The silent saṃgha: Some observa- tions on mute sheep monks 1 James A. Benn Introduction The question of how to defi ne a Buddhist monk or Buddhist com- munity is one that is not only of interest to scholars of monasti- cism; it also occupied the subjects of our studies. This article takes as its starting point the ways in which the monastic community (saṃgha, sengqie 僧伽) was classifi ed in canonical and non-canon- ical Buddhist texts that circulated in medieval China (from roughly the fourth to the tenth century CE). When we look at some au- thoritative scholastic texts that Chinese Buddhists translated we may be surprised by their characterisation of the types of monks that were included in the saṃgha. These materials may challenge some of our commonly-held notions about Buddhist monks and the Buddhist monastic ideal. In particular, so-called “mute sheep monks” who are ignorant of scripture, unable to distinguish right from wrong, or even ugly from beautiful, are said to form part of the normative saṃgha. When some Medieval Chinese practitioners 1 This article is based on a paper I gave at the conference on Buddhist mo- nasticism held at the University of British Columbia in 2003. It was organ- ised by Professor Chen Jinhua, and sponsored by the Tzu Chi Foundation, Canada. A number of other papers given at the conference have now been gathered together published in revised form as Benn, Meeks and Robson, eds. 2010. I thank Chen Jinhua for inviting me to participate and for his many useful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Shayne Clarke provided valuable advice as I fi rst started to wrestle with the problem of mute sheep monks. I should also like to thank Robert Sharf for his helpful suggestions as I revised the paper for publication. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 32 • Number 1–2 • 2009 (2010) pp. 11–38 12 James A. Benn combined these visions of what the saṃgha was, or what it could be, with other, sometimes unrelated, doctrines, the result was an idealistic conception of a separate assembly of mute sheep monks that was in many ways quite the opposite of that described in scrip- ture. These mute sheep monks were presented as being diligent in keeping the precepts and in performing austerities, self-eff acing but not afraid to discipline their peers. Unlike some mute sheep monks described in scripture, who were unable to resolve disputes in the larger Buddhist community, these mute sheep were supposed to act as the leaders of the saṃgha. How, and why, did some medi- eval practitioners arrive at this somewhat unexpected ideal of the mute sheep monk? The mute sheep saṃgha in the Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise The Dazhidu lun 大智度論 (Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise) attributed to Nāgārjuna, is a text that defi es easy categorization, but no one would question its importance for scholars who seek to reconstruct the background to the worldview of many early medi- eval Chinese Buddhists.1 The Treatise contains the following pas- 1 Lamotte 1944–1981. While commonly referred to by that title, the Dazhidu lun was known by a variety of names in medieval China. Among the Dunhuang manuscript versions and in citations by medieval authors we fi nd such titles as Dazhi lun 大智論 (Great Wisdom Treatise), Dazhi shi- lun 大智釋論 (Great Wisdom Explanatory Treatise), Dazhidu jing lun 大智 度經論 (Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Scripture), Moheyan shilun 摩訶衍釋論 (Explanatory Treatise on the Mahāyāna), Mohe boruo boluomiduo jing shilun 摩訶般若波羅蜜多經釋論 (Explanatory Treatise on the Mahāprajñāpāramitā scripture). The last form is also attested in ab- breviated form in the catalogue Kaiyuan shijiao lu 開元釋教録 (Record of Śākyamuni’s teachings compiled during the Kaiyuan reign-period ) 4, T no. 2154, 55:513a, and appears at the head of Sengrui’s preface to the Taishō canon version (no. 1509). Dazhi shilun 大智釋論, which is found in an earlier catalogue Chu sanzang jiji 出三藏記集 (Collected records on the translation of the Tripiṭaka) 10, T no. 2145, 55:74c, appears to be another abbreviated variant. Mohe boruo boluomiduo jing shilun is probably the oldest title, and corresponds to the Sanskrit Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstra. The term upadeśa also appears in the biographies of Nāgārjuna, see T 2047, 50.184c.18 The silent saṃgha 13 sage, which, when I fi rst read it, seemed to me to be rather remark- able. In response to the question, “what is the meaning of the term ‘saṃgha’?” (yun he ming sengjia 云何名僧伽) the Dazhidu lun sup- plies us with the following answer: saṃgha in Chinese means “as- sembly” (zhong 眾); several bhikṣus (biqiu 比丘) in one place are called a saṃgha, in the same way that the term “forest” indicates a collection of large trees in one place. Considered separately, the trees are not a forest, but if one takes them away one by one the for- est ceases to exist; just so, an individual bhikṣu is not the saṃgha, but the saṃgha no longer exists if the bhikṣus are all removed. Having defi ned the term, the Dazhidu lun goes on to expound on four types of saṃgha, here using the abbreviated term seng 僧. Given that this single glyph has also been used in China since early medieval times to designate an individual monk (and this remains the conventional meaning of the character today) there is inevita- bly a certain amount of slippage in this passage and throughout our discussion between the corporate saṃgha and the monks who make up that saṃgha, and hence between the concepts of “mute sheep monk” and “mute sheep saṃgha.” 是僧四種。有羞僧。無羞僧。啞羊僧。實僧。云何名有羞僧。持戒不破。 身口清淨。能別好醜。未得道。是名有羞僧。云何名無羞僧。破戒。身 口不淨。無惡不作。是名無羞僧。云何名啞羊僧。雖不破戒。鈍根無 慧。不 別 好 醜。不知 輕 重。不知 有 罪 無 罪。若 有僧事。二人共諍。不能 斷決。默然無言。譬如白羊乃至人殺不能作聲。是名啞羊僧。云何名實 僧。若 學 人 若 無 學 人。住 四 果中。行 四向道。是名實 僧。 There are four kinds of saṃgha: the saṃgha that knows shame (youx- iu seng 有羞僧, literally “saṃgha that has shame”), the shameless saṃgha (wuxiu seng 無羞僧), the mute sheep saṃgha (yayang seng 啞 羊僧), and the true saṃgha (shi seng 實僧). Why is the saṃgha that knows shame so called? [The monks of this saṃgha] keep the precepts and do not break them. They are pure in body and speech. They can distinguish between beautiful and ugly, and T no. 2058, 50.318b16. Since the Dazhidu lun is a discussion of doctrine in question and answer format, it would seem to belong to the genre upadeśa. See Demiéville 1973, 470 n. 1; on the attribution of the text to Nāgārjuna see pp. 475–476. 14 James A. Benn but they have not yet attained awakening. Thus it is called the saṃgha that knows shame. Why is the shameless saṃgha so called? [The monks of this saṃgha] break the precepts. They are impure in body and speech. They com- mit every kind of evil. Thus it is called the shameless saṃgha. Why is the mute sheep saṃgha so called? Although they do not break the precepts, [the monks of this saṃgha] have dull faculties and lack wisdom. They cannot distinguish between beautiful and ugly. They do not know what is trivial and what is serious. They do not know what is considered a transgression and what is not. If there is some issue within the saṃgha and two people are arguing, they cannot re- solve it. They are silent and do not speak, like white sheep who cannot make a sound even when they are slaughtered. Thus it is called the mute sheep saṃgha. Why is the true saṃgha so called? [The monks of this saṃgha] are those who abide in the four fruits (phala, guo 果) – whether they are śaikṣa (xueren 學人) or aśaikṣa (wuxue ren 無學人) – and those who cultivate the four accesses.2 Thus it is called the true saṃgha.3 If we restate this defi nition in somewhat crude terms, the Dazhidu lun appears to claim that the only “true saṃgha” consists of those monks who are at the end of the path of practice (those who “abide in the four fruits”), or actively working towards that goal (those who “cultivate the four accesses”). But other (inferior?) saṃghas also exist: there is a saṃgha composed of good monks who have a sense of shame, a saṃgha of bad monks who are shameless, and fi nally a saṃgha which consists of stupid monks who stand mute like sheep when confronted with disputes in the community. We may sum up the qualities of the mute sheep monk (or member of the mute sheep saṃgha) in the Dazhidu lun as follows: they do not break the precepts but they have a low spiritual capacity. They are 2 The four fruits are the attainment of the states of stream-enterer, once- returner, non-returner, arhat. The four accesses refer to the accesses to those fruits. The term śaikṣa applies to one who is still studying and has not at- tained the stage of arhat, while aśaikṣa refers to one whose path is complete: an arhat. 3 Dazhidu lun 大智度論 T no. 1509, 25:80a. Cf. the translation of Lamotte 1944–1981: 202. The silent saṃgha 15 incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, and cannot resolve the disputes of others. Their silence on those occasions is like that of sheep about to be slaughtered, hence their name. The shameless monks, who will also be important to us at a later stage of this discussion, are simply those who break the precepts and are evil in every way.