4. Body in Buddhism

Buddhist teaching about the body

The Buddhist tradition regards the body and the mind as being mutually dependent. The body or physical form is considered as one of the five interdependent components (skandha) that constitute an individual. The five are form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. According to Buddha’s teaching, none of them is permanent, or unchanging self, thus a human being is an impermanent composite of interdependent physical, emotional and cognitive components.
In the Buddha’s discourse of “On the No-self Characteristic” (Anatta-lakkhana Sutta) it is clearly stated that none of the five skandha should be considered as the real self.
So Buddhist attitudes towards the body are complex. On one hand, the distaste for physical and sensual gratification that is related to desire; on the other hand, the recognition of dependence on the body as an aide in the development of insight. In fact some Buddhist meditation methods are focused particularly on the body, the most common of which is breathing.

Practices

1. Tonsure

The tonsure  is the act of creating a bald spot specially for religious reasons. In several religious traditions hair is often considered a vanity. Tonsure is a way of denouncing the vanity and worldly ways represented by hair; it is a commitment to a more austere lifestyle and a ritual marking one’s entrance into a new stage of religious development or activity.
In the Buddhist tradition, tonsure is a part of the ceremony of ordination as a novice, or as a monk, (or nun).  It involves shaving the head and face. The tonsure is renewed as often as required to keep the head cleanly shaven.
Details of the ceremony vary from country to country. In Myanmar and Thailand most male children at about the age of eight spend a few days or months in a monastery, and tonsure is a principal part of the ceremony of entrance. Also in South Korea it is a common custom (see source 1 [link]).
In most instances, the candidate to ordination appears, with head and face well shaved, before an assembly of monks and asks for admission. If accepted, the novice lives in the monastery for a period varying from a few days to several months but he is not allowed to participate in the most important monastic rites.
See source 1 [link]

Buddhist body and moral practice: the Middle way

According to tradition, Siddharta Gautama, the historical Buddha (the awakened one), founder of Buddhism, gave this teaching in India, to the five ascetics with whom he had spent six years practicing austerities. The main topic of this discourse is the way to attain enlightenment, which is the central teachings of Buddhism. This way is described as the the Noble Eightfold Path, which contains various prescriptions regarding the ethical (right speech, right action, right livelihood), cognitive (right understanding, right resolve) and meditative (right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration) dimension of man. In relation to the body it also introduces the Buddhist concepts of the “middle way”: after many years of austerities, the Buddha discovered that such practices of austerity and denial of the sense pleasures, would not lead to the truth. He began the teaching by asserting the position of the middle way as a path of moderation, between the extremes of sensual self-gratification and self-mortification. It becomes ethical practice and philosophical view that are assumed to facilitate enlightenment by avoiding both corporal extremes of sensuality and mortification. Neither of these extreme paths would lead to ultimate truth.

See Source 2 [link] Discourse on Noble Eightfold Path

A common Misunderstanding: “Was Buddha obese?”

It’s very common to see a fat smiling monk with a bag, defined Buddha. First of all, the term “Buddha” means “one who is awake”, so different Buddhist traditions consider “Buddha” different historical or mythical characters depending on countries. Especially in China and Japan, the image of a fat and laughing monks is very widespread. His name is Budai or Pu-tai, a Chinese monk remembered for his loving character, bounty, and kindness. Some Buddhist traditions consider him a Buddha thus many people in the West mistake his image as being Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. His fatness is read as a symbol of spiritual fullness and magnanimity. His fat and kind aspect reflects also a cultural change from a more strict attitude to the body in India to a more popular reception of Buddhism in China and Japan.
See Source 3 [link]

An Extreme practice : Buddhist self-immolation

Even though violence against oneself is prohibited by most interpretations of Buddhist doctrine, in very rare cases some monks  and nuns immolated themselves by burning in protest of the discriminatory treatment, or war. The Religious basis for this extreme act is found in the text called Lotus Sutra.
The Lotus Sutra is one of the most popular and influential Sutra composed starting from 100 BCE  originally in Sanskrit then translated into Chinese by 300 CE, becoming one of the most widespread Sutra in East Asia. It presents important doctrinal innovations, such as the idea of a Supramundane Buddha who eternally adapt his teachings to help sentient beings attain liberation.
The twenty-third chapter of this Sutra recounts the story of the Bodhisattva "Medicine King". In Buddhism "Bodhisattva" indicates who obtains enlightenment, but renounce to enter Nirvana in order to save all the other beings. In this story of the Bodhisattva "Medicine King" demonstrates his insight into the selfless nature of his body by ritualistically setting his body aflame, spreading the "light of the Buddhist teaching" for twelve hundred years in order to save all the other beings.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk engaged for peace since Vietnam War, says : "The bodhisattva shone his light about him so that everyone could see as he could see, giving them the opportunity to see the deathless nature of the ultimate."(see source 4 [link], Letter to Martin Luther King, 1965).
Since 2009, at least 120 Tibetans have self-immolated, more than 40 have died to protest Chinese domination of Tibet.

Links to other Modules’ pages
[link to Buddhism modules, especially Module I p. 6]