Dear list members,

Our next seminar will be held onon Friday  26th at 6.00 pm.  This month the seminar will be hosted at University of Western Sydney, Superintendents Cottage.  Please refer to Map (Ref ET) for details.

We will have two speakers:

• Bhante Sujato will present on - Buddhist mythic perceptions of the feminine
• Malcolm Voyce will present on - The violation of rules by Buddhist monks; 'interdictions and transgressions'

We do hope you can attend
AABS Executive

Buddhist mythic perceptions of the feminine
With the revival of the bhikkhuni ordination in Theravada and Tibetan Buddhism, the story of the ordination of Mahapajapati, supposedly the first nun, has come under scrutiny like never before. Discussion has centred around the historicity or otherwise of the passage, or untangling the legal complexities of ordination procedure, while overlooking the fact that bhikkhunis appear as an episode within a larger framework of meaning: the life of the Buddha as spiritual exemplar. That life, even in the earliest sources, is constructed according to the classic canon of the Hero Myth. The Buddha's myth, as the unifying narrative for the Buddhist populace, became a reservoir of projections, imaginings, and fears. Pre-Buddhist elements were incorporated especially in the Jatakas; the identification of characters in the Jatakas with persons associated with the Buddha reveals the attitudes of the redactors. Just as the Buddha's myth freely absorbed the motifs of the Hero, Mahapajapati and other nuns adopted the symbols and associations of the Great Mother. Using comparative mythology, iconography, historical studies, and psychology, we can discern, underneath the rational, ethical narrative of the surface, currents of magic and taboo, of unconscious fears that remain largely unexamined within modernist Buddhism. A developmental model of attitudes towards femininity allows a richer understanding of how these ancient texts continue to inform and mould attitudes towards women's spirituality within Buddhism today.

The violation of rules by Buddhist monks; 'interdictions and transgressions'
In the rules Buddhist monks (Vinaya) there is frequent reference to 'rule breakers'. One category of these 'rule breakers' is a group of monks which sought to 'transgress' the rules as a deliberate strategy of self development.
This paper  discusses these 'rule breakers' in light of the indications from Bataille, who argued that transgressions 'suspends a taboo without suppressing it' and that that 'the suppression of a proscribed deed acts as a form of repression and social control.'
I take this indication from Bataille in the context of the role of sexual desire and the breach by monks and nuns of the rule against sexual intercourse. I also follow the indications from Bernard Faure that we should consider the performative function of the Vinaya and the significance of the regular recitation of the rules in fortnightly meetings. 
I conclude that the proper consideration of the role of sexual desire in Buddhism allows us to show that violations were institutional accepted within the framework of the rules. I also show that sexual experience could be seen as redemptive or as a proper path of spiritual development.