Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas
This article reassesses the role of the body in advanced meditation as it is presented in the early Buddhist Pāli discourses, showing that certain theorizations of liberation held that it contained a marked corporeal element. The article also reflects upon the understanding of the Buddha’s body in t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Religions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/3/179 |
| _version_ | 1797542064307568640 |
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| author | Eviatar Shulman |
| author_facet | Eviatar Shulman |
| author_sort | Eviatar Shulman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article reassesses the role of the body in advanced meditation as it is presented in the early Buddhist Pāli discourses, showing that certain theorizations of liberation held that it contained a marked corporeal element. The article also reflects upon the understanding of the Buddha’s body in this textual corpus, and demonstrates that for important strands of the early tradition, the Buddha’s liberation was thought to manifest in his body, so that liberation impacted his physical presence and the quality of his movement. There are also marked metaphysical dimensions to the Buddha’s body, so that its nature transcends the material. Common approaches that take liberation to be a purely psychological transformation thus ignore important aspects of the traditional understanding, which also directs us to think of a plurality of approaches to liberation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:24:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9c8f8d57e76e4ba3aa1f49cbcbd4221f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:24:21Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-9c8f8d57e76e4ba3aa1f49cbcbd4221f2023-11-21T09:46:35ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442021-03-0112317910.3390/rel12030179Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli NikāyasEviatar Shulman0The Department of Comparative Religion and the Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91905, IsraelThis article reassesses the role of the body in advanced meditation as it is presented in the early Buddhist Pāli discourses, showing that certain theorizations of liberation held that it contained a marked corporeal element. The article also reflects upon the understanding of the Buddha’s body in this textual corpus, and demonstrates that for important strands of the early tradition, the Buddha’s liberation was thought to manifest in his body, so that liberation impacted his physical presence and the quality of his movement. There are also marked metaphysical dimensions to the Buddha’s body, so that its nature transcends the material. Common approaches that take liberation to be a purely psychological transformation thus ignore important aspects of the traditional understanding, which also directs us to think of a plurality of approaches to liberation.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/3/179bodyearly BuddhismliberationBuddha |
| spellingShingle | Eviatar Shulman Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas Religions body early Buddhism liberation Buddha |
| title | Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas |
| title_full | Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas |
| title_fullStr | Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas |
| title_short | Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas |
| title_sort | embodied transcendence the buddha s body in the pali nikayas |
| topic | body early Buddhism liberation Buddha |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/3/179 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT eviatarshulman embodiedtranscendencethebuddhasbodyinthepalinikayas |