Religious Motivation and the Origins of Buddhism: A Social-Psychological Exploration of the Origins of a World Religion (Routledgecurzon Critical Studies in Buddhism)

161 Pages·2002·0.58 MB·English

by  Torkel Brekke

RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION
AND THE ORIGINS OF
BUDDHISM
Why did North Indian people from the fifth century BC choose to
leave the world and join the sect of the Buddha? Were there common
themes in the religious motivation of these early Buddhists? Is it
possible to illuminate motivational themes using social psychology?
This is the first book to apply the insights of social psychology
in order to understand the religious motivation of the people who
constituted the early Buddhist community. It also addresses the
more general and theoretically controversial question of how world
religions came into being, by focusing on the conversion process
of the individual believer.
Torkel Brekke holds a DPhil in Oriental Studies from the
University of Oxford on the politics of religious identity in colonial
South Asia. He is currently a research fellow funded by the
Norwegian Research Council. His main research interest is the
interaction between religious ideas and processes of political and
historical change.
General Editors:
Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown
The RoutledgeCurzon Critical Studies in Buddhism Series is a
comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition. The series explores
this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of perspectives,
using a range of different methodologies.
The series is diverse in its focus, including historical studies,
textual translations and commentaries, sociological investigations,
bibliographic studies, and considerations of religious practice as
expressions of Buddhism’s integral religiosity. It also presents
material on modern intellectual historical studies, including the role
of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary, critical
context and in the light of current social issues. The series is
expansive and imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a
half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research
works that inform and advance our knowledge and understanding
of the Buddhist tradition.
THE REFLEXIVE NATURE OF AWARENESS
PaulWilliams
BUDDHISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Edited by Damien Keown, Charles Prebish and Wayne Husted
ALTRUISM AND REALITY
Paul Williams
WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE BUDDHA
Kathryn R. Blackstone
THE RESONANCE OF EMPTINESS
Gay Watson
IMAGING WISDOM
Jacob N. Kinnard
AMERICAN BUDDHISM
Edited by Duncan Ryuken Williams and Christopher Queen
PAIN AND ITS ENDING
Carol S. Anderson
THE SOUND OF LIBERATING TRUTH
Edited by Sallie B. King and Paul O. Ingram
BUDDHIST THEOLOGY
Edited by Roger R. Jackson and John J. Makransky
EMPTINESS APPRAISED
David F. Burton
¤
THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF PURNA
Joel Tatelman
CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST ETHICS
Edited by Damien Keown
INNOVATIVE BUDDHIST WOMEN
Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo
TEACHING BUDDHISM IN THE WEST
Edited by V. S. Hori, R. P. Hayes and J. M. Shields
EMPTY VISION
David L. McMahan
SELF, REALITY AND REASON IN
TIBETAN PHILOSOPHY
Thupten Jinpa
RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION AND THE
ORIGINS OF BUDDHISM
Torkel Brekke

RELIGIOUS
MOTIVATION AND
THE ORIGINS OF
BUDDHISM
A social–psychological
exploration of the origins of a
world religion
Torkel Brekke
First published 2002
by RoutledgeCurzon
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeCurzon
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
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RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2002 Torkel Brekke
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-99483-3(cid:13)(cid:10) Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-7007-1683-1 (hbk)
ISBN 0-7007-1684-X (pbk)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 The historical value of the Khandhakaof the
Vinaya Pit>aka 5
2 Religious motivation and the relationship
between the early Sam≥gha and the laity 21
3 Religious motivation and the theme of
conversion in Buddhism 45
4 Social psychology and the religious motivation
of the early Buddhists 57
5 Religious motivation and the role of fear 71
6 Religious motivation and the merit of giving 97
Notes 121
Bibliography 137
Index 147
vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The articles on which this book is based were written between 1996
and 1999. During this time I was a doctoral student at the University
of Oxford, writing a thesis on religious change in South Asia during
the colonial period under the supervision of Professor Richard
Gombrich. His writings are a constant source of inspiration. I have
been lucky to have studied under generous and encouraging teachers
both at the University of Oxford and at the University of Oslo. I
wish to thank Professor Jens Braarvig and Professor Georg von
Simson, who taught me Sanskrit and Pa¯li. An earlier version of the
second chapter of this book was written as an MPhil thesis under
their supervision in 1995. As all my teachers must have realized,
my greatest problem as a student was that I tried to do too many
things at the same time. This book, which attempts to say something
both about Buddhism and about the psychology of religion, is
probably symptomatic.
I would like to thank Professors Charles Prebish and Damien
Keown, the editors of the series Critical Studies in Buddhism at
Curzon Press, for their positive response when I approached them
in the winter of 2000/1 with my proposal for this book. I am also
grateful to Jonathan Price, chief editor at Curzon Press, for his
constant optimism regarding this and other projects.
I am indebted to the publishers who authorized the use of articles
that had appeared in their journals. The details of these previous
publications are given in the introduction below. During the years
when the research for this book was carried out my work was
generously financed by the Norwegian Research Council.
As always, I owe many thanks to my family – Margrete, Kristian
and Iris – for their patience and support. This book is dedicated to
my friend and mentor Chung Lu Tsen.
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