared kinship between human and animal and a gesture of recovering lost humanity.http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/3/183dogsBuddhismfaminemerit |
| spellingShingle | Phyllis Granoff For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist Stories Religions dogs Buddhism famine merit |
| title | For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist Stories |
| title_full | For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist Stories |
| title_fullStr | For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist Stories |
| title_full_unstemmed | For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist Stories |
| title_short | For the Love of Dogs: Finding Compassion in a Time of Famine in Pali Buddhist Stories |
| title_sort | for the love of dogs finding compassion in a time of famine in pali buddhist stories |
| topic | dogs Buddhism famine merit |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/3/183 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT phyllisgranoff fortheloveofdogsfindingcompassioninatimeoffamineinpalibuddhiststories |