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[This annotated bibliography of 220 items suggests the range and major themes of how Buddhism and people influenced by Buddhism have responded to disability in Asia through two millennia, with cultural background. Titles of the materials may be skimmed through in an hour, or the titles and annotations read in a day. The works listed might take half a year to find and read.]
M. Miles (compiler and annotator)
West Midlands, UK. November 2013
Buddhism, Bouddhisme, Buddhismus, suffering, compassion, caring response, loving kindness, dharma, dukkha, evil, heaven, hell, ignorance, impermanence, kamma, karma, karuna, metta, noble truths, eightfold path, rebirth, reincarnation, soul, spirit, spirituality, transcendent, self, attachment, clinging, delusion, grasping, buddha, bodhisatta, nirvana; bhikkhu, bhikksu, bhikkhuni, samgha, sangha, monastery, refuge, sutra, sutta, bonze, friar, biwa hoshi, priest, monk, nun, alms, begging; healing, therapy, mindfulness, meditation, Gautama, Gotama, Maitreya, Shakyamuni, Siddhartha, Tathagata, Amida, Amita, Amitabha, Atisha, Avalokiteshvara, Guanyin, Kannon, Kuan-yin, Kukai, Samantabhadra, Santideva, Asoka, Bhaddiya, Khujjuttara, Panthaka, Theravada, Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Tantric, Nichiren, Zen, Chan, Ch'an, Son, Soen, Thien, Soto, Qingtu, Pure Land, Soka Gakkai, Engaged Buddhism, sutra, sutta, Vinaya, Nikaya, Jataka, Dhammapada, Saddharma Pundarika, Lotus, ...
Disabled, disability, handicap, handicapé, behindert, behinderung, deaf, dumb, sourd, muet, taub, stumm, mad, crazy, retarded, fou, folle, arriéré, débile mental, verrückt, geistig zurück, autism, autistic, autiste, autistisch, abnormal, abortion, amputee, amputated, barren, birth defect, blemish, blind, castrate, cognitive impairment, cretinism, cripple, crooked, cross-eyed, decrepit, defective, deformed, deformity, depression, disorder, dwarf, epileptic, eunuch, frail, goitre, half-wit, hearing impaired, hobble, humpback, hunchback, iodine deficient, idiot, imbecile, infirm, lame, leper, leprosy, limp, lisp, mad, maimed, malformed, mental disorder, misshapen, monster, mutilation, one-eyed, neuroses, paralysis, paralyzed, physical impairment, poor, possessed, poverty, psychoses, schizophrenia, simpleton, stammer, stupid, stutter, ugly, visually impaired, aged, elderly, orphan, vulnerable, ...
Asia, East Asia, North Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, P.R. China, India, Japan, Korea, Lao P.R., Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, Bodh Gaya, Gandhara, Lhasa, Nalanda, Qumran, Taxila, Pali, Sanskrit, Burmese, Chinese, Japanese, Sinhala; Hinduism, Jainism, history, ancient, antiquity, medieval, modern, religion, faith, belief, philosophy, moral, ethics, sacred book, revered text, commentary, translation, interpretation, discourse, cognitive, psychology, psychiatry, alternative medicine, anthropology, ethnography, ethnology, ...
[ ] Bold brackets in notes indicate compiler's 'own comments'.
NAME {Author name in capitals = item listed in this bibliography}
Among the works listed in this Bibliography, some may express views (on all kinds of topics) with which the compiler certainly does not agree, and which are certainly not endorsed by the two institutions publishing the Bibliography. The purpose of the annotations is to indicate some of the contents that are pertinent to disability and Buddhism (and, for background and comparison, in the adjacent major religions); and to do so in a reasonably balanced and neutral style, respecting the authors' right to hold and express views which the compiler personally might find obnoxious, and the sensible readers' right to exercise their own judgement without being misled by systematic compiler bias. There is not the space, nor is this the place, to enter into polemics, or take sides in disputes between different religions, or different schools of Buddhism, different geographical nations, or different parties in 'disability politics'. The main 'bias' that should be seen here arises from the following idea: that the more the peoples and communities across the world hear and listen to one another, trying to understand the points of view of others who live in different ways, and facing the complexities and ambiguities of thoughts and beliefs, the more likely they {we} are to find some common ground, something essentially human that we all recognise and share in, and some ways to tolerate differences and co-exist peacefully.
[Go to first name. Read item. Go 'Back'. Go to next name.]
Does this Introduction need to be read first? NO! Some users may prefer to dip straight into the historical or modern Asian sections, and see what kind of materials are listed there. Some might like to take the 'Organised Shorter Visit'. They might like to read the Introduction later. The whole Introduction and Bibliography assumes some awareness of Buddhism and its breadth, depth and diversity as religion(s), philosophies, or psychological system(s), and some awareness of disability, and the debates within 'Disability Studies'.
This introduction explains how and why the discovery and annotation of relevant materials (in English, with a little German and French) has been a slow and difficult process, full of puzzling issues about which the compiler remains mostly uncertain. For example, how do current scholars know what anyone meant by the words they used centuries ago, translated from a range of Asian languages, whether in the reported teaching of the Buddha, or in describing 'mental disorders' and the behaviour accompanying those conditions? Who (if anyone) has good title to define 'Buddhism'? Is it best understood by scholarly analysis of textual records of doctrines preached and later written down, or by historians evaluating Asian records of slowly changing behaviour in small communities centuries ago, or anthropologists observing changes in living groups now in a range of Buddhist-majority nations? (Or none of these?) Should the compiler try to achieve a 'fair balance' between records which suggest sharply differing beliefs about connections between karma and disability? In a rapidly-changing modern world, is it not crazy to open a 'can of worms' involving religious beliefs and attitudes towards minority groups, and display the results open online, for any Internet user to get annoyed about? [Probably the last question is the only one with a clear answer: Yes, definitely crazy!]
The world's major languages have histories of words and names that have been used, sometimes politely, often thoughtlessly, through five or six thousand years, to talk about impairments and disabilities, such as being blind, or deaf, or unable to walk, or behaving in strange ways. The main words in the title of this bibliography, and the lists of 'terms used', have the potential to annoy somebody, some interest group, some sensitive critics, somewhere in the world. The terms are not intended to irritate anyone; but 'annoyance happens' anyway. The use of terms changes at different speeds in different places. Some terms may come to be disliked in one place just when people somewhere else are getting to like them. If an article goes online, within a few hours some people in 120 countries might find it on their screen, and some will certainly find words they don't like. (Yet one of the broad teachings within Buddhism is that people do not need to get annoyed. Everyone has the choice whether to 'get angry' or to remain calm when viewing words on a screen. However, that requires some conscious effort - both to control one's anger, and also to avoid causing anger in other people!)
These belong to different periods in the past, and different regions. Also, different parts of speech (e.g., nouns and adjectives) are mixed together. This reflects the confusion of everyday usage and terminology, as do the variant spellings of Buddhist terms derived from Pali or from Sanskrit, the omission of accents and diacriticals, and even the different spellings in American and British English. (The 'terms used', like keywords, are mainly intended for search engines to digest, not humans). Some of the terms or phrases are no longer used in polite English in Western countries, but they may be used in some Asian countries or elsewhere with no offensive meaning. They were used normally in earlier centuries in Europe, without the intention of insulting anyone. They are used in this bibliography where they seem to be appropriate. In some ways, this bibliography has been simplified to make it more accessible to people in the majority of countries where English is a second or third language. In other ways it is far from simple, because the responses that we human beings make toward one other are often complicated, ambivalent and ambiguous. The religious and philosophical thoughts behind the responses are also not easy to discuss in simple language.
Every day, tens of thousands more people, who live in countries with restricted access to public libraries or bookshops, are getting an Internet connection, going online, and beginning to surf around billions of websites. Some of them may wish to search, for example, something like < Buddhism, handicap, mental > Even if the term "mental handicap" has hardly been used in Britain or the US since the 1990s, it may be the phrase that some new surfers want to use. If they find something interesting, and continue reading and searching, they will soon come to see that there are many new and old terms they could use in their search. The big computers that operate the search mechanisms simply handle strings of numbers in 'machine language'. Computers don't get annoyed about words which may sound 'wrong' in one place, while still being good in other places. (Presumably, social networking sites will increasingly program their computers to identify and block 'hate-language' that sometimes occurs in 'cyber-bullying'; and some governments already try to exclude discussion of current and historical events that are flashpoints in local community relations or between opposing national political groups; but these are human interventions - the computers don't get emotional as they follow the commands to process instructions).
Phrases such as 'disabled people' and 'people with disabilities' have both been used in this bibliography. There are millions of sensitive, intelligent and well-informed people who strongly prefer one of these terms, and further millions who prefer the other (and several billion people who are indifferent to both, because they don't use English at all, and live quite satisfactory lives without it). One peace-seeking response might be to use neither term; yet that would merely lead to new terms being invented, which would be argued over by further millions. Another response is to use both terms, and ask everyone to be calm, breathe deeply, exercise patience, enjoy the terms they like, tolerate the terms they don't like. We should understand that the English language, let loose across the world, has many variations and is beyond recapture or control. This bibliography is a small tool in a corner of the Internet. Skilful readers are warmly invited to make better tools, in any language of their choice. (One can be reasonably confident that differences of English-language terminology are not a source of suffering for the vast majority of the Asian population, who do not think in English and are fully occupied with their own affairs).
Does 'disability' not cover things like 'deafness' or 'hearing impairment'? Why do 'mental disorder' and 'deafness' get in the title, but not 'blindness'? Originally a series of bibliographies, with which the present compiler (M. Miles) has been engaged since about 1993, was titled "Social responses to disability..." in various regions of Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and 'disability' was used as a general term to cover 'everything'. Yet some 'deaf' or 'Deaf' people do not consider themselves to have a 'disability' - their claim is that they simply use a different kind of language, i.e. Sign Language. (The use of capital 'D', i.e. 'Deaf', may indicate that they were born deaf to two deaf parents, so they grew up using sign language as their first language; or maybe they are deaf in some other way, and use a capital D for their own reasons). They may find that the campaigns run by organisations of 'Disabled People' (often having a high proportion of people who are blind or physically disabled) do not match what the deaf/Deaf people think or want. The situation of people with various kinds of 'Mental Disorders' is also complicated. It might be divided more clearly and described in several other ways and levels, e.g. mental illness, intellectual disabilities, cognitive impairment, brain damage, neurological diversity, psychological difference, autism spectrum, challenging behaviour, or whatever. People having such conditions may perceive their situation differently from the ways in which people who are blind or have a physical disability think about their own situation, or are responded to by the general public.
After using 'Disabled or Deaf' in the title of several bibliographies, this compiler finally decided to add 'Mental Disorders' to the present one. (It's not a term that I actually like. More often I've used "mental disabilities" in other work, but in the present title that would be confusing, so I settled for 'Mental Disorders', and will let readers work it out). Several decades ago, 'mental illness' was not usually grouped together with 'disability'; but that has been changing, and people with mental illness or disorders are now more likely to be included within the 'disability' field, in many parts of the world. Among the various major religions or philosophies of the world, Buddhism is more often associated with exercises of the mind and the mental, cognitive or psychological processes. Some techniques of meditation, originating in Asian Buddhism or Hinduism through two or three thousand years, have recently been used in western therapeutic and psychiatric practice (often without reference to any 'religious' content or origins). It could be argued that 'mental disorder' is addressed or reflected on every second or third page of the collected teachings of the Buddha Gotama, with teaching about the achievement of a 'well-ordered' mind. For one reason and another, I decided to put some specific words in the title, and it came out as 'mental disorders'. (In general, 'blind' and 'blindness' are strongly associated with 'disability', so they do not need to be mentioned separately).
Buddhism is very often presented as speaking about 'suffering'; and this word (in many languages) is assumed, not unreasonably, to be widely understood across the world, in a broad way. However, some 'modern' people having a disability would certainly wish to emphasize that they do not see themselves as 'suffering' from the impairment of sight or hearing, the crooked leg or backbone, slower speed of thought and speech, or whatever people imagine to be their 'disability'. If they think of themselves as 'suffering', it may be from the bias and stupidity of people making false assumptions about them, excluding them from everyday social life, offering help they do not need while failing to recognise the many abilities they have, and designing clothes, houses, streets, toilets, and public services that assume everyone exists in a narrow range of shapes and sizes and can easily walk, see, hear, climb steps while carrying bags, operate self-service machines standing upright in a noisy environment, etc. Such a reconceptualisation of 'disability', allocating much of the 'fault' and 'blame' to the local community or larger society, may play an increasing part in how impairments and disabilities are understood in religions and philosophies of transcendence. The fact of 'suffering' continues, but the focus may change. For example, the old instruction not to place an obstacle in the path of blind people (for the perverted pleasure of seeing them trip over it?) might now be understood more deeply and seriously as the need to avoid environmental designs or social arrangements that are likely to cause trouble, annoyance and injury to many people. (See below, edited collection by TIWARI (1986) 'Suffering: Indian Perspectives' - though with the caution that most of the authors are Western scholars of Indian thought, rather than Indian scholars giving representative Indian perspectives).
Influences of Buddhism may reasonably be claimed to have reached as many as two billion people currently alive, mostly within Asia. This does not mean there are two billion 'Buddhists'; but probably two billion people are living in regions where there is a long history of Buddhist teaching and practice, which has some ongoing influence on the way most people think and behave.* Buddhism is usually considered to be one of the world's major religions -- though many scholars and western practitioners may dispute the term 'religion', preferring 'philosophy', or perhaps 'system of knowledge' or of psychology. Those teachings are believed to originate with the Buddha Gotama (Gautama, more often called Shakyamuni, or Tathagata, in some countries) and a handful of his companions in North India during forty or more years in the sixth, fifth or fourth century BC. Since then, the teachings have travelled a long way - mostly on foot - and have diversified beyond the grasp even of specialists. If the world's 'significantly disabled' people are spread unevenly across the globe with greater numbers in the countries with weaker economies and health services (not balanced by the larger number of very old people, and much broader definitions in the post-industrial nations), at least half of all 'people with disability, deafness or mental disorders' may be living in Asia, amidst populations that are currently influenced either by Buddhist teaching or by religious thought in which karma and rebirth play a substantial role.
* [For such large claims, some evidence is provided by a reported survey of Han Chinese in 10 mainland locations by Xinzhong Yao (2006) "Religious experience in contemporary China" Modern Believing 47 (2) 44-61, after 50 years of "atheist education since 1949". While officially there are ca. 100 million Buddhists in PR China (8% of the population), "78% interviewees report they have realised a Buddhist truth", and 18% "claim to have had an experience of influence or control" by Buddhist spiritual powers.]
The past half century saw some slowly accelerating growth in a worldwide, mainly urban, 'Disabled People's Movement', and in a consciousness among disabled people that most of them do not have equal access to the benefits of 'development' or 'modernity', such as reliable supplies of food, water and electricity, housing, employment, health and education services, leisure facilities, and courts where legal rights may be claimed or enforced. A minority do have some 'special' provisions and public assistance, but even these benefits may disappear in times of economic crisis, or during months or years when flooding or other natural catastrophes occur, or during warfare or civil strife. There has been some concurrent development of consciousness in the religious world, that the benefits which religious belief and spiritual practice {can} {may} {might} {could} {should} offer to all, and in particular to those who are disadvantaged or oppressed, have hardly kept pace with the rising needs of urban and rural populations. Also, religion has often been interpreted in ways that seemed to support the oppressors more than the oppressed, in issues concerning people with mental disorders, deafness or disability.
One outcome, more noticeable in some western countries, has been a re-examination of the major religious teachings, particularly those of the three linked monotheisms, or 'Abrahamic' {Ibrahimic} religions, i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Religious leaders, scholars and activists are beginning to provide, or are hoping to provide, a more thoughtful and positive response to the demands and rising expectations of the Disabled People's Movement, and to 'update their act'. Some of them are trying to offer better physical access to places of worship, removing old barriers, obstructive doctrines and prejudicial language that seem to support a negative image of people with disabilities and reinforce adversely discriminatory practices. During this modernising process there have been some happy occasions with a feeling that positive changes are happening, but also some sharp confrontations and unwelcome discoveries. Disabled people have pointed out that some revered religious texts actively support negative discrimination. (When the modern spotlight focuses on such material, usually some scholars get busy to try to show that in the original context the 'guilty' texts were not as bad as they now look, or were late editorial amendments which can now be weeded out, or they probably meant something completely different... Other scholars may then dismiss these exculpatory efforts as 'lame excuses').
Wheelchair riders have pointed out that 'Inclusion' should mean more than putting a ramp at the back entrance to the temple, church or mosque so that they can find their way into the building between the garbage bins, through the old storeroom, along an unlighted corridor, past the toilets, finally reaching a door into the main hall, which has been locked on seven out of the past ten occasions when they got that far. People with intellectual impairment and behavioural differences have found that Inclusion does not necessarily mean that everyone will be happy if they wander about singing their favourite line from a religious song during the more solemn parts of the rituals of worship. People who are deaf, or have significantly impaired hearing, have drawn attention to the fact that there are many ways of communicating information that do not rely on audible words; and most of these are useful both to deaf people and to everyone else. There's a long way to go (and not just round to the back of the building). Also, confusingly, the warmly advocated preferences of some people with disabilities may be the opposite of what some other disabled people would prefer.
'Updating the act' is slowly getting under way. The communities using mosques, temples, churches, gurdwaras, meditation halls and other buildings are learning not only to change some of the external environment and the interpretation of old texts, but also to make more room in their hearts and minds, to accommodate people with various kinds of difference, marginality, difficulty, disorder, or vulnerability. It has been discovered that many of those disabled people have human gifts, wisdom, benefit or blessing to offer to the communities (as well as some human failings and curses). The process of updating is being noticed and documented, sometimes by young disabled activists having in hand a copy of their country's recently enacted legal access laws. In some countries, small minority religions have taken notice of what the dominant religion has been obliged to do, and have been happy to proclaim that "In our belief system, we did these good things all along!" More often, they may say something like "Our tradition is to have seven stone steps up to the entrance. This requires busy people to slow down and raise their eyes upward, which prepares them to venerate the holy images. We are in no hurry to throw away this useful old custom."
Almost all practising Buddhists, at some time or other, are likely to think about 'disability' as a part of the natural change and decay of the human body to which they are already subject, or will soon be subject. Also, most of the {estimated} two billion people living within the daily influence of Buddhism are likely to have a close or distant relative, neighbour, classmate, workmate or other friend who has some kind of disabling condition. So there are clearly some practical reasons and grounds for examining and clarifying what has been taught and thought at the interface between Buddhism and disability, deafness or mental disorders. This is all the more so, since the evidence shown below suggests some sharp divisions and differences between the views of some urban, well-educated, 'modern' Buddhists and the much greater number of rural, less-educated (but not necessarily less wise) 'traditional' Buddhists.
This bibliography and its annotation are very largely based on 'textual' representations of Buddhism (and associated responses to disability, mental disorders or deafness), in two or three European languages, i.e. ways in which Buddhism appears in writing and printing in English and a little French and German, with a sprinkling of iconography and website material. Representation 'in text' is likely to be a different matter from the ways in which ordinary Buddhists (or ordinary people living within an 'influence-field of Buddhism') in their homes, market places, temples, fields, factories or offices -- ordinary people, cycling to work, greeting their neighbour, washing their children's clothes, reading a newspaper, walking for exercise or to fill water vessels -- may feel, believe and practise their Buddhism {see especially TOKARSKA-BAKIR, section 4.0}, and may respond or feel about disability or about people who are deaf or have mental disorders. Ideally, 'textual' Buddhism would give a good reflection both of the carefully chosen words and well-constructed thoughts of writers and artists through 2500 years, and of the thoughts and ideas of present and past Buddhists across the world, in their interface with disability, mental disorders and deafness. Yet there are inevitably many differences between text and thought, and between writing and being. There are also significant differences of thought, concept and discourse appearing in European-language translations, compared with thoughts and concepts in the ancient and modern languages of Asia. Further, the very idea of an individual collecting a pile of 'Buddhist texts' and scholarly expositions or commentaries, and scraping through the pile for stuff 'relevant to disability', is an alien notion, seen against the actual practice of Buddhism in most times and places, where scrolls of 'text' were very scantily available, and the text they contained had "several lives" all fairly different from the uses to which a modern student might put them! (Fabio Rambelli, 2006, p. 52)
The lengthy task of re-examining textual representations of disability in Buddhist sources certainly needs to be done by specialists in 20 or 30 major Asian languages from primary texts, without reference to the way it is being done in English. [The need for such processes is all the more obvious merely from considering the differences made by reviewing work in a couple of 'other' European languages, such as French and German! The roots of German have (in many ways) given more to English, so the ways in which thinking is structured are broadly familiar to anglophones (even if the Germans persist in putting their verbs at the end); while differences arise in, e.g., styles of discourse and the perseverance with which ideas are hunted down to their origins. The case of French is different, because although there is much French-derived vocabulary in sophisticated English, the French think differently. One does not really know what one has written in English, until a French intellectual tries to translate it into French in the way that he or she would think of it -- the depth of philosophical difference changes the available structures of thinking. Thus it is always refreshing to go over similar ground with either French or German authors. {The Sanskrit- and Pali- based origins of Buddhist teaching and text, being in the Indo-European language family, also have some deep, underlying comprehensibility even to distant Western Europeans; but when those ideas travelled North and East, to the languages of Tibet, Mongolia, and East Asia, or through Burma to South-East Asia, they were liable to undergo a more substantial restructuring}.]
Some such re-examination of Buddhist primary sources must already be taking place in obscure academic journals - yet there are few public signals of such activity... One of the necessary preliminary or parallel activities would be further development of substantial online dictionaries such as the multilingual Digital Dictionary of Buddhism by Charles MULLER and many learned collaborators (see further detail in bibliography, section 2.0), examining in some philological depth the Asian terms used in Buddhist texts in several major Asian languages. Disability-related terms occur quite incidentally, but a full-text search (in English) does find at least 30 disability terms, with more than 200 examples of use in Buddhist texts, including a good range of terms now considered 'politically incorrect' or abusive in Western anglophone countries (e.g. 'cripple', 'imbecile', 'ugly') but which probably represent more accurately the historical and current usage across much of Asia.
If at times this Introduction sounds rather defensive, the reader will have read the signals correctly! To engage in compiling and annotating a bibliography on the interface and interaction {maybe 'interfog' would be more accurate?} of two vast and much contested fields of experience, knowledge and belief as are shown here, is distinctly hazardous; and then to make the results 'open online' looks like asking for trouble! A first defence is that what follows is freely admitted to be partial, incomplete, tentative, 'in progress', subject to correction, and offered in a spirit of goodwill. Up to now, there has not been any substantial annotated bibliography devoted to this field of knowledge, open online -- nor was any such a work found in European-language academic sources. If the present effort is subjected to critical scrutiny by scholars and thinkers who could probably have made a much better job of it, maybe improvements and corrections will be put in hand. Perhaps a specialist team may pool its resources and produce a much better job as a formal academic publication in the next five or ten years. {Yet one might ask why they would do so. In the academic game, probably a majority of players are motivated to write books and journal articles advancing their own research and conclusions, and staking out some ground a little ahead of the broad research front, rather than mapping fields where the writing has been done by other people over centuries and millennia.}
Had I started this compilation intelligently, by drafting an Introduction, I would probably have stopped as the difficulties of the exercise began to dawn and enlarge themselves. But the compilation did not take place in an orderly or sensible way. The enormity (and perhaps the effrontery) of the tasks only slowly became apparent. What drew me onward was the sheer fascination of successive and unexpected 'finds' in the vast translated literature of Asian Buddhism, where disability, deafness and 'mental' stuff came up either casually or deliberately, and possible patterns seemed to emerge, or to be contradicted. The process began years ago, after 12 years living and working in Pakistan. Returning to UK, I began writing a phd thesis on social responses to disability in South Asian history, and later began to compile and annotate a bibliography on a similar topic for East Asia. One thing led to another, and eventually a large annotated bibliography on disability and deafness in the Middle East was added, and after several years an annotated bibliography on "disability and deafness in the context of religion, spirituality and belief, in Middle Eastern, South Asian and East Asian cultures and histories", beside many articles hidden from public gaze in the obscurity of refereed academic journals. In the Introduction to the 'context of religion' bibliog, I compared it to pulling up a bucket of water from the ocean, pouring some of the water over my feet, watching which way the water ran off, then claiming to have understood the ocean [!] After getting into such a stupid predicament once, wiser people would have avoided doing it again. (Apparently 'pouring water on one's feet and watching it run off' is an image sometimes used in Buddhist teaching; but they probably don't claim to understand even the bucket. See Hallisey & Hansen, 1996, p. 322, on Patacara.)
Late in 2009, after getting a diagnosis of myeloma (cancer of the bone marrow / plasma), I understood that my life would probably end quite soon. After completing a survey of deaf people and sign language through 500 years in Ottoman Turkey, and revising some comparative work on blind and sighted teachers in India and China, it seemed good in early 2012 to try to update the East Asia bibliography. I had not touched it for several years, but had a pile of accumulated fresh material. A little Buddhist material in the earlier 'disability and religion' work could be switched over into the main East Asia materials; but then I realised that those items were few and the annotations quite weak. It seemed better to take a few months to search more carefully for thoughtful Buddhist material that addressed disability. There are people in web forums asking "what does Buddhism say about disability?", and getting no more than brief notes and anecdotes for reply, who might benefit from an annotated bibliography. (Or they might be plunged into confusion, on seeing the range of viewpoints. Arguably, 'deepening the confusion' is a necessary stage while moving toward enlightenment -- but sceptical students may decide that confusion is merely a result of teachers failing to resolve the contradictions in their own teaching!) Fortunately, annotated bibliographies need not pretend to offer reasoned and coherent answers across a vast and complex field - they merely sketch some dimensions of a field, and indicate some of the major points that have been made and who has been publishing what. They may invite people to take part in reading, discussing and maybe writing. (Or singing, painting, whatever... textually-fixated old men must accept that there is more than one way of communicating knowledge!)
Many months passed, the number of listed items continued to rise, the annotations thickened up with cross-references, the haematologists periodically said they were pleased with my blood tests; and people whom I knew well, mostly adults aged 50 to 90, mysteriously grew several inches taller.[*] Myeloma is a killer, practically incurable with present knowledge, and its aetiology is unclear. The cancerous junk in the blood can be pushed back for some time; or may be removed by stem cell transplants, with some risks. It's remarkably clever how the tiny cancer cells succeed in slipping past the defences, multiplying and crowding out the healthy cells, undermining the bones and blood, while one's skeleton starts to sag, crack and crumble, the immune system slowly gives up, major organs fail to function and eventually the body collapses. (All bodies collapse, given time! Myeloma usually shortens the time, though the blood cancer specialists are getting quite clever at lengthening survival times). Sober teachers of Buddhism advise students to gaze regularly at decrepitude and death. I'm not a Buddhist, but a personal study of cancer is an interesting way to focus on the transience of life. Yet the depths and complexities of historical Asian thinking around decay, death, rebirth, merit and demerit, disability and deafness, while fascinating to grapple with, are seldom if ever contemplated in modern western media. If they do appear, they will usually be dismissed as 'pre-scientific' nonsense, or perhaps as merely a reflection of the dismal poverty in which the 'Asian masses' are believed to live (measured in purely material terms). (Another hazard to beware of is that, for every bloated generalisation about 'Buddhism', history, culture, 'the East', 'the West', there is a younger critical scholar waiting to sink her teeth into the balloon and bring it crashing to earth!)
* [This was just another illusion. Through four years, I lost 17 cm height (nearly 7 inches), as bones have weakened and sagged downward; but the visual impression to me was that other adults were getting taller, which was quite strange!]
As mentioned above, during the past 30-40 years, urban populations representative of the world's major religions, faiths, philosophies of transcendence, meditational systems, have slowly begun adjusting to the emergence of new discourses of disability and deafness. Briefly (with a little exaggeration) the message from modern organisations of deaf or disabled people has been:
{Or words to that effect.}
Of course, individually, people with disabilities have a very wide range of interpretation of the above ways of 'speaking up', and they exhibit the same vast range of human character, self-awareness, intelligence, humour, anger, fluency in articulating their thoughts, and capacity for self-deception, that the rest of 'non-disabled' (or 'not-yet-disabled') humanity exhibits. They cannot be pinned down and characterised as 'protesters', using slogans to 'claim their rights', as might appear above! Those (above) are the collective voices of membership organisations which claim to 'represent' disabled people - or people with particular categories of impairment - and who therefore engage in political action for change. There are certainly many individuals with disabilities who care nothing about abstract 'rights'; they would prefer money in their hand or in their bank account; or a reasonably-paid job with a few adaptations so they can get into the office, factory, workshop or home computing system, and actually do the work. There might well be particular disabled people who would disagree with all 'political action' -- but who might, in their professional capacity of sociologist, or literary or legal researcher, mount a strong and well-informed critique of the ways in which religious discourse has been used to marginalise disabled people and associate them with 'social problems' or 'sinfulness'. If these kinds of barriers remain untouched, the achievement of much-improved physical, legal and environmental 'access' might merely bring disabled people more quickly and shockingly up against the invisible barriers of indifference and disdain in the hearts and minds of their fellow-humans. (This is not an argument for stopping 'political protests' and demands for better access. It is an argument for concerned people to engage thoughtfully in the development of human societies across a very wide front, using many different resources and bringing benefits to the majority of the human populations -- and without carelessly destroying the habitat of other living creatures).
[Strenuous efforts will here be made to avoid assertions such as that "Buddhism says....", or "Buddhism teaches...", since there is no single entity called "Buddhism" having capacity to make simple statements or assertions of truth. The more cautious approach is to suggest that "Some schools of Buddhism teach..."; or "translated to English, the Buddha Gotama is reported to have said..."]
Some of the kinds of evidence one might hope to find in Asian countries would be the following:
Some evidence of all these kinds does in fact appear in the material listed below, though it is of course far from exhaustive, it is unevenly spread between different categories and different countries, and is not listed under the above categories. This ad hoc classification of evidence is shown merely as one approach to getting to grips with evidence, if a larger and more systematic study were made. The final item, d.5, serves as a reminder that one should be sceptical of any assumption that the influence of Buddhism in so-called 'Buddhist countries' must be 'all-pervasive', even when invisible. Sometimes if no influence can be seen, it might be because there was and is no influence!
One of the odd features of a bibliography such as this, arranged alphabetically by author, and with only the slightest attempt at periodisation ('Earlier' / 'Modern') is that from one item to the next there may be a huge leap both of historical time and place, but also of interpretative assumptions, or hermeneutics. In one item, the basic assumption may be that the (translated) words and teaching of the Buddha Gotama are being presented, as heard and faithfully transmitted by his earliest companions or audience, so that 'we' (21st century readers, scattered across the Internet world) can read them and form some idea of what Gotama thought about disability, deafness, etc. The next listed item may have a very different set of basic assumptions. For example, it might be a scholarly monograph in which it is assumed that the 'Buddhist text' we now read is the outcome of centuries of editing, commentating, retranslating and repackaging of Gotama's words, by people with various motivations. Among the motives might have been the survival of the 'Buddhist community' in a particular Asian country in an early century; and the interpretative lenses we use must differentiate between several different sorts of 'literal', 'metaphorical', 'allegorical', or 'mixed' meanings, while the sporadic use of 'disability'-related terms might have little or nothing to do with physical or sensory impairments, or with the impact of ill-designed city environments on people having such impairments. A third item on the page may be situated in an East Asian country more than a thousand years after Gotama lived, and more than a thousand years before 'our' time; and it may address the beliefs of people for whom Gotama was a very remote figure belonging to a different era, and linked only by the slightest thread with what they believe to be the New {at that time} Buddhist vision of heaven and earth, salvation and merit acquisition. The bibliography user is supposed to bounce around happily (or at any rate, earnestly!) adjusting to these hugely different assumptions and viewing lenses. (The annotations may assist by giving some clues and indications of whether the user is standing on her feet, or on his head, or on an electronic cloud in some fourth dimension).
A quarter century ago, the following ironic and minatory paragraph was written by Trevor Ling, a distinguished western scholar of Buddhism and the ancient and medieval civilisations in which it grew and later flourished:
"It is difficult for a person of Western origin and upbringing to present Indian sociological perspectives on any subject. The more accounts of fieldwork in India by Western social scientists one reads, the more difficult it seems to be. The works of those such as Max Weber, who wrote social science monographs about India, never having lived in India, and knowing no Indian language (ancient or modern) are, of course, mainly of historical interest: that is, they are of interest for what they tell us about the history of European cultural attitudes, certainly not for what they tell us about India. But now that cultural imperialism is recognised for what it was, one can but admire the confidence of those Western anthropologists who make hurried trips of a year or so into a sub-continent of whose history and language, philosophies and beliefs, cults and organisations they have at best only a superficial knowledge when they begin, and very little more when they have finished, and who appear to believe that they can produce contributions to Indian social analysis which will be of more value to the comparative sociologist than those produced by Indian social scientists." (p. 270)
[T. Ling (1986) Indian sociological perspectives on suffering. In: TIWARI (1986) Suffering.]
Ling's ironic incredulity at the 'confidence' of fleeting western academic tourists, and his sceptical gaze at the superficiality of their understanding at both the Arrival and the Departure gates, have entirely failed to stem the flood of western academics and aid agencies visiting Asian countries for 'rapid appraisal' and high-speed 'advisory report' on all aspects of Asian social and economic development, usually for a far shorter period than the "year or so" that Ling noticed. Some visitors do read a little literature on their 'target' country, or at least consult Wikipedia and do a little googling, to learn something about the 'strange customs and beliefs' of those distant people to whom they hope to bring 'western' benefits and 'advice'. [A tiny, incidental result is that people have sometimes sent the compiler of this bibliography an enquiry about 'Buddhism and disability', on the basis of a few articles written some years ago, in which issues of disability and Asian religions were (rather naively) discussed. {Years later I suggested in print that my knowledge of Buddhism had reached the stage where I could spell the name with the 'h' in the right place!} Invariably I inform such enquirers that I am very far from 'expert' on this topic - not a Buddhist - don't read Pali - never chatted with the Dalai Lama - never visited Tibet or Vietnam! Their best course will be to visit the country concerned, and there respectfully ask well-informed people to tell them something about this topic. However, for these enquirers to begin to understand some of the background, and thereby begin to see how to formulate sensible questions, I have sketched a few ideas and suggested some materials that can be read.]
One might expect that googling < buddhism disability deaf > would already have provided such enquirers with a range of explanatory material, especially if further combinations of words like 'karma' 'rebirth' 'mental' and maybe 'blind', 'epilepsy' 'goitre', and older words like 'handicap' 'deformity' 'leper' 'cretin' 'infirmity' were added to the search (since earlier translations of Buddhist works may use such terms), and trying French or German equivalents, not forgetting different spellings such as sutta and sutra, Gotama and Gautama, etc. Yet recently I realised that the web search results are far from satisfactory, whether in explaining Buddhist responses to disability in terms that make sense in the Buddhist conceptual world(s), or in ways that make sense to the average educated westerner with a (post-)Judaeo-Christian background and occasional encounters with significantly different world views. Google retrieves millions of snippets of data, but seldom presents coherent thinking or guides the user through complexity. Further, though Google still scans an astonishing amount of material, it is not consistent in what it shows up. The algorithms are often tweaked as Google engineers battle against commercial tricks to get particular sites into the first page of hits. There are also other reasons why Google has been reallocating some results to appear in different places. The main Google site may ultimately carry 'everything' but Google Books and Google Scholar can be a much quicker route to discovering serious, evidence-based textual material on Buddhism and disability, at least in English. {Google also usually prioritises 'new' text, assuming that 'older' work will be 'outdated' and 'irrelevant'; or if it still has value, it's sure to be reprinted. Both assumptions, while understandable, help to lose useful material.} Some may argue that personalised views or blogs by live Buddhists with disabilities will be more 'serious' than academic views from the outside - so the bibliography below contains a few representations of such media and thoughts. Who can tell how the balance should be made, between different kinds of material?
One of the hardest thing to know, when looking at evidence about disability and how disabled people spent their lives in earlier centuries, is whether the modest amount of available texts is giving a fair picture, or is heavily biased in one or more ways. The lives of the great mass of ordinary individuals and families across Asia were very seldom written about; still less, the lives of disabled people amongst them. They continue in 2013 to be hardly visible from a distance, and far from perspicuous even when viewed close up. Things got recorded and preserved in texts that we can still read, for various reasons, e.g. they were considered important to kings and rulers, or to the leaders of the dominant religion, or they appeared in legal codes or maybe in textbooks of medicine and pharmacology. Ordinary people, especially women or children, rarely figure in such texts, let alone being the authors of them. Yet the millions lived their lives, reproduced the human race, and experienced disabilities as they became old, or sometimes much earlier in life.
The main teachings and differences of the major schools of Buddhism are hardly made clear in the annotations to items listed below, and do not necessarily appear in the items themselves, which may be quite specialised; yet some of the differences are useful for understanding the points about disability, and the wide range of ways in which Buddhists may respond toward disability and disabled people. Yet this bibliography is not the place to learn the basics of Buddhism (if there is such a thing as 'the basics'). Summaries of major doctrines may be found in many modern books about Buddhism in its Asian heartlands, or in encyclopedia articles or serious websites. [Yet 'major doctrines' seem to be at some distance, maybe a great distance, from the ways in which the great majority of Asian Buddhists (or Asians living within the long-term influences of Buddhism) live and understand their daily lives. This is also the case if one compares the 'major doctrines' of other great religions or philosophies, and the everyday lives of three billion people having some connection with 'Christendom' or the 'House of Islam').] It should also be emphasized that there are some fundamental assumptions or presuppositions, in the 'Asian Buddhist conceptual world(s)' that seem to be substantially different from those commonly found among 'western' adherents of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (or indeed among western non-adherents or opponents of the monotheisms, whose secularism, humanism, agnosticism or atheism often belongs to a similar conceptual world to that of most monotheists).
The conceptual universe of Asian Buddhism can hardly be entered with a few hours of reading or skimming around online texts, or simply stating some 'doctrines' in English. Much the same could be said of any of the world's major religions or philosophies of transcendence - yet the 'Abrahamic' monotheisms have (perhaps) sufficient mutual common ground, that students of any one can hope to understand something about the conceptual world of the others without a substantial shift of perspective. It is doubtful whether the same can be said of Buddhism. Attempts to summarise in modern English 'what Buddhism is all about' are very likely to leave the 'western' reader with a series of largely false impressions, because the summary is being read through the wrong set of lenses. Not merely new lenses are needed - a new pair of eyes would be more useful. (And the eyes work better when they are open).
'North American Buddhism', or 'Western Buddhism' including European views, has been developing a variety of voices and expressions through the 20th century, many of which have tried to construct some bridges, or to reproduce Asian voices, or sometimes to strike out boldly in new directions, or at least to open some eyes. It is probably too soon to tell whether these efforts can maintain sufficient links with Asian Buddhism to be recognised as being part of the same philosophy or belief system; or whether differences of underlying assumptions will generate too much pressure at the level of 'tectonic plates'. Another century or two may be needed to gain a reliable perspective on these questions. [Recently Jim Deitrick, at the Journal of Buddhist Ethics site, assembled data suggesting that {North} American Buddhists hardly take 'karma and rebirth' seriously - it's not a 'live option' for modern western thinkers. J. Deitrick, 2005/2011, Can American Buddhism accommodate karma? (open online). Such ideas are perhaps not flatly rejected; they are more like old library books now accommodated in a remote store, from which the librarians promise to retrieve them in a day or two if someone puts in an order! However, belief in karma and rebirth apparently continues to be basic to much of 'mainstream' Asian Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, and not only among the less intellectual masses but among some thinkers having great depth and subtlety. ZEUSCHNER (below) also discusses some ways in which early Ch'an masters bypassed complicated philosophical schemes by making a metaphorical interpretation of transmigration, leaving a "doctrine of karma which many Westerners can feel comfortable with".]
There is no single teaching authority, organisation or Supreme Court or Council that could provide the authoritative 'Buddhist response' to disability (or anything else), nor is there any prospect of such a universally-recognised authority arising, to give such a response. Some individual Asian Buddhists have become international 'leaders', media celebrities and spokesmen, such as the 14th Dalai Lama, and the leading campaigner for 'Engaged Buddhism', Thich Nhat Hanh -- yet it appears from published discourses of those men, that they have hardly begun to hear or engage with the issues raised by the international Disability Movement. (Or perhaps they have begun to hear, but realise that apart from a few 'positive' anecdotes, the Buddhism in which they have a lifelong immersion is bound to conflict with some modern western 'demands', and this issue is nowhere near the top of all the urgent demands on them). The demand for 'Disability Rights', enforceable if necessary in courts of law to compel organisations and shopkeepers, architects, designers, journalists and politicians to change their everyday behaviour, work and language, is hardly a way of pursuing happiness; nor of discarding illusions of 'self', nor of perceiving the inevitability of material decay and the necessity for long-term control of one's mind to focus on realities in a spiritual world. The (possible) benefits of disability rights campaigning have yet to find any clear-cut international Buddhist leader to adopt, re-frame or advocate them. Certainly, there are Buddhist leaders in many Asian countries who have powerful nation-wide influence among their own people, using their own national language. Some may achieve the power of identification, or of 'inter-being', with the marginalised, despised, disabled, outcast and unwanted, among their compatriots. As yet, it is not easy to find any who, while embracing the poor and downtrodden, have also picked up the campaign for disability rights 'with teeth'. (Some of the veterans of western campaigns, who saw positive laws passed in the 'Decade of Disabled Persons', 1983-1992, have now lived long enough to tell - mostly in private - a bitter story of how those laws have been, and continue to be, widely ignored, bypassed, rolled back, stepped around; or found 'unaffordable').
Issues of balance may be felt most acutely at one or two points where views held by perhaps the great mass of traditional Asian Buddhists seem to be in conflict with views adopted by some 'modern' Buddhists who may wish to accommodate recent 'western' thinking, or may have reached a different position by their own reflection. Such points of conflict arise when some Buddhists articulate the view that disability experienced by a person in the present life is an outcome of action in an earlier life; while other Buddhists may wish to finesse this belief in various ways, or simply deny or rebut it as a relic of earlier times, or ignore it as not being pertinent to what anyone should do in the present age.
Some textual evidence is shown below that certainly seems to support traditional positions, while modern anthropological studies appear to suggest that large rural Asian populations do offer simplified explanations, such as: 'bad action leads to bad outcomes later in the same life or next life; good action earns merit, which may cancel out some or all bad actions, now or in future life'; {yet other studies indicate that there may be some ambivalence in the minds of people offering 'simplified' views - they might merely lack a differentiated vocabulary with which to express the nuances they actually have in mind}. Can such positions be counted as valid 'Buddhist teaching' merely because many uninstructed or poorly instructed Asian people assert that this is what they believe 'as Buddhists'? On the other hand, is authoritative (but widely ignored) teaching to be found only among an urban elite studying particular texts and interpreting them in a particular way? In the present bibliography, should an equal number of entries be shown for each main position or viewpoints, or should the quantity reflect the prevalence or vigour with which the view is propagated? (In fact, during 18-20 months searching for, compiling, pondering and annotating materials, it was not so easy to find material in European languages that seemed to make significant statements about disability in Buddhist Asia. However, an impression has slowly become stronger of moving toward a kind of 'saturation', i.e. a point where additional material, while interesting, is no longer drawing in major new ideas. Yet this impression might turn out to be merely another illusion).
While compiling the materials below, efforts were made to find at least some views based within each of the major Asian countries where Buddhism has a significant modern or historical presence; and to continue picking up views and positions that add to the variety or extend the range and the subtlety, even though they might be far from common or representative; and also to favour textual evidence where there seemed to be more thoughtful scrutiny and scholarly care. The latter qualifications are of particular importance since most of the source material has been through at least one, and often several, processes of translation. There are strong probabilities that some words on which an argument might be based could mean something significantly different in their original language and context, from what comes through in the European-language translation; and this could make a significant difference to the argument. Unfortunately, comparatively few readers have the patience to tease out all the finer points for themselves. The strong human tendency is for people to skim through text, looking for things that bolster the position they have already adopted, rather than seeking the complexities and living with the uncertainties!
There seem to be significant differences between major Buddhist views of karma and rebirth and those more commonly found in the Hindu [*] ocean in which Buddhism was (or probably was) conceived and developed, and from which it became increasingly differentiated over centuries.
* [Hindu, Hindus. This is another contested word or name, formulated by foreigners to describe hundreds of millions of people living in India and having a very wide range of philosophies, beliefs and disbeliefs; but it became more 'specific' for distinguishing the vast number who could not be classified as Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, or Jainas. More recently the name has been taken up deliberately as the broad religious identity of a political majority. (A few major texts of the early Hindu heritage are included below, such as the recent critical edition and translation of 'MANU', the Legal Code, Manava-Dharmasastra, formulated by Patrick Olivelle, since this probably contains much of the context and some of the legalistic thinking against which the Buddha Gotama and his followers argued and from which they departed; similarly, Olivelle's translation of 12 major Upanishads to modern English.]
The Buddha Gotama reportedly contradicted notions which people commonly have, that they possess, or within them there exists, a 'self', a Self, 'Atman', an unchanging essence, individual being, 'soul', vital breath, distinct from others and continuing from one rebirth to the next, an inextinguishable ongoing spark or flame within every human, each containing some unique and individual element.# That is an illusion, an appearance without any substance, according to the Tathagata as recorded. To advance on the Buddha's Way is to dispense with such an illusion (among many other illusions). Apparently there was always a significant minority of Buddhists who disagreed with or reinterpreted this dismissal, or were prepared to argue with any particular formulation of it (see e.g. the 'Personalist Controversy', in E. Conze, transl., 1960, Buddhist Scriptures, pp. 190-197, Penguin Classics); yet the teaching of 'anatman' has continued. According to a cheerful description by BOWKER (Oxford Dictionary, 63-64), "agreement was generally reached that there is no soul which, so to speak, sits inside the human body, like the driver of a bus, and gets out at the end of the journey".
# [The Buddha very likely did not elaborate any such list or lightly conflate selves, souls and sparks! GOMBRICH, 1996, pp. 15-16, (below) gives a philological basis for arguing that the 'self' against which the Buddha argued was in fact "the Upanisadic theory of the soul", and this was "something very few westerners have ever believed in and most have never even heard of." (Whether Gombrich was right or not, there are certainly grounds for avoiding dogmatic simplifications of what the Buddha reportedly said on such issues).]
Not surprisingly, it would also be an illusion to think that the few lines above constitute an adequate description of this doctrine and its nuances and ramifications! Further, one need not be worried by the thought that one or two billion adult Hindus and Buddhists down the centuries have regularly paused in their everyday life to remind themselves that nobody was driving their bus, nor (mostly in the case of Buddhists) were any gods or God supervising the universe! Yet some evidence of the experience (or delusion) of wondering "Who am I?", or recognising that "without my family and friends I'm nobody" can perhaps be found early in the human record, reflected in burial practices and veneration of ancestors. The rebuttal of the ongoing self has an awkward corollary that, "the person who dies is not the same person as the one who is born in the next life ... An early simile for the process is of a flame which lights another flame: the two are not the same, but part of a continuum." (Endnote by Crosby & Skilton, in SANTIDEVA, 176, below).
The present compiler / annotator is certainly not immune from the tendency to seek support for his own position (when he has one), and to overlook arguments that would undermine it; yet in the present issue of balance he does not consciously have any particular goals to score for one team or another. When it comes to disability, all the great religions and philosophies seem to have some admirable things to display from their historical treasury and current practice, along with some rather toxic stuff which they might usefully consider putting in storage or discarding. Historical evidence suggests that none is in a strong position to claim that its teaching has all the right answers and all the best practice, when it comes to responding to disability and disabled people, including those who are deaf or are living with a mental disorder. So it may be in the interests of all, to hear and see what the neighbours or competitors have to show and tell, and to assist one another in updating and improving the activities, for the benefit of all. [Such a scenario is discussed in some detail, in an Encyclopedia article on "Religion and Spirituality" in the open online International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation. (and versions in French and Spanish.]
Most of the motivation for change, updating and improvement must be discovered within the ranks of adherents and expositors of each religion, faith or philosophy. That may come partly as a result of complaints and campaigning by people with disabilities or their families and friends. Yet it may be felt more positively when people report something good in the others' field - "Hey, these Muslims have a really good idea there!" - "Yes, and there are Buddhists in Japan who make it work very well like this..." rather than simply responding when complaints are made. In fact, if it comes to varying or finessing the beliefs about karma and rebirth with an eye on disability, plenty of work has already been done in opening up the traditional thinking... as may be seen 30 years ago in various chapters of NEUFELDT (ed.) Karma & Rebirth (see below, 2.0 Bibliography)
In some 'Middle Length' discourses of the Buddha, it is pointed out that considerations of 'noble birth', or personal origin in a wealthy family, or being a member of an influential family, are not to be considered as setting such a person above someone from a poor family or from a common, undistinguished background. Nor should more attention be paid to people with intellectual gifts who have devoted their time to reading a lot of religious arguments and practising the art of rhetoric to demolish anyone else's argument and to pick holes in the Buddha's teaching -- but who show little or no sign of practising meditation and acting in a kindly and considerate way toward those whom they live with or meet outside, or giving support to those who are hungry, sick or suffering. There are some signals that the person with very modest intellectual ability who makes practical efforts to follow the Way may be deemed by the Buddha to have greater merit than the smart person who merely gives displays of cleverness. However, the inclusive and egalitarian nature of the discourse has some limits. The position of females seems to be regarded as somewhat lower than that of males -- if a woman earns a lot of merit, she may achieve rebirth as a male (an outcome that might be a disincentive for many modern women!) Curiously enough, in many societies, including some with dominant Buddhist influence, a majority of men might agree that most women are noticeably more proficient than men at offering care and expressing kindness toward other people. Yet women, with this apparent talent or biological predisposition for kindness and service to others, have remained in a secondary position, compared with men, in most religions. Perhaps the majority have always been too busy practising the precepts of religion, leaving men free to develop the advanced theories and take charge of collecting the money and building the infrastructure?
In addition to women as historical examples of unequal treatment and artificially restricted role, people with disabilities seldom show up as candidates for a 'status upgrade', in the Buddhist world. To be born with a disability is very widely considered a negative condition, indicating 'bad karma'. It is not seen as a reward, or as promotion to a higher condition (though to be born human, even with disability, is a better condition than being born as an animal or an insect). Teachers in the past, whose work continues to be published and used for teaching now, seem to endorse such thinking about disability. Amidst many examples of this, found in the bibliography below, there are just a few examples where something 'positive' [*] can be found, about someone with a disability. Those few examples can be treasured as 'growing points' for the future. Yet perhaps the future growth might occur within Buddhist discourse, by Buddhist teachers at all levels who have succeeded in reaching a different way of thinking, where disability is neither good nor bad - it is merely something that happens, not an indicator of a morally flawed previous life?
* [However, there can be substantial differences between the major religions, or between the ways in which their practical teachings have been (mis)apprehended, as to what counts as 'positive'. For example, thoughtless charitable donation, arising from a misguided passion to acquire 'merit', may merely damage recipients, providing them with the means to continue in wrong conduct and reinforcing various false notions.]
The bibliographic annotations below spend some space picking away at disability-related words in the listed texts, which may be used in a plain everyday sense, or metaphorically, allegorically, or in some other ways. In some places I have indicated an awareness that this 'verbal' focus might annoy or puzzle some readers - but it can be argued that, when one looks at historical documents, it's a good idea to look closely at the words that are being used, before getting into debates about the merits or problems in the 'doctrines' which the words may combine to formulate, or in the underlying 'discourse', which may quietly be flowing in some other direction. For sure, the words must be seen 'in context' (and if the words have been translated from a different language, and from different conceptual worlds, there is always more work needed in getting to grips with the context...) During the past 30 or 40 years, 'critical discourse analysis' has entered the world and begun justifying its name -- fresh jargon has blossomed (or has sprouted like weeds all over the place, depending on the observer's position, and what she is trying to defend), with implications for the topic of this bibliography and also for the academic exercise implicit in annotating it - nothing is innocent, and certainly nothing is 'neutral', whatever the intention! See e.g. Kocku von Stuckrad (2013) Discursive study of religion: approaches, definitions, implications. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 25.1 (2013).
For those who are interested in a 'metric' approach to discourse, e.g. measuring the frequency of this or that word or reference, it can be stated that this Introduction and Bibliography has ca. 105,000 words. The items listed among the author names beginning with 'B', as "[The BUDDHA.]", i.e. claiming to report the sayings of the Buddha Gotama, occupy ca. 7000 words. How far those (translated) words attributed to the Buddha are now considered authentic, or are taken as authoritative for practice and doctrine in the 2010s, is a matter for Buddhists to debate if they wish (as members of other religions or religious philosophies debate how far the reported words of Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, or others, are taken seriously, and/or literally, and/or metaphorically, and/or are buried under scholarly argument, by interested persons).
Professional bibliographers, annotators and librarians may notice that the present bibliography and others from the same source deviate from their highest professional standards in some respects. These bibliographies are intended to provide introductory sketch maps of the nascent fields of histories of 'responses to disability' in East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The vastness of the human populations, languages, cultures and geography are such that the coverage of published or unpublished text is much beyond the capacity of one person to map or sketch proficiently, whether as an amateur or professional. Yet those same professionals may recognise that, despite the astonishing recent development whereby Google provides a free index of a colossal amount of the world's published text in an ever-growing variety of languages and machine-translation possibilities, that giga-index is itself too vast and unfocused for the majority of students without specialised training and access, to grapple successfully with something like the interface between very large and loosely defined fields such as 'Disability', 'Deafness', 'Mental disorders', and 'Buddhism'. Maybe after ten years, the world's ten-year-olds will be constructing really smart searches using Boolean operators (but will they have the vocabulary range to include terminology once used in the mid-20th century, in several languages?) Perhaps another fifteen years of development will render the present work redundant, as new kinds of sensitive software may achieve the capacity to mimic human thinking and judgement while running a million times faster and without the human idiosyncrasies, tiredness and errors. (Or we may be able to customise the software to give the kind of idiosyncrasies that appeal to each individual's taste...)
Materials have been given by alphabetical order of the first author's surname, or sometimes by 'title', e.g. under 'B': [The BUDDHA.]; and divided into two periods:
This is not by any means the only sensible way one could divide the materials, but it arose naturally during compilation, and seemed a handy way of arranging things. The randomness of 'names in alphabetical order' generates some curious juxtapositions, but the entire number of ca. 220 items is quite modest, so it is not difficult to scroll down quickly and see whatever is there. To locate something again intuitively should not then be too difficult. (Perhaps this is a little optimistic?) Of course it could be argued that material such as the sayings attributed to the Buddha Gotama should be listed both in the earlier section, as fundamental historical texts, and in the 'Western Echoes?' since the Buddha's words are given in modern western English translation and so are inevitably appropriated by, or assimilated to, anglophone western thought-forms. However, multiple listing could be cumbersome, and most readers would naturally assume that the Buddha's reported words would be found among the "Earlier textual sources". Only two works are listed in two sections, i.e. Dan LEIGHTON's "Faces of Compassion", which sets out to cross both ways between Asian archetypes and modern expressions. (It is a thoroughly American book; yet I was charmed by its unguessable images of goddesses on bicycles, and of Clint Eastwood as a compassionate spiritual teacher!) Oliver STATLER's "Japanese Pilgrimage" also gets in twice, as past and present are woven into a compelling narrative. [These are purely idiosyncratic choices; and neither author is personally known to the compiler!]
* [The date 1850 is arbitrary and unconnected with any eastern or western dynasty, battle or religious movement. In the 2010s, millions of elderly people can still say "In her 80s, our mother used to tell us stories from her father's life - he was born in 1850..."; and the link may have some plausibility. Direct links to life, much earlier than that, perhaps stretch the imagination too far.]
To make the bibliography compatible with more screen drivers and printers, without downloading additional fonts, non-standard diacriticals have been omitted. This entails some loss of guidance on pronunciation, and possibly irritates some scholars and purists (who already know where the diacriticals should go, and are most welcome to reinsert them mentally).[*] All the modern scholarly works referenced below do use the accents and diacritical marks, while earlier work may use a variety of different spellings, or italics, to represent different consonants or vowels. Readers are recommended not to quote directly from this bibliography, but to read the scholarly texts and translations, and cite them or quote from them directly, with as much or as little rigour as they choose, or their peers require, while also taking care of copyright considerations.
* [On the side of scholarly purity, it must be admitted that the 'damned dots' do materially affect one detail of a significant (perhaps even 'true') story about a blind person, i.e. the blinding of Prince Kunala. In "The Lives of the Jain Elders" by the 12th century Jaina author Hemacandra, the story was told (Canto 9: 14-54), of how "one of Kunala's mother's fellow wives" noticed a letter, "written in the local dialect, so that it would be widely understood", en route from the king to the prince, saying "let the prince begin his studies" ("kumaro adhiyau"). Spotting a chance to prevent Kunala from inheriting the throne, which should then pass to her own son, the woman stealthily added a single dot, by which the message now transliterates as: "kumaro amdhiyau", "Let the prince be blinded". [In the translation by R.C. Fynes (see below, HEMACANDRA), pp. 191, 268, the notes state that the woman "placed a dot under the letter 'a'", and so the word changes from adhiyau to amdhiyau {where the 'm' has a dot beneath it}. Fynes fails to explain that the appearance of the under-dotted 'm' is the best the roman alphabet can do to transliterate the 'a' with dot below, in the regional language. That dot is known as anusvara, which has the effect of nasalising the sound, hence the additional 'm' with dot below. See explanatory note in R.S. McGregor (ed.) (1993) The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, xv. Delhi: Oxford UP.]
Words within bold square brackets [ ], occurring in annotations, indicate more specifically the compiler's own thought or comment - it is important that they should not be confused with what the author of the listed item wrote. (Often it is obvious which is which, but this is not always so). In annotations, the author's general intentions may be outlined, and either paraphrased by the compiler, or shown in double apostrophes " ... " to indicate direct quotation. The use of single apostrophes '...' sometimes called 'warning quotes' or 'scare quotes' usually indicates some kind of emphasis or alertness to nuance, irony, or idiomatic flavour.# Single apostrophes may sometimes indicate a direct quotation that occurs within another quotation, e.g. We learn that "The bear turned round and growled, 'Can you spare a dollar, buddy?', which Jim was not expecting." (Smith, 1953, p. 17) Words within square brackets [ ] without bolding usually indicate supplementary material which might appear in footnotes in an oldfashioned book - but footnotes might be confusing in an online bibliography. [Perhaps too often, I succumbed to temptation and made a quasi-footnote using a * star or # hash.] Sometimes squiggly parentheses { } are used, when, for example, a whole paragraph is already in square brackets, and I'm already in ordinary parentheses ( ), and need to use a third kind of enclosure! At other times, squiggly brackets appear because they just felt more appropriate, humorous, ironic, or whatever. {Asian texts over the past 2500 years are full of unexpected puns, sparkles, puzzles and modern-sounding jokes! Did they really think like that? Perhaps some did...}
# While reading for the present bibliography, 'warning quotes' came to attention within the title by Richard King: Orientalism and Religion: postcolonial theory, India and 'the mystic East' (1999, Routledge). This book contains Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data, which gives King's title but fails to include the 'warning apostrophes', or chooses to ignore them in its data (or maybe it's a printing error). Thus the impression is given that King really thinks "India and the mystic East" is an ordinary area or region that one may visit without a slightly raised eyebrow...
Some cited journal materials can in fact be found 'open online', and this is sometimes stated, yet the URLs are not necessarily all shown in this bibliography. Such URLs are often unstable, as the web changes and earlier formats become unsustainable, or webmasters decide to have a shake-up, or a particular site goes down but the contents may be transferred to another site. Readers wishing to view or download full text articles without increasing publishers' profits may often find it worthwhile to search the web with some persistence. There is often an open full-text copy posted at a university or other site, sometimes being the author's 'original manuscript' (i.e. before the copy-editors have hacked it around and added their own mistakes, or at some other stage). Such copies are not necessarily identical with the 'published' article, but are likely to give a fairly clear idea of what the author wished to communicate. Many articles can be requested from the 'corresponding author' by email, and they will respond with either a 'published' e-copy, or a 'pre-print', or something else that (hopefully) does not infringe anyone's legitimate rights. (See below, "Copyright, Citation and Quotation"). Many authors also repeat their main points in successive papers and articles, whether deliberately or unconsciously, so it is worth checking whether some of these are openly available. In such searches, 'Google Scholar' is a useful option within 'Google', filtering out most of the junk sites and also making it easier to search by year or period.
(Finding key words while viewing this bibliography on screen). While using a lot of browsers and keyboards, one can press 'Control' with the letter F and this opens a little search box at the top of the screen, usually at the right hand side. One can use this to search the bibliography (or many other kinds of text) for any word or phrase, which can make it a lot easier to track particular interests, names, keywords etc.
Titles, and authors' and publishers' names, of books or journals or web pages listed below are understood to belong to those authors and publishers, who are normally happy for them to be displayed in public so that their work will be more widely known and consulted. Many of the annotations contain direct quotations, to show readers that the listed work does contain some text of relevance to disability, and to indicate something of its nature. In the interests of accuracy, the author's exact words are often used, in quotation marks, rather than a paraphrase. These direct quotations also of course fall within the copyright of the authors and publishers, and they appear here in a scholarly and non-commercial context under the rubric of legitimate 'fair use' of a small part of the work, which will give a more accurate understanding, without the possibility of causing any financial or other loss to the authors or publishers. This again is believed to be consonant with the authors' and publishers' own wishes, interests and purposes, and not to contravene any law. Readers who wish to make use of any quotation in a publication of their own are strongly advised to find a copy of the work in question, and satisfy themselves as to the context, the accuracy and pertinence of any quotation, and any legal restrictions or liabilities that might arise in the way they are planning to use it. Any authors or publishers who are unhappy with the use of brief quotations from their work in the present bibliography are asked to contact the present compiler and the webmaster(s), and that work will be removed or the annotation amended. Nobody should suffer any loss or feel any grievance as a result of some part of their work appearing on this site. There is enough trouble in the world - this bibliography should not add to it!
Nor should people feel any grievance if their work is not listed below. The compiler originally expected to spend two or three months looking for materials on Buddhism and disability in Asian contexts, but actually spent 20 months in search, reading and annotation. This gives a start to covering a vast field, much of which is not yet available in European languages. My work capacity is heavily reduced and life expectancy foreshortened, so the present bibliography goes online probably with many omissions and defects, and certainly with apologies. No doubt much worthwhile work on Asian Buddhism (in European languages) has not been listed below, and there is certainly much relevant material and thinking on 'Western Buddhism' and disability, mental disorder etc that is not listed - but the latter section is intentionally no more than a brief, secondary 'echo' in the present effort! 'Western Buddhists' numerically are a small minority in the world, yet by command of modern information media and European languages a few Westerners may obtain an entirely disproportionate impact, and may appear to 'define' modern Buddhism by 'cultural imperialism', over the heads of millions of Asians who might be no less wise and advanced in the Buddha's way, yet who have not applied themselves to the battle for bandwidth, spin, and 'impact factor'. {Of course, there will undoubtedly be some Asian Buddhist scholars and teachers who have examined the textual and contextual evidence carefully and who support any particular 'Western' position, and are trying to 'modernise' the main lines of teaching in their own country and languages. They are perfectly entitled to do so - and would perhaps be more likely to succeed if they can move forward without trampling too arrogantly on their fellows who prefer to stay with the deeper-rooted traditions.}
Some works listed below do clearly represent views associated with particular schools of Buddhist thought and teaching; yet the compiler has been reluctant to apply labels, or to suggest this or that kind of teaching as typical of Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Zen or other schools, sects or divisions or groupings, in the annotations. Readers are welcome to look at the listed works, and make up their own minds. Representatives of the various schools can make their own pitch, and offer their own reasons; or they may wish to offer some thoughts that are believed to be 'mainstream' Buddhism, common to all schools.
No grant, salary or other emolument was received for or in connection with this bibliography, nor is the compiler a member or affiliate of any organisation or educational institution. (He takes some part in a small 'invisible college' of researchers and students who are interested in the history of responses to disability, and the parts played by religions and religious philosophies in human responses to disability.) The compiler is happy to disclose that the field of study has itself been enormously rewarding even at the modest level of competence he brings to it; and pursuit of the Buddhist stream of knowledge can certainly play a significant part in the long-term human movement of studying sceptically whether we humans have made significant changes in our behaviour toward one another during the past ten thousand years; and if so, how and why.
Some actions mentioned in items annotated below are likely to have serious, and possibly irreversible, adverse consequences for people's health, and probably should not be done at all -- such as any form of self-harm, burning or cutting parts of the head or body. Other activities may be harmful to some people who have an existing physical or mental frailty or vulnerability, so they should not be tried without suitable guidance and preparation, including consultation with an experienced guide and practitioner (e.g. in the case of a course of meditation), or a qualified medical practitioner (before embarking on any special dietary restriction, or ascetic practices such as living in isolation, going without sleep for several days, or other attempts to push the normal boundaries). This hazard warning is not intended to prevent people from trying to advance their spiritual life. Historically, it was widely understood that the first step toward making progress was always to find an experienced guide, teacher, guru, or whatever the local term, and learn under the supervision of that person. There was no such thing as 'surfing the web', reading about some exotic practice, and thinking that it sounds an interesting thing to try out in one's bedroom, or in the woods, or up a mountain. {Before learning to levitate, ask your guru about safe landing procedures! But seriously -- check out any unusual practices which might cause serious harm; and also check out what is known about the teachers, guides or gurus.}
In personal correspondence, Adolf Ratzka attracted or sharpened my interest with some remarks about 'attachment' in Buddhist thinking, and later mentioned the benefits he had found in practical meditation, without any religious context. Adolf and his Nordic colleagues, together with the genial webmaster Miles Goldstick, kindly accommodated and published online the originals or expanded revisions of many of my papers or journal articles in the past 15 years, in the open online 'virtual library' of the Independent Living Institute ("May it live a thousand years!")
To John Stone, Marcia Daumen, and webmaster Dan Conley of CIRRIE [*], at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, I'm much obliged, for kindly accommodating several more of my bibliographies and articles, and for technical assistance in publishing them; and also for being comrades in the long process of offering North Americans more accurate and more appropriate and interesting information about how some very large parts of the world's non-American populations live and respond to those among themselves who have disabilities, deafness, mental disorders, or who think with a different logic. * [Centre for International Rehabilitation Research, Information & Exchange]
To Lynne Bejoian, for complaining about some earlier paragraphs on Buddhism in articles of mine. That caused me to look more closely at some sources and to try to decide what I wanted to say and write it more clearly. (Reviewing the present work, I'm not at all sure that it is any clearer; but it's certainly much longer, so there might be even more cause for complaint. At least this work is now based in a much greater range and depth of sources that address Buddhism and responses to disability. Further well-informed readers are invited to pile in critically and give more lucid accounts of whatever they may find muddled or mistaken here).
To David Werner (whose practice-based books and illustrations led a worldwide revolution in communicating realistic, low-cost, practical health and disability information) for encouraging remarks about an earlier draft of the bibliography, and for 25 years of correspondence about responses to disability in many countries (which are usually weaker economically, but sometimes show more wisdom and humanity than the wealthy countries that patronise them).
To Dr. O. Milburn for kindly supplying a published article, many thanks.
To members of the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, Moseley, (part of the Triratna Buddhist Community), for a polite welcome and allowing me to check through the upstairs wall of books that constituted their library, while they were in the midst of a (pre-meditated) internal restructuring, switching around the furniture and contents of a large part of the ground floor!
To Christine Miles, for continuing to listen to my daily commentary about whatever I happen to read; for commenting on and questioning much of what I write; for 40 years of paying our bills by her own professional work while I was studying and writing and talking; and for taking the time to learn a dozen useful languages across Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, among other varied studies which greatly extended our access to a range of useful resources. "Who", as a prophet of old enquired, "can find so perfect a wife?"
As usual, when compiling bibliographies, I'm vastly grateful to the many authors who wrote works casting light on the field, and also some who were writing on a neighbouring area which provided useful background; and to the many translators who took pains to make good work more widely available. Also to some of the publishers and their employees who took a risk by publishing scholarly works that might interest only a 'minority' readership, because they thought they 'should be' published, even if sales would barely recover costs, or would certainly be a financial loss.
Finally, thanks to Eeva-Liisa Multala, who taught hundreds of us, in Pakistan and Finland, so much about a world of religious thought and practice, with hardly a course of lectures but mostly by listening with open heart and mind, and quietly putting her Christian faith and belief into practice. Such a great-souled teacher transcends the many deep differences between the world's various religions and compilations of wisdom.
It must again be emphasized that the annotations are concerned only with Buddhism and disability, mental disorders or deafness, or the background to these features. In the works listed below there are many interesting and admirable points about all kinds of human activities and beliefs -- they are not represented in the annotation because they are not targeted in this bibliography.
ABÉ, Ryuichi (2002-2003) Mantra, hinin, and the feminine: on the salvational strategies of Myoe and Eizon. Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 13: 101-125.
The Kamakura Buddhist monk Myoe (Myoebo Koben, 1173-1232) regularly characterised himself as a hinin, claiming the 'outcast' and 'undesirable' status of people who traditionally undertook polluting work such as cleaning toilets and removing corpses for burial, and might also engage in "segregating and administering the community of lepers in urban areas", as well as handling animal flesh and skins, and executing criminals; or might themselves have leprosy (or other serious skin disease). Myoe's self-mutilation, by cutting off one ear, was a further attempted identification with deformed persons or 'non-persons', but with a view toward converting their taintedness into purity, by lengthily chanting a powerful mantra to dispel the harm. Abé notes the connection of karmic theory with the transgressive activities and pollution, i.e. that "the immoral and criminal acts in sentient beings' past lives manifest as karmic retribution in their present lives as physical symptoms such as deformation, sensory dysfunction, incurable fatal illness, the symptoms that forced those afflicted to reside in isolated quarters and sustain their lives by means of begging." A later monk, Eizon (1201-1290), probably building on Myoe's insights, undertook a larger work, providing both ritual services to the organised hinin community (having a large, two-tier disabled membership), and establishing hospitals where medical treatment was available to the sufferers from serious skin diseases. Abé points out that modern scholars have sharply differing interpretations of the activities of Eizon and his Shingonritsu school. Some see "a forerunner of modern welfare and social work", while others focus on the roots in 'karmic retribution' which tend to increase and legitimize social discrimination against those with serious impairments. A possibly comparable dilemma could be seen in Myoe's and Eizon's innovative encouragement of women's participation in ordained Buddhist religious life, which was meritorious in itself, but could provide opportunities for sexual attraction, which might nullify or distract from the religious attainments of the monks and nuns. [See also TANABE, below, on Myoe.]
ABÉ, Ryuichi (2006) Swords, words and deformity: on Myoe's eccentricity. In: R.K. Payne & T.D. Leighton (eds.) Discourse and Ideology in Medieval Buddhism, 148-159. London: Routledge.
[See previous item.] In this chapter, Abé goes into further detail of Myoe Koben's risk-taking and flirtation with extreme practices, among which the severance of his own ear, at the age of 24, "stands out as the most radical act" (p. 148). As a student aged 13 he had spent a night in a graveyard, testing his resolve to live a dedicated life and thinking to have himself eaten by wolves, or perhaps a starving tiger, like the Buddha in former lives; but no hungry beast showed up for dinner. Later, on a journey, "he encountered a leper", and learnt from someone that "the only medicine that could cure the leper of his illness is a small portion of human flesh" (150). Myoe revisited the leper, taking with him a sharp knife - but the leper had by then died, so the experiment collapsed. Myoe apparently believed that "great teachers of the past, in their effort to single-mindedly pursue the Dharma, went so far as gouging out their eyes, and cutting off their noses, ears, arms and legs..." (152), in contrast with priests of his own time, who merely shaved and polished their heads. Myoe thought good to disfigure himself as a token of his dedication, and was rational enough to think that cutting off his nose or a hand would spoil his participation in certain rituals. Chopping an ear off, without causing loss of hearing, would be an appropriate deformity. (152) The act would also serve to identify him with some criminals who had undergone mutilation as punishment, and would give him the status of hinin (non-human, outcast). Removal of an ear would also symbolise 'not listening' (153, 155), to the pussyfooting norms of conventional religion. It would also seem to avoid listening to the Buddha Gotama's rejection of ascetic practices and self-mutilation (but that was in a previous era). Abé suggests that some of Myoe's activities did succeed in offering salvation to a variety of people who were 'non-persons' so far as the regular clergy were concerned. [Europeans having a vague idea that Myoe's reported activities resonate with an historical model of self-abasement much closer to home, may note that the dates of Francis of Assisi (1181/82 -1226) fit within the life of Myoe (1173-1232). See also TANABE, below, on a further effort by Myoe to earn a reputation for being crazy.]
ASVAGHOSHA. The Buddha-Karita of Asvaghosha, translated by E.B. Cowell (1894). Sacred Books of the East, vol. 49. Oxford. pp. xii + 207 p.
Prince Gautama's long delayed encounter with sickness, disability and death seems to be central in the foundation of Buddhism, as currently understood. In Asvaghosha's account (2nd century CE) of the life and acts of the Buddha in this incarnation, his childhood and youth were protected from the sight of suffering. When he wished to go beyond the palace, clearance was first undertaken: "Then having removed out of the way with the greatest gentleness all those who had mutilated limbs or maimed senses, the decrepit and the sick and all squalid beggars, they made the highway assume its perfect beauty." (p. 27) However, prompted by the gods, the prince's driver disclosed the facts. The blessed youth saw suffering, decay and death, and felt obliged to embrace these phenomena and to seek their meaning and discover how one should conduct oneself in such a world.
[In 'real life', the prince had probably already seen some palace servants who were dwarfs or hunchbacks, as widely portrayed in ancient literature including the Jataka. But those servants, while having significant impairments, would not have been 'squalid beggars' squeezing the maximum pathos out of their suffering, but active people working in known roles. While growing up familiar with such people, he might not have perceived them in terms of suffering and decay.]
BOWKER, John (1970, reprinted 1987) Problems of Suffering in Religions of the World. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. xii + 318 pp.
Problems of suffering as perceived in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Marxism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manicheeism and Jainism, are given by reference to textual foundations in each religion or philosophy, and by considering later developments of thought, up to the late 20th century. This summary is partly contradicted by Bowker's opening statement on 'Hinduism': "To summarise the thought of any religion is difficult, but in the case of Hinduism it is impossible." (p. 193) Nevertheless, Bowker gives a readable and lucid account of his subject, with many quotations from the literature of each religion. Very little direct reference is made to disability, but the principles behind the exposition of 'suffering' seem to be applicable to the many different ways in which 'disability' may now be understood.
BOWKER, J. (ed.) (1997) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford UP. xxiv + 1111 pp.
[This single-volume dictionary (or mini-Encyclopedia) was useful on very many occasions while reading literature for the present bibliography, particularly in the earlier texts. It offers comprehensible explanations and cross-references, with what appears to be a strong scholarly base.]
[The BUDDHA.]: Reported Discourses (below) SPECIAL NOTE
It would be possible to skim down the annotations of the following listed items translated from the reported discourses of the Buddha Gotama in 10 minutes, and thereby get an extremely superficial impression of "what the Buddha said about disability". For readers who are not already familiar with the broader teachings of the Buddha, it is strongly recommended that they should go beyond such a glance and take the trouble to get hold of at least one complete book listed, or to find in a library or on the web at least a dozen translated suttas in which some material concerning disability appears, and read the full context of those items along with any explanatory footnotes or endnotes. [A considerable amount can be found open online at the Internet Sacred Text Archive which carries the older, out-of-copyright translated texts of many religions, without bias or advocacy. Several Buddhist sites provide open online texts, sometimes with commentary and footnotes.] The material that is directly concerned with disability should also be understood in the context of the broader teachings of the Buddha about human relationships, kindness, compassion, and karma, as may be found in textbooks on Buddhism. [The compiler of this bibliography is not trying to recommend Buddhism to readers. To understand how the Buddha Gotama reportedly spoke about deafness, mental disorder or disability, and the context in which his remarks were offered, simply requires more than can be gleaned from the annotations below. Apparently this man was a prince, then an ascetic, then an innovative teacher who lived more than 2,400 years ago in India, inhabiting a world of thoughts, concepts and daily activities that is vastly different from the urban world of the 2010s. While some of his teaching about human behaviour sounds quite comprehensible in the present era, there are many details and subtleties that hardly jump the historical gaps of concept and language, without lengthy explanation.]
[The BUDDHA.] The Long Discourses of the Buddha. A translation of the Digha Nikaya, translated from Pali by M. Walshe (1987, 1995). Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications. 648 pp.
Brief, passing references to impairments and disabilities appear, e.g. on p. 70 (Brahmajala Sutta, 1.14) "mimicking deformities", amidst several lists of activities deemed frivolous; p. 163 (Pottapada Sutta, 22), in a discussion on states of consciousness, "a mind-made self complete with all its parts, not defective in any sense-organ" (and similar, p. 167); p. 165, same Sutta, 33, "all those wanderers are blind and sightless", using 'blind' metaphorically for a lack of understanding or wisdom; p. 245 (Mahaparinibbana S, 16, 2.25) in Gotama Buddha's last days, "just as an old cart is made to go by being held together with straps, so the Tathagata's body is kept going by being strapped up" (with endnote 391, p. 569); p. 344 (Mahasatipatthana S, 22, 18) "ageing, decrepitude, broken teeth, grey hair, wrinkled skin, shrinking with age, decay of the sense-faculties"; pp. 346-47, (same Sutta, 22, 19-20), here, the delights of possessing and exercising the sense-faculties become disabling, as craving for them arises and diverts one from mindfulness; p. 356, (Payasi S, 23, 11) "imagine a man who was blind from birth...", and who denied the existence of colours, or very distant objects, because he had no means of detecting them; p. 358 (same S, 23, 15) when Prince Payasi has a midday nap and dreams of being somewhere else, while his attendant hunchbacks, dwarfs and other servants watch over him, do they see his soul entering or leaving his body?; p. 367 (same S, 23, 32) contrast is made between the manner in which charitable acts are carried out towards beggars and the needy by Payasi, and by Uttara - the latter giving willingly, in person, and with proper concern; pp. 441-460 (Lakkhana S, 30) detailed, laudatory description of thirty-two body features peculiar to a Great Man, combining to make him perfectly beautiful and attractive to all - see translator's remarks pp. 610-611, note 939; pp. 506-507 (Sangiti S, 33, 3.2), in a list of nine "unfortunate, inopportune times for leading the holy life", one would be when "he is born in the Middle Country but lacks wisdom and is stupid, or is deaf and dumb and cannot tell whether something has been well said or ill said" - or if he has no such impairments, but no Great Teacher has arisen at that time.
Endnote 1, p. 533, indicates three date ranges for the life of the Buddha Gotama (taking the period 'Before Christ' as a reference point): the Sri Lankan tradition of 623-543 BC; a conservative western dating of 566-486 BC; and a more recent move among western scholars toward later dating, which might settle around 480-400 BC. [BOWKER, Oxford Dictionary, p. 169, gives ca. 448-368 as the 'Short Chronology'. See Prebish, 2010, 'Cooking the Buddhist Books' for an informed review of scholarly debate on dating, following the 3-volume compilation by Heinz Bechert (1991-1997) of a 1988 conference proceedings on the topic.]
[The BUDDHA.] The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. A translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, original draft translation from Pali by Bhikkhu Nanamoli; edited and revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi (first published 1995; second edition 2001). Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications. 1424 pp.
This formidable volume drafted in Sri Lanka by the English monk Nanamoli (1905-1960) and much revised and overhauled by the American monk Bodhi (b. 1944) also in Sri Lanka, contains some half a million words. It comprises: Contents, Preface and Introduction (pp. 5-60); Summary of the 152 Suttas, and map of main locations (61-76); main text of translated Middle Length Discourses (77-1151); Bibliography, Abbreviations and Notes to the Suttas (1153-1367); Pali-English glossary (1369-1383); Indexes (1385-1420). The book would have been even longer, had the duplications in some discourses not been abbreviated (where, e.g., a given seven-point argument would otherwise be repeated several times with a single term being changed, the reader is alerted, to save the repetitions) see notes on pp. 52-53.
[As in the previous item, disability and deafness are seldom addressed directly, but appear in illustrative material. In some ways 'mental disorder' may be addressed on hundreds of pages, by teaching about 'mindfulness' and the 'well-ordered' mind (fundamentally in pp. 145-155, Sattipatthana Sutta, 10). Yet much of Buddha Gotama's recorded teaching seems to have been directed initially toward people having capacity to be seated in still, silent meditation and to live communally with men who were similarly not 'mad', not openly displaying symptoms of psychoses or strange behaviour - though some may have suffered quieter depressive illnesses.]
On pp. 173-176 (Mahasthanada S, 12.45-56) the Teacher refers to his own early severe austerities, "pulling out hair and beard" ... using "a mattress of spikes ... pursuing the practice of tormenting and mortifying the body", feeding on "my own excrement and urine", and reducing himself to extreme emaciation and disease; yet "by such performance of austerities, I did not attain any superhuman states, any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones." (Then he chose a different way).
Reference is sometimes made (e.g. pp. 237, 241, 1126, and elsewhere) to the "Blind Men's Grove". (See annotations to [The Buddha.] Samyutta Nikaya and to FA-HIEN {below}, for possible explanations of this name). On p. 313 (Mahagopalaka S, 33.2), the Teacher refers in detail to eleven skills that a weak cowherd may lack, thereby being "incapable of keeping and rearing a herd of cattle". He then showed how, in allegorical form, comparable skills needed to be acquired by the bhikkhus. [Though 'The Cow' enjoys some veneration in India, it is quite rare for cowherds to enjoy good status in the world's 'wisdom literature', which naturally tended to accumulate in educated urban populations and knew little, and cared less, about rural skills. Cowherds more often figured in stories about fools, as in the following Culagopalaka S (pp. 319-321). However, the description of the detailed 'cowherd skills' suggests some open-mindedness on the part of those who recalled and recorded the illustration, toward those who might be expected to have quite modest intellectual powers.] On p. 435, (Maratajjaniya S, 50.21) an evil spirit is depicted, which had conversed with and 'taken possession' of some unwary adults, and then of a certain boy: "picking up a stone, [the boy] struck Vidhura on the head with it and cut his head". On p. 461 (Sekha S, 53.5) the Teacher had spent much of the night giving instruction to the Sakyans of Kapilavatthu, while inaugurating their new assembly hall. He then gave the floor to Ananda, saying "my back is uncomfortable, I will rest it" {a rare personal note of a professional health hazard?} In pp. 493-497 (Kukkuravatika S, 57) there is teaching about people having or taking up an "afflictive bodily formation, an afflictive verbal formation, an afflictive mental formation" (p. 495) apparently imitating some animal habits, as an ascetic practice (end-notes on pp. 1260-61 attempt an explanation).
An example is given in pp. 611-612 (Magandiya S, 75.13-17) of "a leper with sores and blisters on his limbs, being devoured by worms, scratching the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterising his body over a burning charcoal pit." A physician treats him with medicine, curing his 'leprosy'. In the man's diseased state, "his faculties were impaired; thus, though the fire was actually painful to touch, he acquired a mistaken perception of it as pleasant." [The example is given an allegorical interpretation. It could be of interest in the history of disease identification if strong dating evidence were available. Cf. JATAKA 561, below, with details of supposed 'leprosy'.] Further on in Magandiya S, 75.20-21 (pp. 614-616) another example uses "a man born blind who could not see dark and light forms, who could not see blue, yellow, red, or pink forms, who could not see what was even and uneven, who could not see the stars or the sun and moon", and who was easily deceived when he went looking for "a white cloth, beautiful, spotless, and clean". [The story is given to show that "the wanderers of other sects are blind and visionless", and thus easily deceived by false teaching. Greater knowledge of the actual powers of touch, smell and hearing acquired by some born-blind people might lead to modification of such tales; but without such practical experience, these tales tend to reinforce stereotypes.] In pp. 669-676 (Ghatikara S, 81), the worthy reason for the good Potter declining to 'go forth' to the homeless way was that "I support my blind and aged parents"; he did, however, reportedly use strong persuasion (endnote 792) to induce the student Jotipala to hear the Teacher Kassapa, with good effect (endnote 790). [In this story, the blind old folk are at least shown exercising good judgement, when their son was absent.] In Canki S, 95.12-13, "a file of blind men each in touch with the next" is used as an illustration of ignorant teachers, reliant on others equally ignorant (pp. 779-780), the familiar pejorative metaphorical use of 'blind' (see e.g. pp. 811-12; and p. 1069, "blind to danger"; and also by the translator, e.g. p. 1300, "a blind acceptance of tradition").
In pp. 704-709 (Bodhirajakumara S, 85, with endnotes on pp. 1290-91), Prince Bodhi "was childless and desired a son", a serious disability in many countries and ages. The Buddha Gotama, having insight that Bodhi and his wife were not destined to have a child, avoided misguiding the prince. However, when Bodhi asks about following a great teacher's doctrine and making progress toward enlightenment, he learns that there are "five factors of striving", faith, honesty and sincerity, strong commitment, wisdom, and that the learner should be "free from illness and affliction, possessing a good digestion" and thus able to "bear the strain of striving". The Buddha then suggests that, possessing the five factors and hearing an enlightened teacher, the learner might take seven years to reach the supreme goal ... or six years, or five... four... three... (and the period reduces, until, finally, one day and night might suffice).
A dramatic tale is told of change in the unbalanced mind of Angulimala, a man who had been falsely accused of wrongdoing, and was then tricked into becoming a serial murderer (pp. 710-717, & 1292-93; Angulimala S, 86). [See further discussion under GOMBRICH 1996]. Next (pp. 718-722 ) is a story of a man's mental derangement from grief at the death of his son. In the telling, other case histories are cited as evidence (Piyajatika S, 87). In Dhammacetiya S, 89.12, King Pasenadi of Kosala visits the Teacher, noting that his followers are serious, life-long monks, dedicated to the holy life, yet also cheerful, calm, and well-disciplined. That allegedly contrasts with other teachers' followers, who practise for a while, then return to ordinary pleasures; or "recluses and brahmins who are lean, wretched, unsightly, jaundiced, with veins standing out on their limbs, such that people would not want to look at them again"; or "learned men who wander about, as it were, demolishing the views of others with their sharp wits" -- until they meet the fully enlightened Teacher, whose words cause them to rethink their lives (pp. 728-733). [Here, ugliness and an appearance of impaired health seem to be taken as negative signals, incompatible with spiritual progress.] In Samagama S, 104.17, a 'Temporary Insanity defence' was offered, and apparently accepted, when a bhikkhu had been accused of serious misbehaviour: "He says 'I had gone mad, friend, I was out of my mind, and when I was mad I said and did many things improper for a recluse. I do not remember, I was mad when I did that.' In his case removal of litigation on account of past insanity should be pronounced." (pp. 856-857, 1312). Removal of a poisoned arrow, careful description of technique, and advice on aftercare to prevent infection (Sunakkhatta S, 105.19-20; pp. 865-868). Impossible for a woman to be a Fully Enlightened One, unless she first gets reborn as a man (Bahudhatuka S, 115.15; pp. 929, 1326).
'Fools', finally reborn as human, but into a low family, poor, half starved, and "ugly, unsightly, and misshapen, sickly, blind, cripple-handed, lame, or paralysed;" (Balapandita S, 129.25; p. 1021). King Yama, interrogating the newly dead, asks whether they had never seen "a man - or a woman - at eighty, ninety, or a hundred years, aged, as crooked as a roof bracket, doubled up, supported by a walking stick, tottering, frail, youth gone, teeth broken, grey-haired, scanty-haired, bald, wrinkled, with limbs all blotchy?" (Devaduta S, 130.5; p. 1030). Finally, in Culakammavibhanga S, 135, "The Shorter Exposition of Action"; pp. 1053-1057, the student Subha directly asked how it happens that humans turn out "inferior and superior ... short-lived and long-lived, sickly and healthy, ugly and beautiful ... stupid and wise." The response was: "beings are owners of their actions, heirs of their actions..." Subha asks for more explanation. In response, examples are given of people who behave with anger, killing or injuring other beings with hand, clod, stick, or knife, and such action (kamma) causes the violent and merciless one to reappear in a sad state, perdition, or hell; but if he or she does return to a human existence, it will be short-lived, or sickly, or ugly. Conversely, the person who gives up treating others with violence and injury, and instead acts with kindness and compassion to all living beings, that person will return to a long life, good health and beauty.
[Incidentally, on p. 227 (Alagaddupama Sutta, 22.10, Simile of the snake), the Teacher criticised a faulty way to "learn the Dhamma -- discourses, stanzas, expositions, verses, exclamations, sayings, birth stories, marvels, and answers to questions", doing so merely to win debates and to point out flaws in other people's knowledge, rather than embracing the wisdom of the teaching, and making serious efforts to practise it. Probably the Teacher at that time, or any time since, would be equally critical of any student who skimmed through the texts looking for material on deafness, mental disorders and disability, rather than spending 14 years learning the broader teachings of the Buddha's Way and seeking to practise them - and thereby (probably) becoming better able to grasp the higher meaning of any text referring to bodily or mental difficulties. Such a critique might not be unreasonable - perhaps it would depend on the student's intentions?}]
[The BUDDHA.] The Collection of the Middle Length Sayings (Majjhima-Nikaya) ... translated from the Pali by I.B. Horner (1954-1959). London: Pali Text Society; London: Lusac. 3 volumes.
This is a translation of the complete Majjhima Nikaya (see previous item) by the Cambridge scholar and Pali Text Society officer Isaline Blew Horner (1896-1981), during her many years of Pali studies. [To compare Horner's translation and that by Bhikkhu Nanamoli revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi, numbers in the page headers of Bodhi's edition give the textual reference in Horner, with page-header numerals i, ii, and iii referring to her three volumes. See notes by Bodhi, pp. 15-16. (Comparing a sample of texts annotated above in Bodhi's edition, with the same translated by Horner, there is a difference of style, and Horner made a different choice of vocabulary for some standard Pali terms for aspects of Buddhism, compared with Nanamoli / Bodhi. The more recent translation, with the benefit of a further 40 years of textual scholarship, and presumably the use of modern computer software, has a more polished presentation. However, Horner's translation work is still worth reading, for her somewhat different approach. She was one of very few scholarly women who took a leading part in earlier efforts to make Buddhist texts available to the English-reading world.]
[The BUDDHA.] The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000). Boston: Wisdom Publications. 2074 pp.
This heavy single-volume translation, with scholarly notes and apparatus, is estimated to contain more than half a million words. Unlike the two previous translated collections of discourses from Wisdom Publications listed above (the Digha Nikaya, 1987 / 1995; and the Majjima Nikaya, 1995 / 2001) the present Samyutta Nikaya comprises five books or parts: Part I. "The Book with Verses (Sagathavagga)"; Part II. "The Book of Causation (Nidanavagga)"; Part III. "The Book of the Aggregates (Khandavagga)"; Part IV. "The Book of the Six Sense Bases (Salayatanavagga)"; Part V. "The Great Book (Mahavagga)". Each of these Books has its own listed Contents, and Introduction, and is followed by its own Notes; but there is also a Preface (pp. 11-18) and General Introduction (21-55) to the whole work, and the pagination is continuous throughout, ending with Concordances, Bibliography, Abbreviations, Pali-English Glossary, and Indexes, (pp. 1967-2072) covering all five Books and Notes.
Many of the general remarks in the annotations (above) to the Digha Nikaya and Majjima Nikaya translations are equally applicable to the Samyutta Nikaya. [The compiler did not read the entire Samyutta Nikaya translation. Keyword searches have been used to locate passages in the electronic edition, having some possible relevance to impairments, disabilities, deformities etc, which were then checked in the printed version, for context and relevance. Thus it is quite likely that some passages of possible pertinence may have been skipped over.] Serious readers should search the ancient texts and modern translations for themselves, and should also read the translators' introductions. However, for readers who may have a serious interest, without access to ancient texts and languages or the time to acquire them, the following pages within the present translation may provide a quicker way to begin.
On pp. 185-186 (in the third subchapter of the Kosalasamyutta) the blessed Teacher informed King Pasenadi of Kosala about four categories of people in the world. The first "has been reborn in a low family" where there is little to eat or drink or to clothe oneself, and he "is ugly, unsightly, deformed, chronically ill - purblind or cripple-handed or lame or paralyzed ... He engages in misconduct of body, speech and mind ... he is reborn in the plane of misery, in a bad destination, in the nether world, in hell". The second type of person is also reborn in poor circumstances, food and clothing being hard to obtain, and he too is ugly, deformed, crippled or paralyzed. Yet in this case, he "engages in good conduct of body, speech, and mind. Having done so, with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world." The first kind went from darkness to darkness; the second went from darkness to light.
On pp. 210-211, "Mara the Evil One" reportedly disguised himself as an elderly brahmin, "clad in an antelope hide, old, crooked like a roof bracket, wheezing, holding a staff.." [This brief description seems to indicate a familiar, dismissive attitude towards the elderly and decrepit person.] There are other brief descriptions, often but not always dismissive, e.g. on p. 363 ("the blind fool"); p. 377 ("to be crooked"); p. 378 ("blind old parents" who had to be cared for); p. 497 ("monstrous bodies", in Yakkhasamyuta, concerned with the yakkha Suciloma who threatened to drive Gotama insane, or grab him by the feet and hurl him across the Ganges, pp. 306-307). On p. 497 is a brief summary of the story of Suppabuddha the leper (told in the Udana, see next item, below).
In pp. 221 (also 222, 223, 229, 425, 1015, 1415), the "Blind Men's Grove" is mentioned. Note 332 (on p. 425) gives a possible origin of the name, found in the Burmese script edition: a lay disciple Yasodhara, bringing money for a building commemorative of the Buddha Kassapa, was ambushed by thieves and blinded by them. As "an immediate kammic result", the thieves lost their own sight, and continued to live there. "Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis went there for seclusion. It was about three kilometres south of Savatthi and was protected by royal guards." (See below, annotation to FA-HIEN, for a possible further development of this story of origin).
On p. 338 (and notes, pp. 500-501) a story is told, that "a certain ugly deformed yakkha sat down on the seat of Sakka, lord of the devas" {notes, based on Burmese script, elaborate that the deformed yakkha was "a dwarf the colour of a burnt stump and with a pot belly"}. Some of the devas tried to complain about this outrage, but their doing so merely had the effect of beautifying this ugly "anger-eating yakkha". The more angry they were, the more handsome it became. The high deity Sakka used a different approach to expel the intruder: he approached calmly and reverently, and announced his own name politely. Each time he did so, "that yakkha became uglier and uglier and more and more deformed until he disappeared right there." [No doubt this story is highly instructive in terms of diplomacy and self-control in deities, rather than pomposity and hurling of thunderbolts. A modern politically correct exposition, in terms of implacable modern Disability Rights campaigners politely taking over the seat of government (in Sweden?!), could be attempted; but some details might need adjustment, to achieve a happy ending.]
On p. 600 (in Nidanasamyutta), the great Teacher gives the example of an artist using painting materials to "create the figure of a man or a woman complete in all its features on a well-polished plank or wall or canvas". The notes (p. 775) suggest that "The painter represents kamma... As the painter creates a figure on the panel, so kamma with its adjuncts creates a form in the realms of existence. As the figure created by an unskilled painter is ugly, deformed, and disagreeable, so the kamma performed with a mind dissociated from knowledge gives rise to an ugly, deformed, disagreeable figure." (On the other hand, the skilled painter makes a beautiful figure, and the kamma performed with a suitably knowledgeable mind gives rise to a comely figure).
On p. 718, the story of Lakuntaka (the dwarf) Bhaddiya is given briefly (see Udana, next item, below). In the notes (pp. 822-823) it is suggested that Bhaddiya's ugliness "was the kammic result of his behaviour in a previous life when he was a king who mocked and harassed old people." (A further note on Bhaddiya appears on p. 1442).
On pp. 914-915 (in Khandasamyutta), with note on p. 1070, there is some discussion of recollections (by persons capable of doing this) of "their manifold past abodes". Yet the Teacher questions what is recollected, and suggests that it is something "deformed" - deformed by cold, heat, hunger, thirst, contact with flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and serpents. (The note seems to suggest that this may be about the 'emptiness' or non-transmission of a 'self').
[The BUDDHA.] The Udana and the Itivuttaka, translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland (2nd edition, 1997; reprinted 2007). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. xiii + 240 pp.
Some parts of these two minor collections of sayings attributed to the Buddha have pertinence to disabled persons. In the Udana, chapter 5, part 5.3, is the Suppabuddhakutthisutta or 'Discourse about Suppabuddha the Leper' (pp. 63-65, 196). This man having leprosy (or some other severe skin disease), seeing a crowd in the distance, approached to see if food was being given out. Finding instead "the recluse Gotama" teaching the Dhamma, Suppabuddha sat down to listen. The great Teacher perceived that the heart and mind of this leper was open to instruction, so gave the message to him, and Suppabuddha received and embraced it, plunged into the Dhamma, took refuge in the teacher, and undertook the way of a lay follower. Departing, he was soon killed by the attack of a cow with calf. The bhikkhus informed the teacher of it, and requested some explanation. They learnt that the man had reached his unfortunate state because in an earlier life he had displayed contempt for a leper seeking alms. The consequential long period of suffering was now ended, and he had achieved enlightenment. [The 'leprous beggar' is most familiar as a person representing an extreme form of abjection, and assumed to bear a heavy load of adverse karma. It is interesting to see Suppabuddha portrayed as far more advanced on the Way. Though leprosy would still exclude him from the sangha, he leaps over that obstacle; or at least, the story bypasses that problem.]
In Udana chapter 6, Jaccandhavagga, on 'Blindness Since Birth' (pp. 82-85) the story is repeated, of born-blind people supposedly being brought to an elephant, and made to feel with their hand the beast's ear, tusk, trunk, foot etc, then being caused to argue with one another, on the basis of their partial experience. The underlying aim is a critique of the wandering teachers of various sects, who are said to be similarly blind. [The storyteller seems to remain unaware of the many ways in which real-life blind people learn and inform themselves about their environment.] In Udana chapter 7, parts 7.1. and 7.2, there are discourses on the Venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf (pp. 89-92, 211-212), who was "ugly, unsightly, deformed, and generally despised by the bhikkhus" (endnote on p. 211 gives detail). However, the teacher assured the bhikkhus that Bhaddiya possessed great merit and the highest attainment in the holy life. [See below, W. HARTL. From later commentaries, further stories and elaborations may be found, e.g. of how novices may have teased the small-statured Bhaddiya, and how he responded calmly and without resentment. Search for 'Bhaddiya', 'lakuntaka', 'dwarf' etc show these on Buddhist websites, some of which have scholarly notes and references. Another source is the Kelisila Jataka (No. 202).]
The introduction to the Itivuttaka notes (p. 113) that the short discourses in it were supposedly collected by Khujjuttara, servant of Queen Samavati, who became a teacher of the law. {See below 'The BUDDHA ... Dhammapadda Commentary'. Khujjuttara too was depicted as being a hunchback, and as having acquired this disability as a result of mocking a lame 'private buddha'.]
[The BUDDHA.] Vinaya Texts translated from the Pali. Part I. The Patimokkha. The Mahavagga, I-IV, translated by T.W. Rhys Davids and Herman Oldenberg (1881), Sacred Books of the East, vol. XIII. Oxford: Clarendon. xxxviii + 355 pp.
For the admission of candidates to the Order of Bhikkhus, rules known as the first Khandhaka, (I, 1-79), occupy pp. 73-238 of Rhys Davids and Oldenberg's translation of the Mahavagga. The translators indicate in lengthy footnotes an early theory of development, i.e. from an initial phase when Gotama personally would give admission, through some intermediate phase or procedure(s), to a late stage where the whole business of candidacy, initial admission or exclusion, probation, examination, ordination, etc was regulated in great detail, and a substantial body of rules had evolved over some decades for the life of the samgha, the community of bhikkhus (and later, separately, when females were admitted, bhikkhunis), together with graduated punishments for non-compliance. Lists of physical or sensory impairments and disabilities are recorded from the late stage, among detailed lists of disqualifications, exclusions and prohibitions from ordination. In I: 71, the pabbagga ordination had reportedly been conferred by bhikkhus on people with thirty-two different mutilations or disabling conditions, but Gotama prohibited such ordinations.
Ordination was prohibited as follows: "on a person whose hands were cut off, on a person whose feet were cut off, whose hands and feet were cut off, whose ears were cut off, whose nose was cut off, whose ears and nose were cut off, whose fingers were cut off, whose thumbs were cut off, whose tendons (of the feet) were cut, who had hands like a snake's hood [Ftn. 'Whose fingers are grown together, like bats' wings' (Buddhaghosa)], who was a hump-back, or a dwarf, or a person that had a goitre, that had been branded, that had been scourged, on a proclaimed robber, on a person that had elephantiasis, that was afflicted with bad illness, that gave offence (by any deformity) to those who saw him, on a one-eyed person, on a person with a crooked limb, on a lame person, on a person that was paralysed on one side, on a cripple [*], on a person weak from age, on a blind man, on a dumb man, on a deaf man, on a blind and dumb man, on a blind and deaf man, on a deaf and dumb man, on a blind, deaf and dumb man." (Mahavagga I: 71) (pp. 224-225)
* [Footnote about a term used by Buddhaghosa, which the translators consider to be Sanskrit for "a cripple that is moved on in a rolling chair".]
A further ordinance prescribed that at the upasampada ordination, a candidate should specifically be asked about disqualifications, including the question: "Are you afflicted with the following diseases, leprosy, boils, dry leprosy, consumption, fits?" (Mahavagga I: 76, 1) (p. 230). See below, THANISSARO, for a more recent exposition of the various impairments, diseases, and some rationale and nuances in their ongoing application, down to the present day.
[The BUDDHA.] The Saddharma-Pundarika, or The Lotus of the True Law, translated [from Sanskrit] by [Jan] Hendrik Kern (1884). Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXI. Oxford: Clarendon. xlii + 454 pp.
This collection of religious discourse, attributed to the Buddha Gotama (and widely referred to in western literature as 'the Lotus Sutra'), has been particularly influential in East Asian countries, being translated into Chinese as early as the 3rd century CE (p. xx). It is highly important in Mahayana Buddhism, giving a much stronger role to bodhisatvas, and being understood by some as opening the way for all humans to achieve spiritual enlightenment and compassion for others within the present life or after a few rebirths, rather than after innumerable cycles of suffering existence. However, parts of the Saddharma-Pundarika are not at all easy to understand and are susceptible to multiple interpretations; and Kern's present translation from Sanskrit is sometimes less than transparent, nor did he disguise his lack of sympathy for some of the material he was translating (as seen in some footnotes). [For some schools or sects of Buddhism, the Sanskrit is no longer of interest. For example, IKEDA, Human Revolution, IV: 191-193, below, records a Soka Gakkai member, Prof. Joji Kanda of Tokyo University, advising a student that "As he prophesied himself, Sakyamuni's Lotus Sutra is invalid in the present Mappo era, or Latter Day of the Law ... and this invalidates the need to study the Sanskrit original".]
Imagery is used in which disabling conditions are listed as a punishment for failing to believe this sutra, or for scorning its contents. In Chapter III, apart from being labelled 'blind' (as a synonym for 'ignorant'), such disbelievers are tortured, and experience rebirth as animals (pp. 92-93). In verse 122, "And whenever they assume a human shape, they are born crippled, maimed, crooked, one-eyed, blind, dull, and low, they having no faith in my Sutra." [Cf. next item, Burton Watson (BW), pp. 75-76] In v. 129 they are "deaf and senseless", and for millions of ages they will be "dull and defective" (v. 130, p.94) [BW, p. 76]; the disbeliever will live with animals, "And when he has assumed a human shape he is to be blind, deaf, and stupid, the servant of another, and always poor", as well as severely diseased and foul-smelling (vv. 132-133, p. 95) [BW, p. 77]
Chapter V includes an extended discourse taking the supposed example of "a certain blind-born man" (pp. 129-138) who denies the existence of various distinctions between things, though sighted people assure him that they are visible. An all-knowing physician reflects that "The disease of this man originates in his sinful actions in former times" (p. 130), and he searches in the Himalayas for some herbs to treat the blind man. Applying these, "the blind-born recovers his eyesight, and in consequence of that recovery he sees outwardly and inwardly..." (p. 131) Yet that is only the beginning of the path to knowledge and wisdom. Exposition of this parable asserts that being 'blind-born' is the normal condition of human beings in the world - they (i.e. 'we') are "blind from ignorance" (p. 133). [Not found in BW's version]
Chapter XVIII, gives a series of detailed descriptions of the kind and quality of sensory perceptions that can be achieved by one who preaches this Sutra, whether of vision (p. 337), hearing sounds (337-340), smelling odours (341-346), tasting flavours (347-348), using the natural eyes, ears, nose and tongue, and also great purity of bodily and mental powers accruing to the teacher (349-353). [BW ch.19, pp. 251-264] (It is apparently not envisaged that a teacher could have any sensory impairment).
In ch. XXII, pp. 382-385) following the death of the Great Teacher, a Bodhisattva "burnt his own arm", being thus "deprived of a limb, deprived of one arm" (p. 384). By a 'word of truth', the Bodhisattva then reversed this condition, regaining the arm (p. 385). However, self-mutilation of a similar kind (but without restoration) then seems to be recommended to earnest followers "who at the Tathagata-shrines shall burn a great toe, a finger, a toe, or a whole limb", an act which would "produce far more pious merit than results from giving up a kingdom..." (or a long list of other sacrifices) (pp. 385-386). [BW ch. 23, pp. 284-285).] [Various examples are reported in different eras, of Buddhists' self-mutilation, many of which cite this Lotus Sutra text as justification. See e.g. Kenneth CH'EN (1973); DE BARY et al. (1960) quoting from Mouzi (ca. 193 CE), and Han Yu (in 819); Ryuchi ABÉ ( 2002-2003; and 2006) on the case of Myoe Koben (1173-1232) cutting off his ear; Dan LEIGHTON (2003) Faces of Compassion, p. 202; W.A. TATCHELL (1909) Medical Missions in China, pp. 42, 44-45, on a Buddhist nun who amputated her left hand as an act of devotion. More recent and detailed studies, e.g. J. Kieschnick (2007) The Eminent Monk; Jimmy YU (2012) Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence, may expect a readership beyond 'East Asian studies', as the Internet caters for the vast public appetite for blood, torture and freakish behaviour. This is not to suggest that such self-harming actions are necessarily common -- it seems likely that the more extreme actions are very uncommon, yet they will tend to be noticed and reported and (with imagination and exaggeration at every repetition) may generate publicity and echoes hugely out of proportion to actual incidence. No reliable 'statistics' are offered). Whether the less dramatic actions arise from, or concurrently with, mental disorder in the perpetrators is also debatable. The Buddha Gotama, in the 'Middle Length Discourses', Mahasthanada Sutra 12:45-56, referred to his own early severe austerities, and noted that there was no merit in such practices.]
[The BUDDHA.] The Lotus Sutra, translated [from Chinese] by Burton Watson (1993). New York: Columbia UP. xxix + 352 pp.
More than a century after Kern's translation from Sanskrit (see previous item) Burton Watson used for his translation the well-received Chinese text "done in 406 by the Central Asian scholar-monk Kumarajiva" (pp. ix-x), "compiled and edited by Soka Gakkai" (p. xxvi). Watson also notes the considerable problems and choices that must be made when translating from Classical Chinese, and that he has paid attention to Japanese readings of the text, as "followed by Nichiren (1222-1282)", in turn based on commentaries by "Chih-i (538-597), founder of the T'ien-t'ai school." (pp. xxvi-xxvii). Watson acknowledges much assistance from persons associated with Soka Gakkai, while also of course benefitting from much development of scholarship in this field, his own considerable experience as a translator, and an attractive style of modern English. Some differences, as compared with Kern's translation (above) may be seen in the following texts concerned with disability:
Chapter 3, (punishment incurred by the person scorning this Sutra) - "If he should become a human being, / his faculties will be blighted and dull, / he will be puny, vile, bent, crippled, / blind, deaf, hunchbacked." (p. 75) ... "A sinful person of this sort / will constantly be born amid difficulties, / crazed, deaf, confused in mind, / and never will hear the Law." ... "he will at birth become deaf and dumb, / his faculties impaired, / will constantly dwell in hell," ... "water blisters, diabetes, / scabs, sores, ulcers, / maladies such as these / will be his garments, / His body will always smell bad / filthy and impure." (76-77). By contrast, the remarkable nature and quality of the sensory perceptions of the Teacher of the Law appear in pp. 251-264. Description of self-mutilation by burning one's arm or other limb, as a dedicated offering, are shown on pp. 284-285. Watson usefully provides a Glossary (pp. 325-342) and Index (343-352).
[The BUDDHA.] Buddhism: The Dhammapada, translated by John R. Carter & Mahinda Palihawadana, with introduction by Jaroslav Pelikan. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club. xvii + 416 pp. [The original work was published by Oxford University Press in 1987, and reprinted with softback in 1998, comprising xxviii + 522 pages. From this, the Preface and detailed Introduction(s) by Carter and Palihawadana, and the final 98 pages of endnotes, mostly quite technical (e.g. concerned with Pali textual variants, issues of translation, and cross referencing within the Dhammapada), and an index (9 pages), have been omitted in the 'Book Club' edition. While obviously being of the greatest benefit to textual scholars, there do not seem to be any introductory notes or endnotes relevant to disability concerns. The 'Book Club' version editor Jaroslav Pelikan, himself a distinguished scholar in the history of religions, who provides an alternative Introduction, was perhaps justified in omitting the scholarly apparatus, to achieve a much wider circulation of material which already comes with translation of detailed Sinhala commentarial text, showing the Pali text and extensively indicating the meaning of key terms.]
The Dhammapada, a short, central collection of the teaching of the Buddha Gotama, apparently assembled in Ceylon in the 3rd century BC, probably with subsequent editing, is revered in the major Buddhist schools and traditions across South and East Asia. The present translation (pp. 13-82), is followed by the same text split up as individual verses or paragraphs including "as an integral part of the work an early quasi-canonical commentary" (Pelikan, Introduction, p. xvi), together with roman transliteration of the Pali text. The commentary contains useful explication of significant Pali words. 'Following the Right Path' is represented essentially as a culture and discipline of the mind into a state of heightened awareness, 'mindfulness', leaving behind the ignorance and folly natural to the child and to the ordinarily 'mentally childish' adult whose actions are devoid of maturity and seriousness. Thus: "People deficient in wisdom, childish ones, / Engage in unawareness. / But the wise one guards awareness / Like the greatest treasure." [Dhammapada 26, p.16] Extract from Commentary: "Childish ones: bala Those who are possessed of puerility, who do not know what is beneficial for this world and for the world beyond" (pp. 114-115); see further terms for 'puerile, childish ones', (Dham. 206-207; pp. 48, 259-260, 264, 290). The wise are compared to a Sindhi racehorse, outstripping the lame-legged, slow-learning nag (Dham. 29; pp. 17, 117); the foolish person is both blind and childish, while the enlightened disciples stand out, shining amidst the "wretched, blinded ordinary folk" (Dham. 59-75 and 174; pp. 22-25, 124, 144-160, 236). The section devoted to 'The Childish' (Dham. 60-75; pp. 23-25) gives some hope for those who become aware of their own childishness, but none for those who are childish but imagine themselves wise - including some who have joined a Buddhist community but have understood nothing.
The text exalts wisdom, intelligence, perception, awareness, insight and quick learning. Consequently, ordinary people ("wretched, blinded ordinary folk") appear as clods; and people whom these clods perceive as having cognitive impairments may be 'super-clods'. The Buddhist monk should indeed be guileless in his conduct, and metaphorically 'blind, deaf and dumb' towards worthless actions (p. 159) but there is little if any appreciation of those who are not childish but child-like. Various disabilities seem to be portrayed as the punitive consequences of evil actions (Dham. 136-141; pp. 36, 206-209). The destiny of the idle and somnolent person, the dullard with a large appetite, is to suffer an ongoing round of rebirths (Dham. 325; pp. 67, 346). The 'dullard' here is mando in Pali (p. 346). [The description is similar to that for the personality in which tamas (Sanskrit: darkness, stupidity, with sluggishness and torpor) dominates, in Hindu psychology and medical writing.] See also dummedha, dummedho, dummedhino (Pali), 'deficient in wisdom', 'lacking discernment' (Dham. 66, 164; pp. 23, 41, 115, 151, 228-229). Fault is found even with the person who remains silent "like one who is dumb, like one who is deaf", (pp. 274-275). (See also the JATAKA, below).
[The BUDDHA.] Buddhist Legends. Translated from the original Pali text of the Dhammapada Commentary, by Eugene W. Burlingame (1921), 3 volumes, Harvard UP. Reprinted (1969), London: Luzac. xxxviii + 328 + 366 + 328 pp. + plates
Burlingame's translation of the Dhammapad-Attha-katha, a compendium of stories which may have emerged from the 5th century CE in its present form, benefits from a detailed Introduction (vol. I, pp. 1-69) with detailed tabulation of the literary links, especially to the JATAKA parallels; and useful synopses of the stories (I: 71-141). The translator notes that the wish to include more good stories in the 'Dhammapada Commentary' has meant that "the exegesis of the [Dhammapada] text becomes a matter of secondary importance and is relegated to the background" (I: 26). Among the stories, some emerge in which "All manner of physical disabilities are looked upon as the fruit of past deeds" (I: 32). Some can suggest 'genetic links' between successive births of the same character. Thus the antecedents of one 'dullard' were revealed - he had once been a learned person who mocked a slow-learning monk and thus deserved to be reborn himself as a dullard (I: 302; these stories occur in the commentary on Dhammapada 25, which speaks of childishness and lack of awareness). Perhaps the experience of a lifetime of academic incompetence with its attendant social humiliations was needed for this soul to make progress towards perfection. Similar retribution (with opportunity to learn better) befell Khujjuttara, the hunchback maid of Queen Samavati. Converted while listening to the Buddha's teaching, Khujjuttara promptly confessed to the queen her previous practice of stealing part of the flower budget, and stated that she now knew better! As a result, she was asked to preach the Law to five hundred women at court, and soon attained a pre-eminent position as a teacher (I: 281-282). This rapid rise from deformed female thief to teacher of the Law was endorsed by the Supreme Teacher. In an earlier birth, she had mocked a deformed pacceka buddha at the royal court of Benares, imitating his stoop - so she earned the 'corrective' or 'educational' rebirth as a hunchback herself (I: 292). Khujjuttara also played a substantial comedy part in Kusa-Jataka, No. 531 (Cowell, V: 141-164), taking advantage of her role as privileged nanny, even locking her royal mistress Pabhavati into a room, and hilariously throwing her weight around. She is named as Khujjuttara at the close of the story, where the Master identifies various well-known persons. She was similarly identified as the female servant at the close of Jataka stories 354, 488, 525, but her deformity was not specified there.
Another disabled person depicted as an honoured teacher was Cakkhupala, who was blind. The story had him taking a journey led by a sighted guide holding the tip of his staff; but later, in a familiar setting, he took his exercise independently (I: 154-158). During his exercise Cakkhupala unknowingly trampled many innocent insects that were also out for a stroll after a shower of rain. This raised ethical questions for some of his higher-minded fellow monks (who perhaps had Jainist leanings). Yet the story notes that the resident monks had failed to sweep the path where Cakkhupala walked. In an earlier birth Cakkhupala had been a doctor, whose patient tried to avoid paying the agreed fee for treating her eyes; so he had given her a blinding ointment. As a consequence, he himself later suffered the penalty of blindness.
Some 'numskull' or 'simpleton' tales appear in the Commentary. One illustrates Dhammapada 73-74 (where a childish monk had unrealistic dreams of prestige). This tale follows up the Jataka story of the cripple who was an expert stone-thrower. He was rewarded after helping the king to silence a talkative priest by flicking pellets of goat's dung through a curtain hole into the priest's too-busy mouth. A simpleton, seeing this trick and its reward, begged to learn this handy skill and prevailed on the cripple to teach him. The simpleton went off to try out his new skill, and sent a stone through one ear and out the other of a pacceka buddha, with unfortunate consequences. The moral of the story seems to have been that simpletons should not be helped to acquire skills, when they lack the general intelligence to perceive the consequences of their actions (II: 141-144). Other simpletons or people apparently with learning difficulties appear in vol. I: 40-41, 155, 162, 271-272 (King Canda Pajjota stupidly set a pretended leper against a fake hunchback, failing to see the likely outcome); 302-311 ('Little Wayman'); vol. II: 117-118, 124-125, 185; vol. III: 157-159, 206. Disabled people sometimes appear in a positive light: I: 156-157, 281-282 + 292 (Khujjuttara); 302-304.
Further disability themes are recorded. While Vishakha's serving maids ran to shelter from rain, she walked slowly and carefully, at cost of getting wet: had she slipped and broken a limb, her marriage chances could have been spoiled, whereas clothes that got wet were easily dried (II: 62-63). In vol. II: 115-116, there is a 'birth monstrosity' whose "hands and feet and eyes and ears and nose and mouth were not where they should have been ... he looked like a mud sprite and was exceedingly repulsive ", but his mother at least kept him alive, with difficulty. (This could be read as a fictive monster; but it may be based on real observation of a child having both chromosomal displacements and foetal trauma). A sharply drawn story is told of a woman named Patacara, who was born in luxury, rebelled against her family, fled with her lover, bore two children, then in quick succession lost every member of her family. She went mad with grief and despair, wandering across the country naked and wailing. People drove her away with clods of earth and shouts of derision. Patacara was drawn toward Jetavana monastery, where the Teacher was in residence. Perceiving her history, he spoke to her and she returned to her senses; he discoursed on impermanence and the true path, and she received enlightenment (II: 250-256). A novice monk Sanu is shown apparently having a fit, due to the attention of an ogress (III: 207-211). She "went and took possession of the body of the novice, twisted his neck, and felled him to the ground. With rolling eyes and foaming mouth, he lay quivering on the earth." (p. 208). A little later, "the novice opened his eyes and saw his mother with dishevelled hair ... he said, "But a moment ago I was sitting in a chair, and my mother sat near me washing rice; but now I am lying on the ground. What does this mean?" [In the index to all three volumes, at III: 341-374, this story is listed under 'Epilepsy' (p. 351b). A different version appears at III: 292-295.] Further disabling conditions are depicted, e.g. being 'very fat' (I: 166), from which laziness and a false sense of importance might arise (166-170); and inability to bear children, which could lead to hatred between wives (I: 170-175).
CH'EN, Kenneth K.S. (1973) The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP. ix + 345 pp.
This scholarly work describes the slow steps in sinification of Buddhist practice through centuries of Chinese history, a few of which have pertinence to disability or deafness. Around 402 CE, Hui-yüan, a senior Chinese army officer, raised questions about the peculiar barbarians (i.e. Buddhist monks) "who shave their heads and mutilate their bodies", disrupting the natural order of Chinese life (pp. 76-77). Official efforts to register and regulate monks slowly increased, as some people adopted a monkish identity to avoid community labour service or to engage in misbehaviour. In 724, Hsüan-tsung ordered a triennial testing of monks aged under 60, to see if they could "recite 200 leaves of sutras" (p. 93). In 757, rules were issued on the quantity of text that a layman must show himself capable of reciting, to qualify for ordination: "700 leaves from a sutra", later reduced to 500 leaves; and in 825 CE, to 150 leaves for a male postulant, and 100 for a female (p. 88). In 835, on advice from premier Li Hsün, the bar for existing monks was raised to reciting 300 leaves; however, "Certain groups were exempted: those monks over fifty who were mentally senile, the deaf, the dumb, the lame, and recluses who were acknowledged by all to be perfect in religious conduct." (p. 93) The thoughtfulness implicit in this special provision by Li Hsün is somewhat marred by footnote 78, noting that the premier was executed that year "for complicity in trying to kill eunuchs", and the edict he had suggested was rescinded (93). Responses to Buddhist monks among the populace were probably influenced by an ongoing provision of medical treatment, in hospitals, dispensaries, or by itinerant monks, mentioned in passing by Ch'en (pp. 117-118; 296-300); though in 653 an edict had forbidden "Taoist and Buddhist clergy to heal and practice divination" (101).
Ch'en quotes material by some T'ang poets, particularly Po Chü-i (772-846), that reflect the interface of Buddhism and "mental perturbations" (pp. 186, 194-197, 202-203) that Po suffered, also his various eye problems (208-210), the decrepitude and ineptitude of old age, accompanied by loss of teeth and incapacity of his left leg (214-227). Mention is made of report in the years 819 and 873, in which "a soldier cut off his left arm in front of the Buddha's relic", and other self-mutilating activities took place (pp. 268-270).
CHEN, Yaozhen [Eugene Chan] (1980) The courageous and brilliant blind monk Jianzhen. Chinese Medical Journal 93: 130-133.
The Buddhist monk Jianzhen, a medical specialist born in China in 688 CE, in the Tang Dynasty, made several efforts to visit Japan, against many difficulties. He succeeded at the sixth attempt in 753, when he had already lost his eyesight. He remained ten years in Japan, teaching medicine and pharmacology. [Of this persistent monk, the famous poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) wrote respectfully, "In coming to Japan, Monk Ganjin [*] of Shodai Temple more than seventy times endured difficulties on his ship, and because the salty winds blew into his eyes he finally became blind. I looked at his holy statue: // With a young leaf may I wipe the dew from your eyes?"
* [Footnote: "Ganjin (688-763), a Chinese Buddhist monk, came to Japan in 754 and in Nara founded the Temple Basho mentions, more correctly called Toshodai-ji."} Basho's remark is dated 1688, presumably for the 1000-year commemoration of Ganjin / Jianzhen 's birth. (From the Country of Eight Islands. An anthology of Japanese poetry, edited and translated by Hiroaki Sato & Burton Watson, 1981, New York: Anchor, Doubleday, pp. 278, 284).]
CHUANG TZU (now usually Zhuangzi). The Book of Chuang Tzu, translated by Martin Palmer with Elizabeth Breuilly, Chang Wai Ming, and Jay Ramsay (1996). London: Arkana Penguin. xxx + 320 pp. + illustrations.
[See discussion of the Daodejing, below, under DE BARY et al. (1999), and the puzzle over the gnomic verse which seems to say 'colours make blind', 'sounds make deaf'. One suggested response is to compare some texts of Zhuangzi {Chuang Tzu}. Palmer's ch. 8 is titled "Webbed Toes" - such toes, or an additional finger, do not necessarily have any particular merit or demerit. The precise intention of the argument is not very clear: "In fact, webbed feet are simply useless extra pieces of skin; an additional finger is useless. ... It places too much emphasis on hearing and sight. So heightened visual perception will cause confusion in distinguishing the five colours. One will be overwhelmed by interesting designs and dazzled by the bright and luminous shades of blue and yellow. As a result, it will be like Li Chu the keen-sighted. And doesn't an extraordinary faculty for hearing lead to confusion about the five notes, and the excessive use of the six tones created by metal, stone, silk and bamboo together with the huang chung and ta lu pipes. As a result, it will be like the music master Kuang." {p. 66} {Kuang was a blind man}. During 18 years since Palmer's translation (with preface dated 1995), experiences of some people on the 'autism spectrum' or displaying 'neuro-diversity' have received more Western scientific attention. Some report great difficulty caused by 'sensory overload' and absence of the 'normal' filtering processes. This leads to 'seeing too much', and so, for example, being obliged to cover the eyes with a hand and look through a crack between two fingers in order to focus on a direction sign in some brightly lit public space; or 'hearing too much', e.g. being distracted from the conversation in the room by listening to an approaching aeroplane (which nobody else can hear until several minutes later). Perhaps some kinds of sensory overload were already known and discussed in ancient China. {See also Chuang-Tzu translated by A.C. Graham (1981) with more detailed introduction and some reconstruction.}]
CLIFFORD, Terry (1984) Tibetan Buddhist Medicine and Psychiatry. The Diamond Healing. Wellingborough, UK: Aquarian. xx + 286 pp.
A detailed introduction is given to the historical healing arts in Tibetan Buddhism, and other comparable South Asian practices. Pp. 129-170 concern traditional concepts and treatments of mental illness. Three 'psychiatric' chapters (i.e. 77, 78, 79) from the "Gyu-Zhi" are rendered in English with introduction (pp. 171-197). [The impression is given on p. xv, "She has specifically chosen to translate the psychiatric chapters of the Four Tantras or Gyu-zhi...", that the translation was done by Ms Clifford, who has, however, stated two pages earlier that "I am not a scholar of the Tibetan language". In fact, the translation process, "based primarily on the oral instruction and explication" of a Tibetan lama doctor in Nepal, was undertaken by four other named people in several stages, sketched in note 34, p.250. The text used, "a reproduction of a set of prints from the 18th century Zung-cu-ze blocks from the collection of Raghu Vira, published by S.W. Tashigang, 1975, Leh, Ledakh", is stated on p.173. See EMMERICK, below, who critically collated texts and translated chapter 79 of Rgyud-bzi, with somewhat different outcome, though he kindly allows that Clifford's composite version "undoubtedly reflects adequately the gist of the chapter".]
[CONFUCIUS.] Confucianism: The Analects of Confucius, transl. Arthur Waley (reprinted 1992). New York: Quality Paperback Book Club. xvii + 262 pp.
This classic compilation, known as Lun Yu, contains some hints of attitudes toward people with disabilities in ancient China. The dates of Confucius (known variously as Kongzi, Kong Qiu, Kong Zhongni, Kong fuzi, Master Kong) being 551-479 BC, possibly overlapped with those of the Buddha Gotama (which conservative scholarship sees as 80 years beginning in 623 BC, while the 'Short Chronology' is thought by some scholars to end as late as 368 BC). Incompetents and simpletons appear, e.g. II: 20 ("Promote those who are worthy, train those who are incompetent"); VII: 8 (Confucius teaches only keen students who can keep up with him); VIII: 9, XI: 17 [*], XVI: 9, (dismissive comments on the ignorant masses or dull-witted individuals). Confucius's elder brother may have been crippled (Intro, pp. 16; 107 ftn.); (GILES, Biographical, below, gives him as K'ung Meng-p'i, a half-brother}. Respect should be shown to skilled blind people, e.g. III: 23, footnote on blind musicians; IX: 9; X: 16; XV: 41. [Translation and interpretation of most of these items may vary widely. As usual with revered texts from antiquity, some later teachers would build a much wider interpretation on an early fragment or hint.]
* [This appears as 11: 18, in R. Dawson (transl. 1993) Confucius. The Analects, Oxford UP, p. 40: "Chai is moronic, Can is slow-witted...").
COOMARASWAMY, Ananda K. (1928) Mudra, mudda. Journal of the American Oriental Society 68: 279-281.
Long before the era of modern studies of European sign language history began, Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) cited the use of mudra in the Milindapañho, for which he believed the translation 'sign language' or 'hand gesture' was appropriate; and further asserted that "we know from other sources that in early India a sign language of the hands was considered an art or accomplishment with which an educated person should be familiar." (p. 279) He then cited the first of the two sign or gesture language scenes in Jataka 546 (see JATAKA, below), and found that "it is evident that the Bodhisattva was already using an established and conventional sign language of the hands, and this is what mudda, as an art or accomplishment, always means. Nata-sutras [= rules for actors], which must have dealt with the expression of ideas, etc., by means of formal gesture, are mentioned as early as in Panini [i.e. in the range 5th - 7th century BC]. This conventional sign language of the hands, whether in actual use by living persons, or in the more limited range of iconographic usage, must have been based on a natural and spontaneous language of gesture..." An abbreviated list is added of 14 other "references to the language of gesture" mainly in Indian folklore. [Coomaraswamy was a major scholar of South Asian art, rather than linguistics. Many Sign Language researchers might not agree to give the modern meaning of "sign language" to the gesture-based communications described by this scholar from an earlier generation. See further discussion at "Sign, gesture & deafness in south asian & south-west asian histories"]
DE BARY, William T.; Chan, Wing-tsit; & Watson, Burton (1960) Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2 volumes, New York: Columbia UP.
In volume I, the editors quote many pages of texts indicating the rise and flourishing of Buddhism in China through many centuries [summarising e.g.,"from the fall of the Han (A.D. 220) to the rise of the Sung (960), Chinese culture was so closely identified with Buddhism that less civilized neighbors like the Japanese and Koreans embraced the one with the other, and thought of great T'ang China, the cynosure of the civilized world, as perhaps more of a 'Buddha-land' than the 'land of Confucius'." (I: 369)] However, when it comes to disability-related texts, some criticism seems to have arisen specifically in the context of practices among Buddhist devotees. Thus De Bary et al. quote Mou Tzu [*] defending Buddhism against attack under such headings as "Why do Buddhist monks do injury to their bodies? ... Why do monks not marry?" (I: 274-276), both customs being strongly against Confucian tradition. More detailed critique is quoted from Han Yu, in the early 8th century [#], when he risked his life with an outspoken memorial to the Emperor, denouncing the apparent official endorsement of a "Bone of the Buddha", which was being paraded around the country. This would mislead ordinary people, who "would set about singeing their heads and scorching their fingers" {footnote: "Acts symbolic of a person's renunciation of the world upon entering Buddhist orders". I: 373}; and some would "cut off their arms and mutilate their flesh in offering [to the Buddha]."
* [De Bary et al. discuss early dates for Mou Tzu but are uncommitted. In M. Dillon (ed.) (1998) China. A cultural and historical dictionary, London: Curzon, p. 223, "Mouzi" appears as the author of the apologia for Buddhism, ca. 192 CE.]
# [De Bary et al. give Han Yu's dates as 786-824, but no date for the famous memorial. Han Yu's dates are more plausibly shown as 768-824 by Dillon, China...dictionary, p.135. The memorial is dated at 819 by K.S. Latourette (1964, 4th edition) The Chinese, London: Collier-MacMillan, p. 157. Latourette elsewhere (p. 541) alludes to self-mutilation at the third stage of a Buddhist candidate's commitment to monkhood: "Part of this last ceremony was a test of the candidate's ability to endure the suffering which he was supposed to have undertaken for others and consisted of burning cones of incense in rows on his scalp. The scars of this ordeal, plainly visible on his shaven pate, throughout his life afforded tangible evidence of his calling." (However, Latourette notes that there were some restrictions on gaining permission for this ceremony). See above: 1.6 Health Hazard Warning.]
DE BARY, William Theodore and Bloom, Irene [editors and compilers, with many collaborators and translators] (1999) Sources of Chinese Tradition, Second Edition, Volume 1, From Earliest Times to 1600. New York: Columbia UP. xxxiii + 998 pp.
The second edition of De Bary et al.'s 'Sources' contains considerably more material than the first, translated by specialists in the relevant topics and periods. Most of the items noted below have a 'background' purpose: they derive from Confucian or Daoist thinking, or perhaps the interweaving of China's three great strands of religion or religious philosophy which has characterised much of the past two millennia. [As the earliest material on Buddhism in India cannot properly be understood without reference to some of the major works such as 'Manu' and the Upanishads, so the issues of Buddhism and responses to disability cannot be understood without some indication of how disability was treated in the Confucian and Daoist heritage. Most of the texts had no particular 'interest' in disability - it appeared in lists exhorting protection and compassion for people with various vulnerabilities.]
On p. 83, lines in the Daodejing are translated (I. Bloom), "The five colors cause a person's eyes to go blind, / The five tones cause a person's ears to go deaf, / The five flavors cause a person's palate to be spoiled." [The intended meaning is unclear. Metaphorical explanations have been suggested, e.g. that an exaggerated focus on primary colours, or on a bare pentatonic musical scale, or on particular tastes, spoils the appreciation of the vast range of mixtures and intermediary colours. A similar reference appears in Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), chapters 8 and 10.] {*} In pp. 108-109, Zhuangzi has some comments on people with 'disability' names, such as "the Woman Crookback", and Master Yu who became "all crookedy like this!" (from chapter 6), and on p. 101, "Gaptooth" (from ch. 2). {*}
* [Translators Palmer et al., 1996, have "Crooked Man with No Lips" and "Man with a Jug-sized Goitre" in their CHUANG TZU (see above) ch. 5, each being advisor to a ruler. Those rulers reportedly became so familiar with these treasured advisors that one ruler came to think ordinary people "had backs too straight and lips too big"; the other, "necks which were too thin and short" (p. 43). Also in ch. 18, "Uncle Legless and Uncle Cripple" (p. 151), and others indexed as "disfigured men".]
De Bary et al. translate a brief note from Mencius in the 4th century BC, that both comments on a visible minor impairment, and also compares it with an invisible mental disorder: 6.A.12 "Now suppose there is a person whose fourth finger is bent so that it cannot be straightened. This may be neither painful nor incapacitating, and yet if there is someone who is able to straighten it, he will not consider the road from Qin to Chu too far to go because his finger is not like other people's. When one's finger is unlike the fingers of others, one knows enough to hate it, but when one's mind is not like the minds of others, one does not know enough to hate it. This is what is called a failure to understand distinctions." (p. 152) See MENCIUS below (transl. Lau).
The philosopher Xunzi (born ca. 310 BC, living to a great age, p. 159; but Dillon, China...Dictionary, suggests ca. 298-238), in a compilation of his work "edited more than a century after his time" (160) under ch. 9, "Regulations of the King", offers some early advice on "human resource management". He refers to rewards for the diligent, and dismissal of incompetent or wayward officials, while some can be retrieved by careful training. In the case of "those who have one of the Five Defects, [*] raise them up, gather them together, nurture them, and give them work according to their capacities. Employ them, provide them with clothing and food, and take care to see that none of them are left out." * [Footnote: "The category is defined differently by different commentators. One list includes those who are mute, deaf, missing an arm or leg, or dwarfed. Another includes the blind rather than the mute." (167).] [In context, the translation is a little unclear about how widely this generous suggestion was supposed to apply. It may have been confined to impaired members of a particular rank of the nobility, rather than to 'civil servants' in general or the common people at large. References to implementation of the advice seem to be lacking. Even if it were originally applied to a privileged group, Xunzi's advice could have established a useful principle, and legitimised a practical trial in some locality or other. For people hoping to steer a ruler's largesse toward a disabled member of their own family, it would be a good idea to dig up such a recommendation from a reputable philosopher.]
An essay by Zhang Zai (1020-1077), "one of the most celebrated in all of Neo-Confucian literature" (pp. 682-683), proclaims the oneness and interrelated of all humankind. Therefore, "Respect the aged ... Show affection toward the orphaned and the weak ... Even those who are tired and infirm, crippled or sick, those who have no brothers or children, wives or husbands, are all my brothers who are in distress and have no one to turn to."
Ming Taizu, founder of the dynasty (reigned 1368-1398), made in 1398 a proclamation of 41 articles of guidance for villages, among which was Article 19. "In each village and li a bell with a wooden clapper shall be prepared. Old persons, disabled persons unable to function normally, or blind persons shall be selected and guided by children to walk through the li holding the bell. If there are no such persons in the li, then they shall be selected from another li. Let them shout loudly so that everyone can hear, urging people to do good and not violate the law. Their message is: 'Be filial to your parents, respect elders and superiors, live in harmony with neighbors, instruct and discipline children and grandchildren, be content with your occupation, commit no wrongful acts.' This shall be done six times each month. At the time of the autumn harvest the people of the village and li shall give food to the bell carriers in accordance with their ability to pay." (pp. 788-790) [This interesting early Chinese example of the 'public demonstration', in which disabled or elderly people were officially encouraged to irritate their fellow villagers by toddling around every fifth day, chanting reminders of their moral duties, still has modern equivalents in some countries, e.g. in medical campaigns and public health advertisements. For people who were too frail or disabled to take part in rural labour, it probably gave a recognised 'public role', a reason to take some healthy exercise in the company of others similarly placed, and earned them the 'right' to share in the autumn harvest, rather than joining the beggars on the fringes.]
A more personal accounting of moral worth had long been enshrined in the "Ledgers of Merit and Demerit" (pp. 904-916) which may have begun in the 12th century CE, and encouraged individuals to keep the score of their own good and bad deeds. Excerpts are given from such a ledger by Yuan Huang (1533-1606), which he had taken up apparently on the recommendation of a Buddhist monk in 1569. Among the objects to be helped: "Give money and goods to beggars, the disabled, the crippled, and aged ... Establish old people's homes and institutions to provide for their security at your own expense ... Take in dependent, disabled, and crippled persons and give them money and goods ... Aid in the repair of temples and shrines that have long been dilapidated." (p. 910) Appropriate good works were listed for different social classes; thus "local gentry" were exhorted to "Show respect to the aged and compassion for the poor ... Do not marry off household slaves to wicked men or cripples for your own selfish gain." (914)
DROTT, Edward R. (2005) To Forget the Self: aging and senility in medieval Japanese Buddhism. 382 pp. Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania.
[From the Abstract only:] "Medieval literature provided models of spiritually advanced elders whose wandering, incomprehensible behavior, and transgressions were seen not as evidence of disease, but as marks of their advanced spiritual realization. Facilitating the view that even seemingly cognitively impaired men and women could possess hidden virtue, medieval Japanese Buddhist philosophies of mind held that cognitive functions such as memory were of dubious importance in the spiritual quest."
DUTT, Nalinaksha (1993) Great women in Buddhism. In: S. Madhavananda & R.C. Majumdar (eds.) Great Women of India, 253-274. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama.
Two notable women described here are Khujjuttara, Queen Samavati's hunchbacked maid, who became a famous teacher of the Buddha's Way (pp. 269-270); and Vishakha, who walked slowly to shelter from the rain, while her companions ran; she decided to avoid the risk of injury, "inasmuch as a grown-up unmarried girl with a broken limb was like a broken water-pot, to be thrown away." (p.271)
EBISAWA, Arimichi (1942) Irmao Lourenço, the first Japanese lay-brother of the Society of Jesus and his letter. Monumenta Nipponica 5 (1) 225-233.
The early Japanese convert Lourenço (1526[?] to 1592), described by contemporaries as "a blind man who had lost one eye and saw very little with the other", was baptised by Francisco Xavier at Tamaguchi in 1551, and taught Japanese language to many Jesuit fathers. He furthered their mission both by his shrewd knowledge of local culture and protocol, and by energetic preaching and teaching to people of high and low rank. The Jesuits noted that "men who at first laughed at his poor and strange appearance, stopped jeering in spite of themselves as soon as they heard him speak". Lourenço had been a biwa hoshi (226), and it is claimed that after his conversion and instruction in Christian doctrine he argued successfully with a number of Buddhist 'priests', resulting in the conversion of some (230-231). Knowledge of local practices enabled him to frustrate the efforts of some bonzes who were trying to have the Jesuits expelled (232). [The biography of Irmao Lourenço has been assembled from contemporary Jesuit sources, correspondence, and historians. Ebisawa remarks that "Japanese history is silent about him".]
EMMERICK, Ronald E. (1984) Some remarks on the history of leprosy in India. Indologica Taurinensia 12: 93-105.
The philologist Emmerick points out, with considerable breadth and depth of reference and detail, the difficulties of tracking down and satisfactorily differentiating an historical Indian serious skin disease equivalent to that caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae discovered by Hansen in 1873. The difficulties of classification were already noticed by Caraka, perhaps in the early centuries CE, when the word kustha might stretch to cover 18 (or even 36) varieties of skin conditions (or varieties of symptoms or appearance). While doctors in ancient India (or Burma, China, or later in Tibet) probably were seeing some patients with leprosy (as now identified) among many other skin diseases, the variety of symptoms displayed by different leprosy sufferers is very great, so there is usually room for doubt about the correct identification in any particular case found in old texts. Emmerick also considers various herbal treatments, and the historical use of 'chalmoogra oil' by Ayurvedic physicians. [The article says practically nothing about Buddhist medicine, but usefully indicates a level of caution that is advisable in the appraisal of Buddhist medical documents in which mention of 'leprosy' may occur. See also next item, by Emmerick, concerned with 'epilepsy'.]
EMMERICK, R.E. (1987) Epilepsy according to the Rgyud-bzi. In: G.J. Meulenbeld & D. Wujastyk (eds.) Studies on Indian Medical History. Papers presented at the International Workshop on the study of Indian Medicine held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine 2-4 September 1985, pp. 63-90. Groningen: Egbert Forsten.
[See annotation to previous item.] Emmerick presents (pp. 70-72) a collated edition and translation of the Tibetan Rgyud-bzi iii. 79, a chapter concerning epilepsy, and notes some features which "agree with or differ from the Tibetan version of the corresponding chapter, Uttaratantra vii, of Vagbhata's Astangarhdayasamhita" of which he also offers a "tentative edition and translation" (pp. 73-90). Both texts offer classification, symptoms, possible aetiologies, and treatments. "There are here no identical verses, and there are even some significant differences of doctrine" (p. 65). Both have classifications in which epilepsy may be due to wind, bile or phlegm (separately, or in combination), while the Rgyud-bzi adds poison as a possible cause, and also "demons". In the latter case (as also with madness due to demons) the patient "must (first) adhere calmly to expiatory rites, confession, ablution, oblations, and honouring the truth, and he must treat (the demons) seductively with water offerings, naga offerings, and oblations, and finally he must in the end adopt severe action." (p. 72)
EMMERICK, R.E. (1990) rGas-pa gso-ba. In: T. Skorupski (ed.) Indo-Tibetan Studies. Papers in honour and appreciation of Professor David L. Snellgrove's contribution to Indo-Tibetan studies. Tring, UK: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 89-99.
[Not seen. See previous two items by Emmerick. The article rGas-pa gso-ba concerns chapter 90 of the rGyud-bzi, third book, on treatment of elderly people, probably with reference also to the normal disabling ailments of older years.]
FA-HIEN KUNG. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline, translated and annotated by James Legge (1886) Oxford: Clarendon. Reprinted (no date, [1980s]), Islamabad: Lok Virsa. pp. xi + 123. [A map and nine interesting illustrations are included in the reprint, but not the Chinese text(s) that he had used, and referred to as "appended" in his Preface to the original publication. Legge's footnotes do appear in full, with detailed explanations of points in the text, and extensive reference to late 19th century scholarship in the field.]
In 399 or perhaps early in 400 CE, Fa-Hien and party had travelled south and reached the "pleasant and prosperous kingdom" of Khoten, "on the south-west of the Gobi desert" (p. 16, footnote). They were given lodging "in a monastery called Gohati", and Fa-hien noted the monks' dignified deportment, and use of a manual signing or gesturing system at meals: "When they enter the refectory, their demeanour is marked by a reverent gravity, and they take their seats in regular order, all maintaining a perfect silence. No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils. When any of these pure men require food, they are not allowed to call out (to the attendants) but only make signs with their hands." (p.18) In chapter 18, Fa-Hien and his companions travelled through the Indian city of Kanyakubja (footnote: known in the 1880s as Canouge, on the Ganges. "The Sanskrit name means 'the city of humpbacked maidens;' with reference to the legend of the hundred daughters of king Brahma-datta, who were made deformed by the curse of the rishi Maha-vriksha, whose overtures they had refused." (p. 53-54)
By chapter 20, the travellers had come to "the city of Sravasti in the kingdom of Kosala" (footnote: believed to be about 58 miles north of Oude or Ayodhiya). In this vicinity, Sakyamuni spent many years teaching (p. 55). Nearby was "a grove called 'The Getting of Eyes'. Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who lived here in order that they might be near the vihara" [at the Jetavana monastery, where the Buddha lived.] "Buddha preached his law to them, and they all got back their eyesight. Full of joy, they stuck their staves in the earth, and with their heads and faces on the ground, did reverence. The staves immediately began to grow, and they grew to be great. People made much of them, and no one dared to cut them down, so they came to form a grove." (58-59) [This 'Blind Men's Grove' is referred to several times as a location, in the 'Middle Length Discourses' of the Buddha. By this time Fa-Hien and companions had travelled far from home and were in the middle of sites where the Buddha had lived and given his teachings centuries earlier. It is reasonable to suppose that their emotions were much stirred by this pilgrim experience, as indicate in pp. 57-58, 83-84, and elsewhere.]
Travelling onward to Pataliputra (Patna), "in the kingdom of Magadha, the city where king Asoka ruled" (p. 77), Fa-hien stated that, "The Heads of the Vaisya families in them establish in the cities houses for dispensing charity and medicines. All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans, widowers, and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all who are diseased, go to those houses, and are provided with every kind of help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and medicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and when they are better, they go away of themselves." (p. 79)
FRITSCH, Ingrid (1991) The sociological significance of historically unreliable documents in the case of Japanese musical guilds. In: Y. Tokumaru, M. Ohmiya, M. Kanazawa et al. (eds.) Tradition and its Future in Music. Report of SIMS 1990 Osaka, 147-152. Tokyo and Osaka: Mita Press.
This short article discusses the legends of the blind biwa-playing priests, and the blind female shamanesses (goze), and the part they play in sustaining some modern blind Japanese people in the traditional roles. [Presumably the evidence and discussion appears in much greater detail, and probably greater clarity in German, found in the next item by Fritsch.] "A peculiarity of the myths of origin of the blind musicians [is] perhaps the conception of their guild-founder as an incarnation of a deity who transformed himself into a blind human being in order to help all the blind. In Japanese society the attitude towards blindness has been rather ambivalent. Whereas in early folk religion the blind were and are in fact still nowadays credited with a particular power and spiritual capacity to communicate with the gods, according to the Buddhist view, blindness, like other physical disabilities, was seen as a sort of retribution for misconduct in a previous incarnation. Thus, the mixture of admiration and suspicion in the attitude of villagers towards musicians, who, as wandering performers, were real strangers and outsiders, was all the more intensified by the musicians' blindness. The origin-legends convinced the guild-members as well as the people outside the organization, that by the transformation of a Buddhist deity into the body of a blind noble person the negative aspect of blindness was vanquished and that on the contrary the blindness served as stigma to acquire merits by practicing the prophecied profession." (p. 150) For the organisation of male blind musicians, the 'founder' was believed to be Saneyasu, known as Amayo, for whom there is plausible historical evidence that he was the fourth son of Emperor Nimmyo (regn. 833-850), was ill in his youth, and became a Buddhist monk; while the legend has him being blind. The female blind singers traced their origins to Sagami, supposedly the blind fourth daughter of the Emperor Saga (regn. 809-823). Further Buddhist 'authenticity' and nobility was acquired from legends of Prince Kunala, blinded son of the Indian ruler Asoka.
FRITSCH, I. (1996) Japans blinde Sänger im Schutz der Gottheit Myöon-Benzaiten. Munich: Iudicium. 311 pp. + plates, figures.
[Specialist reviewers praise Ingrid Fritsch for a highly detailed and erudite investigation of the social, cultural, organisational and religious history of blind singers and musicians (biwa hoshi, moso, and goze) in Japan from the 12th through the 16th centuries and further, with the curious involvement of the goddess Myöon-Benzaiten who some venerated as their special protector, at least in the earlier centuries. (Groemer suggests that, from the 17th century, secular preoccupations might increasingly have been pushing the goddess toward the margins, even of these mostly ragged and marginal musicians). Apparently the deity was originally the Indian goddess Saraswati. In passage through Tibet and China to Japan, her instrument changed from a vina to a biwa, and she acquired a Mahayana identity as a counterpart of Manjushri. The Indian tradition of eloquence and good fortune remained alive in her: "Every Japanese knows Benzaiten as one of the seven gods of luck venerated particularly at New Year's" (Guignard). Reviews by: G. Groemer (1996) British Journal of Ethnomusicology 5: 161-163; P. Knecht (1999) Asian Folklore Studies 58: 444-445; S. Guignard (2000) Monumenta Nipponica 55: 142-144; see also this bibliography, LEIGHTON (2003) Faces of Compassion pp. 125, 166.]
GILES, Herbert A. (1898) A Chinese Biographical Dictionary. London: Quaritch. xii + 1022 pp. {This work is out of copyright, and at least two versions can now be found, full text open online, which have been scanned using different kinds of Optical Character Recognition (OCR), in which maybe 90% of the English words are accurate, and another 5% or more can be guessed fairly easily. Currently available OCR software often confuses transliterated Chinese personal names or place names.}
[Giles (1845-1935) worked in China in the British consular service between 1880 and 1893, and compiled a Chinese-English dictionary that was published at Shanghai in 1892. Later he became professor of Chinese at Cambridge (Dillon, China...Dictionary). He thus had a useful background for compiling the Biographical Dictionary, so far as sources were available during the late 19th century. More than a century of scholarly work and sceptical scrutiny lies between Giles's compilation and present academic knowledge, so it is advisable to check stronger sources where possible. Nevertheless, Giles includes some details and anecdotes casting light on 'responses' to difference or disability in the past.]
Some of the listed people in this dictionary had impairments or abnormalities. One was K'ung Meng-p'i, listed as the half-brother of Confucius, who was "a cripple, and could not enter upon an official career." [See also CONFUCIUS, Analects, transl. Waley, 1992, pp. 16, 107.] Speech impairment is mentioned in entries for Chiao Sui (8th century CE), Han Fei (died 233 BC), Ko Hung (4th century CE), and Yang Hsiung (53 BC - 18 CE). Chu Ju was a "dwarf of the Chou dynasty"; Huang K'ang (10th century CE) was a poet, of dwarfish stature and blunt manners. Hsü Chi (11th century CE), was Superintendent of Education at Shanyang in Kiangsu, very deaf and also eccentric in his behaviour. "People used to trace on the ground before him what they wanted to say." Under Huang Pa, Governor of Ying-ch'uan, Anhui (1st century BC), there was a deaf servant, Hsü Ch'eng, in danger of being dismissed from service; but Huang Pa found him sufficiently useful: "this man can kneel down and get up; he can show visitors in and escort them to the door; besides, a little deafness is rather an advantage." [The usual reason for such an 'advantage' would be that deaf servants could not overhear secrets. Yet the Governor's tolerance extended to enumerating the servant's positive capacities. (There is further dignity in this man being known by name, which in the world's historical deaf sources, from more than 2000 years ago, is quite rare). Reading between the lines, one may perceive what this servant's most useful skill might be: keeping the deaf person's characteristic 'attentive eye' on the Governor, to read the slightest signal indicating that the visitor's time was up and he should politely be escorted out!]
GLUCKLICH, Ariel (1984) Laws for the sick and handicapped in the Dharmasastra. South Asia Research 4: 139-152.
Glucklich takes MANU's disability-related laws in the context of other Hindu writings and commentaries on law, disability and sickness, bringing out some positive elements, such as exemption from taxes [Manu, VIII: 394] and some protection of property [VIII: 148]. He recognises that many of the rules are restrictive and seem to discriminate against disabled or chronically ill people. "Handicapped and sick people are, in effect, denied status as legal agents." The exclusions extend to inheritance, religious duties, financial transactions, and appearing in court as a witness. Glucklich notes, however, that "the notion of individuality implicit in the analysis of particular categories of persons could be misleading". Individuals were seen in the context of the joint family where matters of property and inheritance were concerned. The family was responsible for maintenance of sick or disabled members. The rationale for this is a mixture of the presumption of incompetence, and beliefs based on the view that disability arises as a consequence of evil deeds in a previous life, which tends to diminish the credibility of the sufferer in the present life.
GOLAY, Jacqueline (1973) Pathos and farce: Zato plays of the Kyogen repertoire. Monumenta Nipponica 28: 139-149.
Golay examines the tragical-comical portrayal of blind people, and others' reactions to them, in several Kyogen plays, with some remarks on blindness in Japanese history, and the setting in Buddhism. "For not only were blind people very much a part of everyday life in Japan, but they were also intimately connected with the performing arts. It is even possible that some of these plays were originally created by blind monks" (p. 141). She translates some detail from Mari-zato (where "some blind men relax from their singing practice and begin playing football {using a cloth ball, with a little bell attached) {*}. Just for the fun of it, a passer-by takes the ball away and teases them...", ), and at greater length from Tsukimi-zato (the viewing of the harvest moon, with some pleasant social interaction followed by a stunning coup-de-théatre in which the sighted man, on an impulse, returns and, pretending to be someone else, "barges into the blind priest, makes him fall over, and then runs away shouting abuse at him"). In Kawakami-zato (pp. 145-149, with longer translated passages), a blind man "is on his way to a temple by the River Yoshino. The deity worshipped there is the bodhisattva Jizo, one of the most popular gods in Japanese folk Buddhism. His compassion equals that of the more abstract Kannon." Yet in this drama, it is almost as though the bodhisattva succumbs to the temptation to offer the desired gift (the blind pilgrim gets his sight back) but only to knock him down again (by imposing the condition, that he must divorce his wife). Golay notes that this "is an aberration in Japanese folk Buddhism, for this sort of sadistic punishment is usually the result of some specific breach of the ethical code, not of an unreasonable bargain." It could be "a deliberately distorted allusion to the Buddhist ideal of detachment from worldly affections"; or just part of the spirit of Kyogen, which "goes to the limit in its challenge of conventional values".
* [See further analysis in SCHOLZ-CIONCA, p. 43.]
GOODWIN, Janet R. (1994) Alms and Vagabonds. Buddhist temples and popular patronage in Medieval Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. viii + 184 pp.
Useful background on marginal or outcast groups and individuals and their interactions with Buddhist developments in the late Heian (to 1185 CE) and the Kamakura period (1185-1333). The term hinin, 'nonperson', "was applied loosely to people cast out from society because of an occupation or condition considered ritually polluting or disgraceful" (glossary, p.160), and is indexed on pp. 17, 117 to 120, 125, 126, 147, 148, 160, (also appearing elsewhere, e.g. 124, 131, 150) where Buddhist charitable efforts involved marginal people as recipients of alms, also as collectors of alms and sometimes as casual labour for local development projects, in conjunction with fund-raising by public subscription. Charity to "lepers and other outcasts" is noted (p. 2) , as well as Ritsu monks or lay brothers having direct physical caring contact with "lepers" (124-125, 132), and "leprosariums" as objects for charity drives. Goodwin suggests similar activities in medieval Europe (pp. 41, 125). Ambiguities of roles and definitions are investigated, as for example those of muen individuals (pp. 4, 13, 161, and index). The later period saw the rise of new schools of Buddhism offering opportunities for ordinary people to gain enlightenment and salvation in the present life, with modest yet meritorious donations and compassion towards the poor and helpless, sometimes within traditional boundaries and structures, sometimes without.
GRANOFF, Phyllis (1998) Cures and Karma II. Some miraculous healings in the Indian Buddhist story tradition. Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême Orient [BEFEO] 85: 285-304. [Found online]
Professor Granoff gives a critical review of some 'miraculous healings' attributed to the Buddha in Indian textual collections, with a background of Hindu and Jaina traditions. Some of accounts, "particularly cases that involved the regeneration of amputated limbs or plucked out eyes" (p. 287) seemed to contradict the more general reasoning about causation that prevailed in Indian Buddhist thinking, as well as conflicting with the understanding of karma. Granoff finds "a range of opinions on healing miracles; sometimes the Buddha declines to heal by himself, sometimes the stories prefer to regard karma as the cause of the cure and not the Buddha, and sometimes they minimize the specific nature of a healing miracle by comparing it to a more general act of kindness." (300) Plagues, famine and other disasters were a different case, and were difficult for the custodians of religion to account for plausibly.
GRAYSON, James (2001) Myths and Legends from Korea. An annotated compendium of ancient and modern materials. London: Curzon. xvi + 454.
Myths and legends are arranged by type and topic, with some notes, parallel motifs, and short commentary. Physically or socially disabling conditions appear in some tales, e.g. paralysis of a young boy, who would later be Prime Minister Kim Yangdo, cured by the Buddhist monk Milbon [*] (pp. 223-224), who also reportedly cured Queen Sondok of a chronic disease; brother and sister, sole survivors of a global flood, found their way to preserving the human race (pp. 313-315); the custom of abandoning old people in the mountains at 70 or 80 years of age (326-328); some tales of foolish people (356-364).
* [Grayson footnotes on Milbon that he was "One of the most prominent Silla esoteric monks of the seventh century." (p. 223). However, Henrik Sørensen points out that "There are no Silla records of Milbon, no surviving scriptures that bear his name nor anything that a person with a realistic historical view can accept as factual" (pp. 65-67). H. Sørensen "Esoteric Buddhism in Korea", in: R.K. Payne (ed.) (2006) Tantric Buddhism in East Asia, 61-77. Wisdom Publications.]
GRAYSON, J.H. (2002, revised edition) Korea - A Religious History. London: RoutledgeCurzon. xvi + 288 pp. (First published 1989)
Disability plays a modest part in this detailed account of Korea's variegated religious history, with its Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, and syncretistic strands. Yet from the early 4th century CE, when an independent and characteristic Korean culture is identifiable (p. 19), there are, from 'Korean Primal Religion' onward, themes or topoi of possible mental difference or psychological disturbance such as the shaman's, monk's or religious leader's 'professional' crisis, infirmity, or shock-enlightenment (pp. 43-44; 64; 86-87; 98; 185; 187); healing, curing, hypnotism or fortune-telling powers that affirmed the religious mission (pp. 47-48; 64; 65; 72-73; 165) while sometimes leading to low status, a mendicant life or even social disgrace in serving the common people (pp. 122; 130, 137); exorcism, familiarity with the spirit world and amulets, sometimes blind practitioners (p'ansu), and other traditional practices, that recur at intervals and are linked down as far as new religious movements of the past two centuries (pp. 198; 200-201; 207; 208; 210; 212; 217; 218; 219-222 {the p'ansu}; 225; 227).
GROEMER, Gerald (1999) The Spirit of Tsugaru. Blind musicians, Tsugaru-jamisen, and the folk music of Northern Japan. With the autobiography of Takahashi Chikuzan. Warren, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press. xxi + 321 pp.
The opening chapter (pp. 3-19) sketches the history of blind musicians in Japan through more than a thousand years. Early legends suggest that blind itinerant musicians had a repertoire of sacred and secular texts for chanting while playing the biwa (a kind of lute). They earned their living by transmitting folklore, clan sagas such as the "Tale of the Heike", news and fragments of Buddhist and Shinto teaching. "Eventually, Heike biwa performers began to form associations or guilds, often connected to powerful Buddhist temples ... One type of biwa hoshi known as moso (literally 'blind priest') usually chanted religious texts of a syncretic Buddhist and Shinto nature." (p. 4) Over many centuries there were periodic government efforts to control blind people, sometimes facilitated by their own internal quarrels: in the late 17th century, after a legal tussle between the moso and the todo-za (a larger and more powerful centralised organisation of blind people), the moso "were deprived of their right to wear priestly robes, to use Buddhist names, and, more importantly, to make a living playing {various instruments}"; they were restricted to "their traditional occupation of roaming the countryside offering exorcism and incantations, either solo or accompanied by biwa or percussion" (p. 5). The religious element of blind people's public activities seems slowly to have diminished; yet they might still play a passive religious role, as in rural areas in the 18th century, where the todo-za "received offerings from domanial lords, merchants, peasants, and Buddhist temples. Such donations, which were usually compulsory, had a nominal religious function, allowing the contributor to gain Buddhist credit for virtue." (p. 9)
GROEMER, G. (2001) The guild of the blind in Tokugawa Japan. Monumenta Nipponica 56: 349-380.
[See previous item] Detailed, scholarly paper tracing the development of the Guild of the Blind, the occupations of its members, the changing legal status, and many other aspects and vicissitudes, from the early 15th century, with focus on the early 16th to mid 19th centuries. "Blindness in medieval Japan was often considered a result of bad karma, curable through prayer and appeals to the Buddha. Sufficiently pious blind were thought to be able to acquire mysterious powers allowing them to heal or .. tell the future." (p. 350)
GROSNICK, William H. (1995) The Tathagatagarbha Sutra. In: Donald S. Lopez (ed.) Buddhism in Practice, 92-106. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP.
The Tathagatagarbha Sutra probably dates from the 3rd century CE, and is credited as a short but "extremely influential Mahayana Buddhist text" (p. 92). Grosnick discusses at some length the meaning(s) of its title. The word Tathagata is well known as a name give to the Buddha, or chosen by the Buddha Gotama, but it does not easily translate into English. The 'garbha' can be a covering, an enclosed space, a secret place, or that which is contained within the enclosure, hidden chamber or sanctuary. A series of similes in the Sutra portray "something precious, valuable, or noble ... contained within something abhorrent and vile". (93) The essential Mahayana teaching derived from this has been along the lines that all beings have within them the makings of a buddha, but this treasure is concealed in old rags and ignored or trodden on by passers-by; or the future great king is hidden in the womb of "an impoverished, vile, and ugly woman" (92). The reader accustomed to Hindu deities visiting the world disguised as a deaf old crone, or a hairy old hunchback, may be expecting to find such an example among a variety of similes in this sutra - but the simile of disability does not quite appear, and Grosnick very sensibly confines himself to translating the text that is actually available, regardless of any late Hollywood demands for a transformation scene in which the crippled tramp turns into an Olympic champion.
GYATSO, Janet (2003) One plus one makes three: Buddhist gender, monasticism, and the law of the non-excluded middle. History of Religions 43 (2) 89-115.
This article gives some detail of "how the female is conceived in Buddhism" {'conceptualised' might be a useful word here - biologically, female babies have been, and mostly still are, conceived by the same old-fashioned method as other babies}. Gyatso points out that entry of women to the Buddhist monastic community was granted by the Buddha reluctantly, as an afterthought, with restrictions, and with dire predictions that this would weaken the whole enterprise... Yet their gender had at least some merit: "in Buddhist monasticism women were not only distinguished from men, their superiors and mentors in the order. They were also differentiated from another class of persons, persons who cannot receive ordination under any circumstances." (p. 92) The 'third sex', anomalous gender, or "sexually marginal subgroup" can be classified with those excluded for having a significant 'disability', "on physical criteria: dwarfs, those missing a limb, the blind, the deaf, those with boils, or leprosy; all these may not join the order." (p. 93) [Gyatso footnotes that, "in Mahavagga at least, being a pandaka or hermaphrodite is listed with the first group {of excluded persons}, those who have committed {serious} crimes."] Gyatso goes exhaustively into the available historical literature and interpretations supporting an ever-broadening range of meanings and implications of the pandaka and of the sexual preferences or activities that might be possible, or at least imaginable, among humans finding themselves in this marginal subgroup. (For any monk with a talent for categorisation and classification, plenty of time to chase the finer details, a strong belief that everything must have a slot into which it should fit, and the glittering prize of writing the comprehensive work that included all the possibilities, the challenge might have been hard to resist). Some medical thinkers managed to find merit in the 'middleness' of the in-between gender - is it not the 'balanced' one between the male and female (pp. 100-103)? Yet the difficulties of fitting pandaka-hood into the correct slots remained the dominant theme: "Read the Vinaya literature from its earliest texts onward: you cannot fail to be impressed with the utter preoccupation, nay, obsession, with trying to pin down strict dualistic distinctions. The Vinaya struggles over and over to make it clear in just what cases a transgression really is a transgression, exactly what kind of transgression, how it is determined that it has taken place, and precisely what or who is responsible." (p. 108) Participants in the 'disability world' should have little difficulty in transposing that legalistic mentality to their own case, and understanding that while the 'problem' of their impaired sight or missing hand may be merely a nuisance which they have long learned how to work around, it raises a major barrier in the mind of the non-disabled legal purist. The 'disability' is in the hyper-systematised mindset, rather than in their personal bag of skin, flesh and bones. [But that is not the main point for Janet Gyatso, who uses the system-cracking 'uncategorisable' category to examine a lot of other interesting features and accommodations of Buddhist life and practice.]
HANDLIN SMITH, J.F. (1998) Chinese philanthropy as seen through a case of famine relief in the 1640s. In: W.F. Ilchman, S.N. Katz & E.L. Queen (eds.) (1998) Philanthropy in the World's Traditions, 133-168. Bloomington: Indiana UP.
In the end-notes to the present chapter (pp. 156-168), Handlin Smith gives useful comments on the rising literature in several languages, concerned with philanthropy in China's history, including notes on the complex relationship between Buddhism and Chinese philanthropy, and the compassionate activities of Buddhist monasteries in "care for orphans, indigents, the infirm, and the old".
HARTL, Wolfgang (2012) Lakuntaka-Bhaddiya ein verkannter Arahant. Eine ungewöhnliche 'Heiligen-Vita' des Theravada-Buddhismus. In: R. Breitwieser (ed.) Behinderungen und Beeinträchtigungen / Disability and Impairment in Antiquity, pp. 119-122. Oxford: Archaeopress.
[Not yet seen. Presumably this contribution involves a description of the 'unrecognised' sainthood of the Venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf, as one of the more unusual among the 'Holy Lives' celebrated in Theravada Buddhism (and more widely). See above, under [The BUDDHA.] The Udana and the Itivuttaka, in Udana parts 7.1. and 7.2.33; and under Samyutta Nikaya]
HEMACANDRA. The Lives of the Jain Elders, translated with an introduction and notes, by R.C.C. Fynes (1998), Oxford: Oxford UP. xli + 280 pp.
[This translated work of Jaina literature (the original being known as Sthaviravalicaritra, or as Parisistaparvan, p. xxiii) written by Hemac{h}andra {ca. 1088-1172 CE} is included for comparison with Buddhist materials having reference to disability. It offers a variety of often pious, sometimes lively, stories, legends and accounts of the lives of earlier Jaina heroes. Buddhism and Jainism were the two religions or religious philosophies whose founders were concurrently in discussion or contention with the religion and rituals of the Brahmins, and which evolved and became distinct over centuries, and survive to the present. Both drew from an ocean of earlier folklore, when it came to telling ordinary people memorable stories and drawing out a moral lesson, as noted (p. xxii) by Fynes in his scholarly introduction.]
'Blind', 'blinded' occurs in many forms, e.g. the ascetic Somacandra's "copious weeping over his separation from his son had made him blind and made his day night"; yet when both sons are found and presented to him, and he feels them with his hand and embraces them, "Warm tears appeared in Somacandra's eyes, which immediately became a medicine for the final destruction of his blindness." (Canto 1, vv. 222-245; transl. pp. 4, 21-22). "Blind with thirst", "blinded with passion", "blinded by pride" all appear as familiar metaphors (pp. 68, 85, 142); while "I was like a man blind from birth, travelling on the wrong road" (p. 31) seems more real-life, as against a remark on the "obstinacy of blind people, women, children, and of fools" (p. 158; Cto. 8: v. 17) which sounds regretably like a tendency toward over-generalisation in elderly males.
'Fools' of various kinds elicit familiar derision. A young man not knowing "the difference between men and women" gives other people grounds for thinking he is rather dim (p. 17); though in a particular case where your father is an ascetic and you were brought up in the forest, there may be some excuse: in that case, some hired ladies have great fun teaching the innocent lad some of the differences (Cto. 1, vv. 120-258; pp. 14-23). {Similar stories of social and intimate education appear very early in Asian literature}. Various other terms arise as insults, such as 'simpleton' (p. 72); "like a fool, he set off for Nepal, even though it was the rainy season, stumbling ... in the muddy ground" (p. 167); "to wander around doing nothing like the village idiot", or to increase that likeness by grabbing a donkey's tail to stop it running away, with the result of getting your teeth kicked out (Cto. 3: vv. 107-121; pp. 97-98); also as a recognition of personal folly, "We fools were deluded" by the beauty of a pair of twins, whose discoverers got them married to one another, causing endless trouble (Cto. 2, vv. 222-313; pp. 54-60); or recognition of the difficulty of helping a brother who was "very stupid" and had fallen passionately in love with a "one-eyed, buck-teethed untouchable woman" and not only having sons by this "deformed untouchable wife", but so doting on the babies that when "they pissed as he was holding them in his lap" he counted this "like being bathed in perfumed water" (Cto. 2: vv. 642-692; pp. 82-85). A failed military strategist may be used as a proverbial rebuke by any poor old woman: "Child, you're as stupid as Canakya ... Dim-witted Canakya rendered himself defenceless when he began to besiege Nanda's capital without securing the outlying districts" (Cto. 8: vv. 290-297; p. 176). Some kinds of 'madness' or crazy passion appear or are faked: "Since he saw you bathing in the river, dear, he's been mad with singing your praises" (p. 71); "The people thinking he was mad, grabbed him by the throat and bound him" (p. 75); but the lover was merely playing a part in a complicated ploy to evade a charge of adultery (pp. 69-82). Ladies too could go crazy over a much-loved child (p. 220).
Apart from the allusions above to both sensory and metaphorical blindness, folly and mental disorders, and some other impairments already mentioned (e.g. the woman who was deformed, one-eyed, buck-teethed and 'untouchable', with whom a heavenly visitor nevertheless became empassioned), there are a few other references to physical impairments. Deafness gets a passing and improbable mention amidst a comic scene in which a bridegroom, deeply involved in the preparatory ornamentation of his bride for the wedding, and who has reached the stage of decorating her breasts, hears that his brother Bhavadatta, a Jaina monk, has arrived and immediately leaps up: "As if deaf, he did not heed his wife's lady friends", who complain bitterly about him leaving the artwork half-finished, and correctly guess that Bhavadatta will entice his brother away and enrol him as a monk (Cto. 1: vv. 303-340 , transl. pp. 26-28). Reference has already been made in the Introduction to the present bibliography, to the inadvertent blinding of Prince Kunala, which appears in Fynes's Hemachandra (pp. xxix, 190-191, 268, 276). Another damaged royal person was the Magadhan king Kunika, whose name is indexed on p. 276 with the meaning 'Having a Withered Arm'; Monier Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, offers: crooked, withered, or mutilated. However, in Cto. 4 there is an extensive, somewhat comic description of King Kunika and most of the citizens of Campa rushing out to hear Sudharma preach (4: vv. 1-55; transl. pp. 111-115). In v. 33, having reached the park and dismounted from his elephant, "The long-armed king removed his shoes..." There are several possible explanations; and Fynes (p. xxxv) points out that "No translation could possibly do justice to the richness of Hemachandra's language", which was full of puns, learned allusions etc, which would require "a vast array of notes" to elucidate. As with many other works in the present bibliography, such elucidation remains to be provided by scholars working directly from critical editions of primary texts in 20 or 30 Asian classical languages; and such scholars probably need to have grown up in a world in which it is considered smart to pay attention to 'disability' and its representation (see, e.g., the work of Patrick Olivelle, in his edition and translation of MANU.)
IBN BATUTA. Travels of Ibn Batuta in Bengal, China and the Indian Archipelago, edited & translated by Sir Henry Yule (1916) in: Cathay and the Way Thither. London: Hakluyt Society, new edition revised by H. Cordier. Vol. IV, 120-122.
The African Muslim traveller reported a visit to 'Sin-Kalan' or 'Sin-ul-Sin', identified by the editors as Canton, China, around 1352 CE. In a very large Buddhist temple, Ibn Batuta saw "a place with rooms for occupation by the blind, the infirm or the crippled. These receive food and clothing from pious foundations attached to the temple. Between the other [city] gates there are similar establishments; there were to be seen (for instance) a hospital for the sick, a kitchen for dressing their food, quarters for the physicians, and others for the servants. I was assured that old folk who had not strength to work for a livelihood were maintained and clothed there; and that a like provision was made for destitute widows and orphans. The temple was built by a King of China, who bequeathed this city and the villages and gardens attached, as a pious endowment for this establishment."
IKKYU. Crow With No Mouth. Ikkyu. 15th century Zen Master, versions by Stephen Berg. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press. 80 pp.
Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481), possibly a secondary offspring of the emperor Go-Komatsu, became a Zen Master (or perhaps a Zen Repudiator, which might come to the same thing) of the Rinzai school. The preface by Lucien Stryk, to this slim volume of brief translated verses, notes that during his studies, Ikkyu's second master was a "severe disciplinarian of the Rinzai sect named Kaso Sodon" (p. 9). Under the rule of this bully, one story has Ikkyu solving a koan when he hears a blind singer rendering a part of the Heike Monogatari.[#] Stryk depicts Ikkyu taking care of Kaso "in growing illness, a paralysis of the lower limbs that necessitated his being carried everywhere," a devoted caring that lasted until Kaso's death. (Another source {*} has Kaso getting better, and Ikkyu leaving for many years of wandering life). From the disability viewpoint, leaving aside the game of retrospectively diagnosing just how depressed or otherwise crazy was this wandering cloud of a monk, the main feature of interest is when, in his late 70s, he becomes obsessed with Mori, "a blind girl, an attendant at the Shuon'an Temple at Takigi" (p. 10), who seems to have inspired him to an outpouring of erotic verse. In the Japanese original, there are doubtless many subtle references and resonances to delight the literary connoisseur. In the various translations to English, Ikkyu would perhaps be delighted if he could learn that his verses seemed the equal of many steamy graffiti on the walls of football club changing rooms and public toilets in 20th century Britain, inscribed by men celebrating (or at least, imagining) the pleasures of sexual penetration, fellatio and cunnilingus (e.g. pp. 44, 47, 63-66). To put it differently, as Stryk does, "Not only Ikkyu, in fulfillment, had much to thank his young blind lover for, but Zennists everywhere owe her a debt, for in the fullest sense she perked up his life, inspired his days, keeping ever clear his Zen mind." [What the blind young woman does not offer is any voice of her own: "the girl listening to the poet bursting with poems thinks nothing / but he thinks he wants her leaning on the gate while she just listens" Perhaps it was this - her advanced Zen capacity to 'think nothing' - that so attracted the Zen Master. Or was it his advanced capacity to believe that she thought nothing, plus the certainty that she saw nothing, that was so lovable? For centuries, blind prostitutes had been appreciated for this sympathetic feature, sparing the limp or ugly client the knowing 'professional gaze' of the sighted woman.]
# [The great medieval epic of Japan; see MILLS, 1983; RUCH, 1990; also Butler, 1966, "The textual evolution of the Heike Monogatari".]
* [Some of the other sources noticed here have been: H. Sato & B. Watson (eds. and transl.) (1981) From the Country of Eight Islands, an anthology of Japanese Poetry, pp. 232-233, 634, New York: Anchor, Doubleday, where Ikkyu reflects on "Contemplating the Law, reading sutras, trying to be a real master; / yellow robes, the stick, the shouts, till my wooden seat's all crooked; / but it seems my real business was always in the muck, / with my great passion for women, and for boys as well." David Pollack (1988) reviewing Sonja Arntzen's "Ikkyu and the Crazy Cloud Anthology", in the Journal of Asian Studies 47 (2) 369-370, noted that, behind Ikkyu's "odd combination of dignity and buffoonery", and the modern reincarnation in "movie cartoons, television shows, and comic books about Ikkyu the Clever Monk", many modern Japanese children "would be quite surprised to hear that he was in fact a serious poet". Ng Suat Tong (2012) Old Wine in New Wineskins: Hisashi Sakaguchi's Ikkyu, reviewed the latter's 1000-page graphic novel, in which Ikkyu's blind lover Mori (here known as "Lady Shin") acquires both an imagined face and a speech-bubble voice, at Hooded Utilitarian. At Dharmaweb, "Zen rebel Ikkyu: Ikkyu was a Zen monk of Muromachi": here the blind girl was "Nori". See also Charles MULLER's Digital Dictionary of Buddhism.]
JAPAN: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (1993) 2 vols. Tokyo: Kodansha.
See also Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (1983) 9 vols, which gives a little more detail on many items. Glimpses of social and disability history, especially of blind people, appear in some articles. See in both encyclopedias (indexed by first word) e.g. acupuncture; amma; biwa, biwa hoshi; daruma; Ebisu; Ganjin; goze; gunki monogatari; Gunsho ruiju, Hanawa Hokiichi; heikyoku; hiden'in; koto; medicine, medicine traditional; miko; Miyagi Michio; Physically Handicapped Welfare; physiognomy; Semimaru; seyakuin; shamanism; shamisen; shiatsu; social problems; social welfare; special education; terakoya; Yashiro Hirokata; zato; (and many more).
JAPAN Biographical Encyclopedia & Who's Who (1960, 2nd edition). Tokyo: Rengo.
Biographical notes. Some mention or imply disability or serious illness, or service to disabled people, e.g. (indexed by first word) Akashi Kengyo; Domo-no-Matahei; Hanawa Hokiichi; Hojo Tamio; Ikuta Kengyo; Ishihara Masaaki; Ishii Juji; Ishimura Kengyo; Iwahashi Takeo; Kitajima Kengyo; Kuzuhara Koto; Maeda Kengyo; Masaoka Shiki; Miki Yasumasa; Mitsusaki Kengyo; Murakami Kijo; Ninsho; Semimaru; Shiraki Shizuko; Sugiyama Waichi; Takayama Kengyo; Takizawa Bakin; Tomita Moppo; Yamada Kengyo; Yamamoto Kansuke; Yatsuhashi Kengyo; (and many more).
JATAKA, or Stories of the Buddha's former births, translated from the Pali (1895-1907). E.B. Cowell (editor); translated by R. Chalmers (volumes I & IV); W.H.D. Rouse (vol. II); H.T. Francis & R.A. Neil (vol. III); H.T. Francis (vol. V); E.B. Cowell & W.H.D. Rouse (vol. VI). Cambridge UP, 6 volumes. Reprinted 1993, in two volumes. Delhi: Low Price Publications. 2057 pp. [The original six slim volumes are reprinted in two thick volumes in the Delhi edition, but retain their original pagination, which starts at p.1 in each volume rather than being consecutive across the volumes. In references below, the Cowell (ed.) Jataka number is given (these being consecutive from 1 - 547), then the volume number (I - VI) and page number. Both editions also show page headings of ' Book I - Book XXII', (which are here ignored, but may be thus cited by other authors.) Each separate volume is indexed, and then 63 pages of general and special indexes appear at the end of the final volume, covering the entire work.]
From iconographical evidence it seems that many of the 547 Jataka stories may have reached something near their present form as early as the 2nd or 3rd century BC, while the final collection and written record would be achieved by the 5th century CE, or perhaps earlier. (Particular elements of social infrastructure may have been updated during the retelling of stories down the centuries). In his preface to these English translations, Cowell remarked on their usefulness "as giving a vivid picture of the social life and customs of ancient India" around the 3rd century BC, and noted their continuing relevance to British ethnographies in 19th century India (p. xi). Several of the stories are specifically on disability themes, while disabilities, deafness, signed or gestural language, and mental disorders appear casually in many others. Some portray 'unexpected' features of disabled people, such as a warrior dwarf; a physically disabled man using a wheeled cart to move around, who is a very accurate stone thrower; a blind sea pilot who sees more with his hands than other men with two eyes {No. 80, Bhimasena-J. (vol.I: 203-206); No. 107, Salittaka-J. (I: 249-251); also 463, Supparaka-J. (IV: 86-90)}. Incongruity appears also in stories of women misbehaving sexually with severely crippled men {e.g. 193, Culla-Paduma-J. (II: 81-85), where the man is a criminal, punished by amputation of feet, hands nose and ears; 232, Vina-Thuna-J. (II: 156-157) in which a young wife saw a humped bull being honoured, so she ran off with a hunchback man; and other disability-related stories teaching the 'vileness' of women, e.g. 61, Asatamanta-J. (I: 147-150); 536, Kunala-J. (V: 219-245, see pp. 225-228; 234-240.} Other stereotypes are apparent, such as 78, Illisa-J. (I: 195-201), a rich miser who was "lame and crook-backed and had a squint" and who drove away the poor from his gate; and 'Numskull' tales such as 44 & 45, Makasa-J. & Rohini-J (I: 116-118); 248, Kimsukopama-J. (II: 183-184).
In many of these tales, 'disability' appears casually in the ordinary-life 'background' of the Great Teacher's lives. Two stories are more directly related to 'special education'. No. 123, Nangalisa-J. (I: 271-72) tells of efforts to teach a slow-learner using activity methods and a practical curriculum. Yet the efforts fail: "This dullard will never learn". In 538, Muga-Pakkha-J. (VI: 1-19), the Bodhisatta appears as a baby prince. Horrified by the harshness of the king, he pretends to be a deaf and dumb cripple. Nurses and courtiers are not convinced, so they try various tests based on observed child development norms and audiological principles. They watch him closely while causing a conch to be blown suddenly under his bed. They shine lights on him suddenly in the night, but by mental concentration the little prince keeps still. They tempt him with milk, fruit or toys and try to surprise him with animals, according to the ages at which children normally responded to such stimuli. These detailed developmental assessment practices were apparently recorded over 2000 years ago, possibly the earliest records of such practices.
Further examples of disability-related stories - No. 1, Apannaka-J. (I: 1-9, blockhead eaten by goblins); 184, Giridanta-J. (II: 67-68, lame horse-trainer, limping horse); 202, Keli-Sila-J. (II: 98-100, bullying a dwarf (who is known elsewhere as Lakuntaka Bhaddiya); and cruelty to feeble elderly folk); 261, Paduma-J. (II: 222-224, noseless gardener, insulted by youths); 499, Sivi-J. (IV: 250-56, beneficent king gives away even his eyes); 516, Mahakapi-J. (V: 37-41, early detailed description of severe skin disease, plausibly translated as 'leprosy'); 519, Sambula-J. (V: 48-53, wife caring for leprosy-stricken prince); 531, Kusa-J. (V: 141-164, long story in which the hunchback maid Khujjuttara plays a key role; she also appears incidentally in 354, Uraga-J.; 488, Bhisa-J.; and 525, Culla-Sutasoma-J.). Many stories concern alms-giving and welfare measures for the poor (among whom disabled people would have been included without specific identification), e.g. 41, Losaka-J. (I: 105-111, street child, abandoned and begging); 221, Kasava-J. (II: 138-139, city charitable organisation); 346, Kesava-J. (III: 93-96, alms with love better than alms given for status); 424, Aditta-J. (III: 280-282, alms to the deserving or undeserving poor?)
Hearing impairment and signed or gestural communication appear in 171, Kalyana-Dhamma-J. (II: 44-45, mother-in-law, hard of hearing, misunderstands what is said, resulting in some disturbance); 535, Sudhabhojana-J. (V: p. 206, pretended deafness); 546, Maha-Ummagga-J. (VI: 156-246, lengthy tale, with sign language in two major scenes, pp. 182, 240-241). That long Jataka 546 also has a king's counsellor who would often become "barking mad" on particular days, and had to conceal it (VI: 193 ). Other mental disorders can be found, e.g. 263, Culla-Palobhana-J. (II: 227-229, curious tale of a prince 'allergic to women' from birth, and brought up by male servants; when he was 16, a clever dancing girl was allowed to exercise her charms on him using a 'behaviour modification' technique, with predictable outcome; but the lad was then overtaken by fits of possessive fury, randomly chasing people with a sword, until the king banished the pair of them); 352, Sujata-J. (III: 103-104, driven mad with grief, treated by 'shock therapy'); 358 Culla-Dhammapala-J. (III: 117-120, extreme cruelty to queen consort, with mutilation and murder of baby son, apparently resulting from king's sense of being entirely displaced from his queen's affection or interest, which was now focussed on her baby); 400, Dabbhapuppha-J. (III: 205-207, severe psychosomatic illness in king Maddava, relieved by subtle 'action therapy' and reasoning); 454, Ghata-J. (IV: 50-57, see 54-55, mad with grief; restored by distraction and reasoning); 467 Kama-J. (IV: 104-109, psychosomatic illness caused by insatiable craving; cured by reasoning; this story seems to be a more elaborate version of No. 228, Kamanita-J., II: 149-151).
[Some 'modern' Buddhists may be uneasy about using the Jataka literature as 'evidence' for any serious purpose. It can be argued that the Jataka stories are 'folklore' with many versions and accretions, and are not in the 'first rank' of canonicity. Nevertheless, some stories about the earlier 'Lives of the Buddha' are among the earliest extant textual evidence, and some texts are supported independently by early archaeological evidence of cave wall illustrations - e.g. those from the Ajanta caves (in Maharashtra State, India) which have generated a substantial literature and web presence. Much of the knowledge of ordinary rural Asians about 'their' Buddhism reportedly derives from the Jataka, and these stories are quoted as 'knock-down arguments' in cases of dispute. It seems unwise to bar such materials from consideration. Modern uses of the Jataka also need close scrutiny, e.g. P. Jory, 2002, "Thai and Western Buddhist scholarship in the Age of Colonialism: King Chulalongkorn redefines the Jatakas." Journal of Asian Studies 61 (3): 891-918.]
KINSLEY, David (1974) "Through the looking glass": divine madness in the Hindu religious tradition. History of Religions 13: 270-305.
Discusses many episodes of 'madness' or strangeness among the Hindu deities, where frenzied, intoxicated, manic behaviour was exhibited. Similar behaviour also characterised devotees: "it is abundantly clear that one of the traditional marks of a Hindu saint is madness" (p. 286). The devotee of Krishna "plays like a child, behaves like a dolt, and talks like a maniac" (287). Ramakrishna is quoted suggesting that "A perfect knower of God and a perfect idiot have the same outer signs." (294) Shiva was sometimes portrayed as "surrounded by idiots, epileptics..." and crowds of frightful ghouls. He was also known as "Master Simpleton". The gods are gods. They are not bound by human conventions. [Thus the Tibetan reports of 'crazy' behaviour among a minority of Buddhist teachers seems to have had roots far back in Indian religious tradition.]
KUMASAKA, Y. (1967) Iwakura: early community care of the mentally ill in Japan. American Journal of Psychotherapy 21: 666-676.
Dr. Kumasaka, a psychiatrist from New York, visited Iwakura village, a few miles from Kyoto, to study local recall of the tradition of 'convalescent inns' near Daiun Temple. [The temple, originally built in 971 by Emperor Enju, was burnt in a civil war in 1547, and reconstructed in 1633 {p. 669}.] The connection with community care apparently dates from the 11th century, when the daughter of Emperor Gosanjo (reigned 1068-1072) became mentally ill. The legend was that after prayers by Gosanjo, the Buddha appeared to him in a dream and advised him to send the girl to the Daiun Temple and to "have her drink the sacred water from the well." This was done, and the young woman eventually recovered after spending some time at the Temple. Afterwards many more people with mental illnesses were brought to Iwakura, and villagers accommodated some of them in their own houses. (The village also had a tradition of 'foster care' for children of noble families of Kyoto, who wished them to benefit from the healthier rural ambience). Until the later 18th century, the scale of 'community care' was modest: "Most of the mentally ill returned to their homes after worshipping the statue of Kannon (symbol of Mercy) and drinking the sacred waters". (p. 668) A change occurred late in the 19th century, when an increasing number of violent and excitable people could not well be accommodated in the small and lightly constructed rural houses, so a more formal hospital was instituted. A forward-looking physician, Eikichi Tsuchiya, being appointed in 1901 to run the hospital, developed it as an 'acute referral' institution, with the traditional village services as intermediate therapeutic facilities for patients whose conditions was improving and had prospects of eventual return to their own homes. The custom was now [in 1967] said to be extinct, but the author had little trouble in locating one village house where three people with chronic mental illness were still being cared for by elderly householders.
[A more substantial historical literature has arisen recently in this area. From an article in Japanese, seen only in abstract, by W. Omata (2003) {The origin of mental hospital in Japan and its typological classification.} Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi 105 (2) 200-206, it appears that the mental hospitals or asylums existing in Japan before 1868 numbered only about 30, "mainly buddhistic temples and shrines", where patients and their families "were treated by monks in various ways". The Iwakura method, of drinking holy water, or standing under waterfalls, was one kind of treatment, and the Daiun temple belonged to "Mikkyo-sect in the national Buddhism". A second approach was traditional herbal medicine, as practised by Temple Juninji, near Okazaki. The latter temple "belongs to Jodoshin-sect in the frame of the reformed Buddhism". A third way, by "collaborative conjuration" associated with a musical instrument (drum), was practised later at some Nichiren temples, within reformed Buddhism. A collection of historical stories by the disabled Japanese writer Hanaka, Syuncho, excerpted in the Encyclopedia of Disability (2006), vol. 5, p. 160, also refers to a haiku by the famous poet Buson Yosano (1716-1783): "In Iwakura, Fall in Love Mad Women, Little Cuckoo".]
LARSON, Gerald J. (revised 1979) Classical Samkhya. An interpretation of its history and meaning. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. xvii + 315 pp.
Samkhya (with suitable diacriticals) may have been equivalent to the phrase 'figuring out' (though Larson does not say so), i.e. reasoning, with shades of enumeration, on the ponderable and imponderable questions of human existence. It seems to have developed and formed a philosophical background and terminology from the Upanishads through the early centuries of Jainism and Buddhism, engaging with and influencing these religious philosophies, and emerging as 'Classical Samkhya' from about 300 CE, in Larson's Chronological Chart (pp. 251-254), for a thousand years. He gives a critical review (15-74) of scholarly Western and Indian interpreters of Samkhya from the late 19th century to the late 1970s; followed by his own analysis of Samkhya's historical development and meaning (75-208). The study makes reference (e.g. 10, 11, 55, 84, 162-164, 260, 272) to the three gunas, (sattva, rajas, and tamas), and Larsen notes that "various attempts have been made to relate gunas to the Buddhist theory of Dependent Origination" (84, footnote). In the study of disability of Indian antiquity, tamas (dullness, darkness, sluggishness, torpor, stupefaction, ignorance, delusion, dispersion, fatuity, being 'devoid of intellectual capacity', etc) is prominent in considerations of mental disabilities; and in Larsen's glossary it is defined as "the constituent or strand (guna) of prakriti that accounts for restraints and inertia, experienced psychologically as delusion, depression and dullness..." (245), though Larsen does not discuss 'disability' (as understood in the European 20th century).
LAW, Bimala Charan (translated [1923 ?]) Designation of Human Types (Puggala Pannatti). London: Pali Text Society. xiii + 111 pp.
This Buddhist text in Pali includes various categories of people with disabilities, and how they enter or escape the condition (e.g. pp. 44-45, 50, 70-71, 90-91, 95), classifying people into groups according to various criteria, noting the moral, ethical or intellectual shortcomings of most of them. It served as a manual of right conduct. For example, enquiring about those who live on alms, it enumerated five types: "One lives on alms because of his dullness and stupidity, one lives on alms because of sinful desire and moved by desire, one lives on alms because of madness and an unbalanced mind, one lives on alms because he thinks: it is praised by the Buddhas and their disciples; and, further, there is one who just because of absence of desire, just because of contentment, just because of eradication (of sin) and because [the life is] needed, lives on alms." (p.95) The question "how does a person become dull and stupid?" was not neglected, in the interests of any who might be contemplating a career in alms collection: "Here a certain person does not know good or bad qualities, does not know blameworthy or blameless qualities, does not know low or excellent qualities, does not know dark or bright qualities; thus a person becomes dull and stupid" (90-91). The reasoning appears circular, but presumably some wilfulness is assumed in the 'not knowing' good from bad. 'Blindness' and 'purblindness' were classified purely from the criterion of 'inward sight' or the 'eye of knowledge'. The student or hearer of religious discourse who had 'inverted intelligence', a type not unfamiliar to teachers down the ages, was likened to a jar kept upside down: attempts to fill it were futile, as whatever was poured upon it streamed away down the sides (45).
However, the passion for elaboration and for covering all eventualities generated unexpected possibilities for upward mobility. Between the case of the person in darkness who remains in darkness, and the person in light who ends up in darkness, there is also the one born of lowly stock, who is "poor, ill-fed, in straitened circumstances, where victuals are obtained with difficulty, is swarthy, ill-featured, hunch-backed, a prey to many diseases, purblind, or with a crooked hand, lame or paralysed", and who receives no material benefits; and yet this (seemingly unlikely) candidate turns out to be "a well-doer in deed, word, and thought", persevering as such to the extent of being reborn to "a happy destiny in the bright worlds" (71). [This passage seems to derive from the Kosala-samyutta, see above [The Buddha.] Samyutta Nikaya, transl. Bodhi, pp. 185-186.]
LEIGHTON, Taigen Dan (2003) Faces of Compassion. Classic Bodhisattva archetypes and their modern expression. Boston: Wisdom Publications. 349 pp.
This interesting and good-humoured book, with at least 43 illustrations, builds bridges (or occasionally helter-skelters) between Asian and Western Buddhism, and also between earlier Buddhism and modern expressions, and between 'textual' and 'iconographic' communication, and between icons old and new. [For these reasons, it is one of very few items listed in more than one section of the bibliography. Two of the illustrations, the androgynous "Manjushri goddess on bicycle" (p. 127), and "Samantabhadra goddess on bicycle" - the latter having a baby elephant balanced on her knees, steering the bike with its front legs while the goddess pedals gracefully with her hands pressed together in perfect balance - defy any simple periodization, as indeed does the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi who appears as a living exemplar of the second compassionate cyclist. Those active goddesses are wittily portrayed by the Japanese artist-activist and "longtime Zen and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, Mayumi Oda" (pp. 165-166), who provides further graphics in this book.] Leighton leaves the "scholarly, exhaustive survey" to others, but aims for "general surveys of the history and modes of the bodhisattvas as a reference for seasoned Buddhist practitioners and students" or an introduction for "spiritually interested newcomers". The book is pepped up with modern western examples, some of whom might be surprised to find themselves elevated among the compassionate saints of Buddhism; but Leighton, admitting that "any personal selection will be to some extent idiosyncratic" (p. 20), generously interprets them as following the various Bodhisattva archetypes identified in the text. Chapters 4 to 10 focus around Shakyamuni; Manjushri; Samantabhadra; Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin, Kannon); Kshitigarbha; Maitreya; and Vimalakirti. The classic Bodhisattvas' various Asian names, characteristics and "major elements of iconography" are conveniently tabulated (pp. 313-316), while the index is sufficient to track down the good folk who are suggested as late exemplars of sanctity (pp. 339-348).
Some of these involve managing life with disability or chronic illness, appearing with the iconoclastic model of Vimalakirti (275-276, 280-282), or with undertones of Jizo as 'wounded healer' (pp. 224-225). Probably the best known would be Helen Keller (pp. 303-304, 310), within (and beyond) the archetype of Vimalakirti. Keller's teachers helped her to arise from a world having very little communication, to become one of the world's best-known spokeswomen for disabled people. Yet Keller went far beyond that role, in her determination to understand and to do battle with social injustices and inhuman practices. Less obvious, but well chosen to alert millions of film-watching men who never heard of Helen Keller, is 'tough guy' Clint Eastwood (pp. 28-29, 301-303), whose later work has depicted "an older man trying to meet the infirmity of aging with integrity ... in the midst of ailments, fading capacities, and the effects of previous life choices ... much as Vimalakirti used his sickness to point out the fundamental sickness of all human beings to the bodhisattvas." Leighton also manages to pull the Japanese Zen monk Ryokan (1758-1831) out of his quaint image of pretended idiocy and faux-naiveté, to find him a place in the future with Maitreya, and as a subtle communicator with a 'difficult' teenager whom a relative had asked him to check over: "Ryokan visited the family and stayed the night without saying anything to the son. The next morning as he prepared to depart, Ryokan asked the boy's help in tying up his sandals. As the lad looked up from what he was doing, he saw a tear roll down Ryokan's cheek. Nothing was said, but from that time the boy completely reformed." (pp. 260-261)
LESLIE, Julia (1999) The implications of the physical body: health, suffering and karma in Hindu thought. In: J.R. Hinnells & R. Porter (eds.) Religion, Health and Suffering, 23-45. London: Kegan Paul International.
Ranges across 'Hindu' thoughts on suffering, karma and the body from antiquity to the present, with brief consideration of disability (pp. 35-37) and extensive references.
LEWIS, Todd (2005) Altruism in Classical Buddhism. In: J. Neusner & B. Chilton (eds.) Altruism in World Religions, 88-114. Washington DC: Georgetown UP. xiv + 202 pp.
Quoting from the Catusparishad Sutra, "just as the Buddha Shakyamuni began his teaching", Lewis begins with: "O monks, wander! We will go forward for the benefit of many people ... out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of gods and humans." (Translated by Ria Kloppenborg, 1973, The Sutra on the Foundation of the Buddhist Order, Leiden: Brill). The expression of that care for the benefit and welfare of others is then illustrated with reference to a varied benevolence, with teaching on karma, merit and demerit. Lewis notes that historical Buddhist texts reach us via a "monastic elite", whose "male, ascetic voice is overwhelmingly that of virtuoso renunciants", having comparatively little space for the "Buddhist householder's life circumstances or worldview" (p. 93); nevertheless the compassionate activities were prescribed not for the monks alone, but should and would become the normal practice of many householders as the teaching spread across Asia. Generous provision of shelter, food and water, and maintaining clear pathways and bridges, would benefit both the itinerant teachers and everyone else, with or without bodily impairment, as well as benefiting the giver (who had also been close kin to all those others in earlier births). There is some elaboration of detail in the listed good works, for those with the means to "build hospitals and provide needed food and medicine for the sick", as well as a more ambitious program of road maintenance, water management, orchard cultivation, and guest house provision (pp. 96-97), within Mahayana sources. Disabled persons do not appear as such, but may be assumed to pass unnoticed or to be among the sick and the beggars, to whom charity is due, "Even if it is just a piece of fruit / And giving them a pleasant, cheering glance" (p. 98, from the Mahanirvana Sutra, attested to in 300 CE, translated by R. Robinson, 1954, Chinese Buddhist Verse, London, 62-63), which should earn the donor a rebirth in the Pure Land. The accumulation of herbal and healing lore and of "monastic hospices and infirmaries" also seems to have made significant contributions and innovations in Asia-wide health care, as well as establishing regular educational opportunities (pp. 103-104, 108).
[LIEH-TZU. {more recently: LIEZI}.] The Book of Lieh-tzu. A classic of Tao, translated by Angus C. Graham (1960, with some revision 1990, for the Morningside Edition). New York: Columbia UP. xix + 183 + xi pp.
As indicated in several listed items and annotations, Chinese religious, philosophical, moral and ethical beliefs were usually a compound of elements that can be traced to Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. The present item suggests some of the Daoist themes or approaches that became entwined with the two other great systems. In 1990 Graham updated his introductory remarks (pp. xi-xix, 1-13), with a new generation of scholarly thinking on Daoist philosophy and the Lieh-tzu, from the 3rd or 4th century CE (pp. xiii, 135). Some passages directly give instances of disabled people (e.g. 44-45; 72-73; 162-164; 168-169) whose unusual abilities, or experience (e.g. of being castrated or losing their sight) added a new dimension to philosophical discussion and belief. Elsewhere it was an ageing, poor, ragged, drunken or troubled person, or a slave or dreamer (e.g. 27; 32-33; 38; 39-43; 68-71; 162) that was despised, ridiculed or endangered like the cripples or blind, and who then turned out to have embraced 'The Way' that produced startling capacities which their despisers envied but could hardly emulate; or who underwent some other turn of their life suggesting that we do not know if the dream is in our own head, or we are a character in someone else's dream. [Thus (p. 3), 'bodily impairment' in oneself or another is an incidental construction, a superficial circumstance, part of the ebb and flow of life, of no ultimate significance.]
LIPNER, Julius (1989) The classical Hindu view on abortion and the moral status of the unborn. In: HG Coward (ed.) Hindu Ethics: Purity, Abortion, and Euthanasia, 41-70. SUNY Press.
Though not directly concerned with disability, this detailed study of the fetus and abortion in ancient Indian texts is useful for the light it casts on 'Hindu' approaches to some ethical issues relating to disability and evaluations of human worth.
[MANU.] Manu's Code of Law. A critical edition and translation of the Manava-Dharmasastra, by Patrick Olivelle, assisted by Suman Olivelle (2005) New York: Oxford UP. Reprinted (2006) New Delhi: OUP. x + 1131 pp.
This weighty critical edition and translation places 'Manu' on a new footing, after more than a century during which all European translations derived from a narrow manuscript base. Olivelle substantially widens the base, collating 53 manuscripts (the three earliest dates shown are 1451 [?], 1538 and 1540 CE) noting 38 more mss, and using nine early commentaries, the earliest of the latter probably dated in the 9th century CE (pp. 353-379). He also offers a translation that reads like English (his own mother tongue being Sinhala, p. 267). Further, Olivelle takes some interest in disability, specifically commenting on some of his translations of ancient terms relating to it. The index to the translation (pp. 1111-1131) lists the following pertinent terms: assault {physical}, bald-headed, blind, body, castrate, consumption, crippled, deaf, dumb, ear, epilepsy, eunuch, eye, feet, foot, finger, fool, ghoul, hand, heal, hermaphrodite, idiot, insane, knee, lame, lazy, leprosy, leukoderma, limb, mad, massage, mental retardation, mouth, mute, neck, nose, organs, palm, punishment (corporal), senses, sick, skin, speech, teeth, tongue, women (barren). [The index lacks 'club-footed', which appears in 3: 165, on p. 117.] Apart from some metaphorical use, these words are associated with legal enactments or exhortations, which form or reflect the contemporaneous legal and social background, with which early Buddhist practices or teachings may be compared or contrasted.
Although Manu's Dharmasastra is primarily a 'Hindu' or Brahminical legal code, it has much relevance to a consideration of early Buddhism, being "composed during the first couple of centuries CE" (pp. 18-25, 37), a period when there seems to have been quite vigorous conflict or competition between some Brahmins and some representatives of Buddhism (37-41). Manu offers a number of seemingly derogatory rules and references to disability, in the context of avoiding pollution or detriment in the performance of religious rites (which were not followed by the Buddhists). They appear, e.g., in a long list of people 'unfit' (through unwholesome means of earning a living, wrong behaviour, ill association, corporeal deficiency, etc) to be invited to an ancestral rite (standard textual reference: chapter 3: 122-182; translation: pp. 114-117, translation notes: pp. 262-265; see also notes on critical edition of Sanskrit: p. 927, where Olivelle discusses alternative readings for a particular term, and shows the reasoning behind his selection: "The list contains classes of people who are viewed as outside 'good society'; within such a list, people who are weak or with bad skin seem incongruous. I think the term durvala refers to 'bald men' in the sense of heretical ascetics, parallel to jatila." {diacriticals omitted} - Olivelle had earlier commented on durvala at 3: 151, in notes to the translation). [With this level of detail and transliteration in Olivelle's notes and commentary, readers unlearned in Sanskrit but capable of reading a heavy tome while keeping fingers or bookmarks in several different places and flipping backward and forward, may feel they are getting a little nearer to 'original' meanings, while gaining more awareness of the pitfalls awaiting translators! It also facilitates checking whether a particular verse might have caused discomfort to early redactors, as {possibly} indicated by multiple variant readings coming down the historical pipeline.]
In terms of offensiveness to recent western 'political correctness', some of Manu's remarks seem to be in the 'major earthquake' zone, e.g. 3: 176-177, "When a man alongside whom it is unfit to eat looks at persons alongside whom it is fit to eat as they are taking their meal, the foolish donor [i.e. the one who foolishly invited the 'unfit' person] fails to reap the reward of feeding as many of them as have been looked at by that man. When a blind man looks at them, he destroys the fruit of feeding ninety of them; a one-eyed man, sixty; a man suffering from leukoderma, one hundred; and a man with an evil disease, one thousand." [But see translations by Burnell & Hopkins (1884) {*}, or by Doniger & Smith (1991) {#}, where the sense is somewhat inverted; and, incidentally, the skin disease translates to some kind of 'leper'.] Whether or not Brahmins actually did draw their clients' attention to this specifically toxic legal advice, it provides some textual background for comparison with contemporaneous Buddhist teaching. * [The Ordinances of Manu translated from the Sanskrit by A.C. Burnell, ed. E.W. Hopkins (1884), reprint 1995, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. # [The Laws of Manu with an introduction and notes, translated by W. Doniger with B.K. Smith (1991) London: Penguin.]
Further disability-related items appear in Manu 2: 110 (a wise man "should conduct himself like an idiot", p. 100; note p. 250, on jada {idiot}, but here = "man who cannot speak (muka)". Manu 3: 34 (rape of woman who is "asleep, drunk, or mentally deranged", p. 110). 3: 150 ("impotent", p. 116, note pp. 250-251 on kliba). 3: 161 ("..an epileptic; someone with scrofula or leukoderma; a slanderer; an insane person; a blind man; and someone who scoffs at the Vedas - these persons should be avoided." p. 116). 3: 242 ("If someone is lame or one-eyed, lacks a limb, or has an excess limb, he should also be removed from that place, even if he is a servant of the donor." p. 120). Manu 7: 149-150 (King conferring with advisors should order removal of unfit people who might unwittingly blurt out secrets: "Idiots, the dumb, the blind, the deaf, animals, old people, women, foreigners ... the sick, and the crippled ... these wretched people and animals, but women in particular, betray secret plans." p. 162). [There is evidence, in ancient South Asian literature, that some people with disabilities were installed in royal palaces, as servants, possibly for amusement, also to earn merit, or perhaps for apotropaic or other reasons.] Manu 8: 66 (p. 170, with note, p. 308. Long list of people who should not be called as witnesses in legal cases, including one with "impaired organs", or "a reprehensible person" - the latter may have indicated physical disability or serious skin disease; those excluded were not all reprehensible or too stupid, since they included kings and vedic scholars - who presumably had more important things to do and so were excused from the endless delays of the law courts. In 8: 71, the judge is advised that when children, old men, the sick, or those with "deranged minds" do give evidence {for lack of anyone more reliable being available} he should look out for "trembling in the voices" as an indication of unreliability). 8: 93-95 (blindness is referenced, when the judge charges witnesses not to lie, p. 172). 8: 148 (if one fails to make clear one's ownership of property, being "neither mentally incapacitated nor a minor", one may lose all right to it, p. 175). 8: 163 (transactions are invalid if made by anyone "intoxicated, insane, distressed" or otherwise deemed legally incapable, p. 175). 8: 205 (if a man, offering a girl for marriage "who is insane, suffers from leprosy, or has lost her virginity", declares the defect at the time, he is not guilty of fraud, p. 178). 8: 274 (if a person abusively "calls someone 'one-eyed,' 'lame' or some other similar name", he should be fined, p. 182). 8: 279-287 (punishments for physical injuries, p. 182). 8: 322, 325, 334, 352, 367-368, 370, 374, 379 (various body parts amputated or disfigured in punishment for theft, sexual crimes, pp. 184-187, with notes pp. 319, 322). Manu 9: 79, if a wife "loathes a husband who has become insane, fallen from caste or impotent.." {or some other conditions not easy to determine) "she must neither be abandoned nor deprived of her inheritance" (p. 194). (This is in contrast to other situations where the wife could reasonably be judged to have committed a serious offence against her husband). [For context, further recommendations, e.g. 9: 93-95 (p. 194), would surprise or alarm many western readers; but texts should be examined with care in Sanskrit, in commentaries and later legal rulings, to understand their practical application, which may give a different perspective.] 9: 201-203 concerns Disqualification from Inheritance: "The following receive no shares: the impotent, outcastes, those born blind or deaf, the insane, the mentally retarded, mutes, and anyone lacking manly strength.*" (p. 200) * [Meaning of the latter term is discussed in notes.] Yet it is expected that the able-bodied inheritors should provide the excluded family members with "food and clothing according to his ability until the end".
In chapter 11, concerned with 'Penance', verses 47-54 (pp. 217) suggest direct links between wrongdoing and various kinds of impairment or disfigurement: "Some evil men become disfigured because of the bad deeds committed in this world, and some because of deeds done in a previous life." In most cases, 'the punishment fits the crime', or the consequences of the deeds are visibly associated with the kind of badness. Thus, a man who takes away someone else's grain suffers by having one of his limbs taken away. A man who adulterates grain by adding other material to it, may be reborn with an excess limb. One who steals food may suffer dyspepsia; one who steals speech {endnote: plagiarism?} may suffer dumbness, a horse thief may suffer lameness. "In this way, as a result of the remnants of their past deeds, are born individuals despised by good people: the mentally retarded, the mute, the blind, and the deaf, as well as those who are deformed. // Therefore, one should always do penances to purify oneself; for individuals whose sins have not been expiated are born with detestable characteristics." (vv. 53-54, p. 217) See end-notes pp. 339-340, where Olivelle begins by suggesting some contextual limitation to vv. 48-53, "which deal with evil diseases and deformities believed to be caused by either fate or by sins committed in a past life. Such 'sins' are different from the sins actually committed that were the subject of verses 45-6." Notes also refer to the omission from the critical edition of a verse given in Bühler's** translation {and also in Hopkins / Burnell, p. 331, and in Doniger & Smith, p. 256, also pp. li-lii}, with further 'fitting' consequences: "A man who steals a lamp becomes blind...", etc (p. 340). **George Bühler transl.) (1886) The Laws of Manu, translated with extracts from seven commentaries, SBE vol. 25, Oxford: Clarendon.
MATISOFF, Susan (1978) The Legend of Semimaru, blind musician of Japan. New York: Columbia UP. xi + 290 pp.
This revised doctoral thesis follows the development of the Semimaru legend through many centuries, giving insights into the history of Asian people's concepts and portrayals of blindness. Main references to historical blindness are on pp. 19-22, 28-31, 39-46, interwoven with the development of musical instruments and heroic literature used by blind mendicant friars (biwa hoshi), and linked with Indian legends of blind prince Kunala. Literature underlying the legends is introduced critically (pp. 55-79). The remainder of the book gives detailed review and translated excerpts from dramatic representations (pp. 79-272). Bibliography (pp. 273-279) is mostly of works in Japanese. Matisoff attributes the ambivalence of social attitudes towards blind people to a combination of early (and still current) beliefs in the blind person's ability to communicate with the gods, and the predominant East Asian Buddhist explanation of disability as being retribution for misdeeds in earlier births (p. 20). [See also J.T. Araki (1979) Book review {Matisoff}. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 39: 177-184.]
MENCIUS (elsewhere Mengzi, Meng Ke, Mang-tze). Mencius, translated with an introduction, by D.C. Lau (1970). London: Penguin. 280 pp.
The extant writings of Mencius (ca. 371-289 BC), a core classic of Chinese history and education, mostly concern good government, ceremony and ethics. A few thoughts refer to childhood, education, poverty and disability. (There is a tradition that Mencius's mother moved house several times, fearing that her young son was vulnerable to influences from a nearby cemetery, then from proximity to a bazar). In lists of destitute people (1.B.5 and 2.B.4; pp. 65, 88) bodily impairment or disability is absent, but may be implied in "old and feeble". Taking good care of the elderly population was the work of a worthy ruler (186), as well, of course, as of dutiful children. The teaching of decent conduct, the correct, compassionate and benevolent action of the gentleman, is diffused (somewhat optimistically) throughout the work (e.g. 119, 122, 161-163, 167, 169). Disability as such appears infrequently. Some uses of 'blind' and 'cripple' are metaphorical (e.g. pp. 68, 83, 93). Appendix 4, on "Ancient history as understood by Mencius", brings together the incidents in the life of the (legendary) Emperor Shun, and Shun's father known as the Blind (Old) Man [Gu Sou, Ku Sou] (pp. 226-227; see also pp. 127, 139-143, 163, 190; and 'Blind Man' references in glossary, p. 265). [Allegorical interpretations have also been made, in which the 'blindness' of Shun's father was wilful stupidity or perverseness rather than sensory impairment; or, in modern literary criticism, where the attempts of family members to kill Shun are interpreted as some form of creation mythology or other scheme.] Lau's Introduction (pp. 7-46), five Appendices (205-263), textual notes (264) and Glossary of Personal and Place Names (265-280), serve substantially to extend the modest footnotes to the main text.
MILBURN, Olivia (2007) Marked out for greatness? Perceptions of deformity and physical impairment in Ancient China. Monumenta Serica 55: 1-22
This article is one of extremely few in English that focus directly on responses to impairment, disability and handicap in texts from Ancient China, taking examples from the Spring and Autumn (771-475 BC) and the Warring States (475-221 BC) periods. Dr. Milburn first treats "battle injuries, accidents, and mutilation punishments" (pp. 2-6); then proceeds to "birth defects and physical abnormalities" (6-13); "public reaction to deformity and disfigurement" (13-18); physical abnormalities as omens (18-21); and draws some conclusions (21), with an abstract in Chinese (22). Many of the examples are translated directly from the Zuo zhuan, Shiji, Zhuangzi, etc. Some differences are suggested between the standard responses of the male gentry, and those of the common people or women of any station. The latter may have been more likely to laugh aloud at those whose appearance seemed odd or deformed, or who moved in a curious way, or were open to ridicule; whereas the elite men tried to stifle the 'natural' or childish response in themselves. However it is admitted that the available ancient data is still quite modest, and largely confined to anecdotes from the gentry and rulers' courts.
MILES, M. (2000) Disability on a different model: glimpses of an Asian heritage. Disability & Society 15: 603-618. Revised version (2002), in: Journal of Religion, Disability & Health 6 (2/3) 89-108.
Reviews common uses of disability models and terminology. Sketches some social responses to disablement in translations of historical Zoroastrian, Jaina and Daoist philosophies. Accompanying a discussion of the 'merits of uselessness', Chuang-tzu's holistic 'social model' is reconstructed (in A.C. Graham's translation). The Buddhist tale of the hunchback servant Khujjuttara suggests that negative outcomes of karma may be educational rather than merely retributive (pp. 610-611). Contested histories and portrayals of blind Japanese and Chinese people are examined. Asian meanings of disablement should not be forced into modern European categories.
[MILINDA] The Questions of King Milinda, translated from the Pali, by T.W. Rhys Davids (1890). Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXXV. Oxford UP. xlix + 320 pp.
This work is known in Pali as Milandapanha, and the translator Rhys Davids considered it "the master-piece of Indian prose", and "the best book of its class, from a literary point of view, that had then been produced in any country" (I: xlviii).] It comprises many questions, heresies and objections to Buddhist teaching in the form of an extended debate between King Milinda (usually identified as Menander, who ruled for several decades at Sialkot {Punjab} from the middle to the late 2nd century BC), and a Buddhist sage, Nagasena, who disposes of each question or problem. Dating is uncertain, but the text as now known may have been formulated in (or completed by) the first century of the Christian era (A.L. Basham, The Wonder that was India, 1981 edition, pp. 229, 276; W.T. de Bary et al., Sources of Indian Tradition, 1958, p. 106). While responding to King Milinda (hereafter KM), Nagasena (NS) uses many illustrations from everyday life, in some of which there are references to impairment, disability, the body, and pertinent social thinking and activity of the era, as listed below.
Before the main debate, KM questions whether someone having his hand cut off in this world must in a future existence also be an amputee (p. 10; {I: 13}). NS was familiar with the 'bodily marks' indicating greatness (p. 17; {I: 22}). KM asks if one being (re-)born remains the same [soul, person] or becomes another; Response: 'neither the same nor another' (pp. 63-65; {II: 2,1}). KM asks why some have short lives, others long; some are sickly, some healthy, some ugly, some beautiful, some stupid, some wise (p. 100; {III: 4,1}). NS asks KM whether "those whose hands and feet have not been cut off know how sad a thing it is to have them cut off?" (p. 108; {III: 4,8}). KM asks whether there can be rebirth without transmigration (NS shows it can be so); and whether such a thing as the soul exists (NS: "in the highest sense" there is no such thing); and whether any being transmigrates from this body to another (NS says not) (pp. 111-112; {III: 5, 5-7}). Khujjuttara puts in an appearance, without mention of her impairment (p. 122; {III: 7,1}). A man having feet and hands cut off might avoid purgatory by giving the Blessed One a handful of lotuses (p. 129; {III: 7,7}. KM asks if there is "no such thing as a soul, what is it then which sees forms with the eye, and hears sounds with the ear", etc? (p. 133; {III: 7,15}). KM reflects how secrets are disclosed; "a woman reveals it through infirmity, a drunkard in his eagerness for drink, a eunuch because of his imperfection, and a child through fickleness" (pp. 140-141; {IV: 1,6}). The ninety eight diseases are produced in men's bodies "by evil deeds done in former births" (p. 152, {IV: 1,16}). The lowest class of mind has thinking powers that are "brought into play with difficulty, and act slowly", because of the "intricate entanglements of wrong dispositions" (p. 155; {IV: 1,21}). Not all suffering has its root in karma (pp. 191-195; {IV: 1,63-66}). Among the imponderable questions: "are the soul and the body the same thing?" (pp. 205-206; {IV: 2,7}). It is "by their own acts that robbers come to have their eyes plucked out" or other punishments (p. 236; IV: 3,8). Given opportunity, secrecy, and an eager suitor, "all women will go wrong", and they will do so "with a cripple even" (p. 294; {IV: 4,42}).
[Annotating lists in which various impairments and disabilities pop up, and which the compiler has read dozens of times, it is easy to forget how startling and grossly insulting some items may appear to people reading them for the first time; perhaps especially women or disabled persons who have campaigned for, and achieved, a more respectful and considerate public response in their own country! The compiler cannot apologise for the recorded debates and infelicities of a medieval civilisation. Oddly enough, people living in those times would probably have been no less disgusted by certain behaviours of 21st century civilisations which pass without comment in our times.]
[MILINDA] The Questions of King Milinda, translated from the Pali, Part II, by T.W. Rhys Davids (1894). Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXXVI. Oxford: Clarendon. 378 pp.
[See previous item. The debate continues.] King Milinda (KM): In one of his lives (as Lomasa Kassapa the Rishi), the Bodisat offered a sacrifice in which hundreds of live beings died; yet he claimed to have the habit of harmlessness in former births. Nagasena (NS): That sacrifice was uncharacteristic, because at the sight of Princess Moon-face "he went out of his mind and lost command of himself through love"; and the acts of a madman are not taken too seriously, they are pardonable. (pp. 16-19; {IV: 5,16-18}). In a story about the Great Teacher, a potter named Ghatikara is described as "beautiful in character, deeply rooted in merit, who supported his old and blind mother and father" (p. 23; {IV: 5,23}). Discussing ascetic practices, NS notes that the Bodisat had starved himself and "by that disuse of food he became weak in mind" (p. 61); yet afterward he took more food and went on to attain Buddhahood. NS also instanced an ascetic going to such lengths that his body collapsed (p. 62, with terms discussed in a footnote; {IV: 6,20-22}). NS points out that the "exquisitely fine and subtle distinctions of the Four Truths" are beyond the grasp of "foolish, stupid, imbecile, dull, slow-minded fellows", if they renounce the world. These terms are discussed in a footnote (pp. 71-72; {IV: 6,34}). NS gives an example: if there were a "virtuous Samana or Brahman, of high character, and he were paralysed, or a cripple, or suffering from some disease or other", and someone seeking merit were to "have him put into a carriage and taken to the place he wished to go" this would be a meritorious action (pp. 116-117; {IV: 8,3}). NS mentions people "who are left-handed or squint", as being "unlucky ones". A footnote discusses other possible meanings of the terms (p. 153; {IV: 8,30}). NS gives examples of karma at work; in one case, someone causing others to drown, "having suffered many hundreds of thousands of years as a being disabled, ruined, broken, weak in limb, and anxious in heart" he too would die by drowning (p. 166; {IV: 8,41}). NS asserts three times that "the mind of one under seven years of age is powerless and weak, limited, insignificant, obscure, and dull; it is veiled, moreover, with the thick darkness of ignorance" (pp. 178-180; {IV: 8, 54-57}).* NS gives examples of multiply disabled and afflicted persons (pp. 262-264; {IV: 16-17}). The earnest monk should render himself (metaphorically) 'blind, deaf and dumb' toward distractions and diversions (pp. 282-283; {VII: 1,6}). The earnest monk should become indifferent to delight or disgust: thus when begging from a leper who is eating his meal, and the leper gives a ball of rice with "his hand all leprous and diseased", and as he places it in the monk's bowl, a rotten finger falls off, the monk consumes the rice with perfect equanimity (p. 330; {VII:4,7}). [One may suppose that such an event was quite rare, but the Teacher (or perhaps some later commentator) used an exaggeration to wake up the students, drive home a serious point, and thus make it memorable; or to sharpen the contrast with the purificatory rites of the Jainas and Brahmins.]
* [One may hope that a late reincarnation of Nagasena might, even today, be receiving instruction from a smart six-year-old girl, e.g. in how to get some advanced electronic gadget to work so that she can help him 'get a life' on Facebook.]
MILLS, Douglas E. (1983) "gunko monogatari". In: Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. 9 volumes. Tokyo: Kodansha.
The development of these stories of conflict and war, action and heroism, during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, and in particular the Heike monogatari, provided a suitable poetic medium to be chanted by itinerant blind 'lute priests' (biwa hoshi) for "the education and religious edification of the public at large". According to Mills, the performers "made the tale not only one of stirring entertainment but also a deeply moving vehicle for the Buddhist doctrine that all human activity is ephemeral and illusory."
MROZIK, Susanne (2007) Virtuous Bodies: the physical dimensions of morality in Buddhist Ethics. New York: Oxford UP. vii + 184 pp.
This work focuses on the Siksasamuccaya of SANTIDEVA (transl. Bendall et al., below), exploring (in chapter 4) "the complex relationship between body and morality presumed by the physiomoral discourse", and aiming to place that discourse within a larger South Asian 'physiomoral discourse' (Mrosik explains this neologism as "the body discourse that associates morality with body", p. 62). It is a complex, multi-valent business, since via karmic working "the body a person has in any given lifetime is the effect of his or her past deeds", while in the present, a person's body "can enable or disable particular kinds of moral agency", or even have effects on the moral and ethical development of others (p. 63). The impairment or disability passages noted in Bendall's translation recur in Mrozik, with a century's worth of more recent scholarship and usefully adding the Sanskrit terms (pp. 70-72), also noting the Vinaya rules for admission to the monastic community, which excluded many people with bodily defects. Discussion extends to the pejorative views of female bodies in the medieval discourse, and similarly of the bodies of those with anything other than 'straight' heterosexual physical parts and inclinations, and of the bodies of meat-eaters. Conversely, "virtuous bodies", such as those of Buddhas (with their 32 major 'signs', and 80 minor marks), are signalled by "beauty of physical form, voice, and bodily scent, as well as health, longevity, and the absence of physical or mental disability." (67-68) {italics added}. Mrozik notes that earlier (largely male) academic studies have been more interested in the 'higher' topics of mental and psychological states, and the focus on asceticism and the vileness of 'bodies' has caused some to overlook the cases where the body was beautiful and also illuminated the way for others. The bias is pervasive but largely unnoticed. [See also online review of Mrosik's book by B. Clayton, Feb. 2009, in H-Buddism -- who concludes that "Female and other 'non-normative' bodies -- disabled, transgendered, those of the underprivileged -- are not valued because they signify a deficit of virtue."]
MULLER, A. Charles, & collaborators {1986 to present} Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, http://www.buddhism-dict.net
This ongoing 'DDB', which first appeared in 1995 as an online dictionary (combining at least two different streams of scholarly work, and showing links to many other useful sources) examines in some philological depth a wide range of the Asian terms used in classical (and to a lesser extent modern) Buddhist texts in major languages of East Asia, now totalling some 90,000 entries, with multiple search possibilities. Disability-related terms occur quite incidentally, but an elementary text search (in English) does find at least 30 disability terms, showing more than 200 examples of usage in Buddhist texts, including a good range of terms now considered 'politically incorrect' or abusive in Western anglophone countries (e.g. 'cripple', 'imbecile', 'ugly') but which probably represent more accurately the historical and current usage across much of Asia. [To avoid hacker mischief, or total download for exploitation, the DDB has some access restriction. An individual can pay $60 for two years' unlimited use. In July 2013, log-in as "guest" allows anyone "a total of ten searches" in a 24-hour period. For the present purpose, the search box could in fact be operated many more times, trying a variety of different disability terms in English, each of which displayed a number of 'hits' showing a couple of lines (as in Google). Thus for 'blind', there were more than 70 hits; for 'dull', 'dull-witted', 'dullard', about 50 hits; 'eunuch' (29 hits); 'crooked' (20); 'ugly' (19); 'deaf' (18); 'dumb' (13); 'impaired' (13); 'defective' (12); 'leprosy' and 'leper' (12); 'crazy' (11); 'depressed' (10); 'monster' (8); and smaller numbers of hits for words such as imbecile, idiot, lame, handicap, humpback, simpleton, deformity, epilepsy, castrated, amputate, maimed, etc. Actually opening any one of the hits constituted one of the ten permitted 'searches' per 24 hours. Thus to view the full entries for most of the disability terms shown above would be completed as a "guest" during two days. Glancing down the list of hits, it is clear that quite a number are very similar, or represent the same term repeated several times in one textual passage). There are various other duplications, e.g. under the Chinese logograph that may be pronounced "shih-lai" (among 8 possible transliterations and pronunciations shown), there appears a kind of genealogy of karmic inheritance: "The upright from the forbearing come, / ... Those who are dumb from slanderers come, / The blind and deaf from unbelievers come, / ... The deficient in faculties from command-breakers come, / The complete in faculties from command-keepers come." Among more than 70 'full text' hits under 'blind', a four-page detailed biography of Ikkyu Sojun appears, as blind singers figured in his life. The same probably comes up under 'crazy' or 'impediment' (the first in IKKYU's "Crazy Cloud Anthology", the second in a comment that age was "no impediment" to his passion for blind Shinjo (Mori). [Readers of the present bibliography are warmly recommended to try out DDB, as a handy scholarly resource for many Buddhist terms and cross-links. It is much stronger on those of East Asian origin, as admitted in the introductory 'History' of DDB. For example, the term 'dwarf' fails to find Lakuntaka Bhaddiya (though 'Bhaddiya' has partial success). Nor is the hunchback Khujjuttara there. They have not been 'excluded' - but merely await the attention of anyone interested, to compile and submit a suitable entry.]
NEUFELDT, Ronald W. (ed.) (1986/1995) Karma & Rebirth. Post-Classical developments. SUNY Press (1986), republished as 'First Indian Edition', Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications (1995). xv + 357 pp.
Based on a scholarly conference in 1982, and making "numerous references" to the 1980 publication edited by O'FLAHERTY (see below), the present work reviews many ways in which the classical traditions have been developed both within India and more widely in Asia, and also in Europe and North America to the end of the 1970s, with contributions addressing Hindu and Buddhist developments. Eighteen chapters are presented in three sections ('The Hindu Context', 'The Buddhist Context', and 'The Western Context') including a 'critical response' to each group of five. Papers by A.B. Creel, K. Klostermaier, D. Miller, R.N. Minor, and G.M. Williams, address "a wide spectrum of contemporary Indian approaches" (p. 109) with critical response by Karl Potter (who organised the earlier conferences).
The Buddhist section opens with a broad sweep by B. Matthews through "Post-classical developments in the concepts of karma and rebirth in Theravada Buddhism"; and two papers concerned with Tibetan Buddhism, by L. Dargyay (on "a crucial theoretical problem of the Buddhist karma theory ... in the philosophy of Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419)" (p. 203), and by E.K. Dargyay, who presents modern evidence on "merit-making and ritual aspects in the religious life" collected in a remote valley of South Ladakh; and papers by Yun-Hua Jan on "The Chinese understanding and assimilation of karma doctrine" (using text from before the spread of Buddhism, from Hui-yüan (334-417 CE), from Tsung-mi (780-841) and from stories by Feng Meng-lung (1574-1666), and by L.S. Kawamura on "Shinran's view of karma", with comparison to other major figures such as Honen, in the Kamakura period (1185-1335). An extensive 'Critical Response' chapter is provided by L. Schmidthausen, who found that "a few supplements and sometimes corrections" were needed. The third section, "The Western Context", includes R. Neufeldt on karma and rebirth in the Theosophical Movement (in the writings of H.P. Blavatsky); H. Coward on "Karma and rebirth in Western psychology", looking at Carl Jung from 1920s onward, and at Transpersonal Psychology; R.D. Baird on Swami Bhaktivedanta; R.E. Gussner on the 'Rajneesh Movement'; C. Prebish on American Buddhism; and critical response by T. Penelhum.
While this collection of chapters is listed primarily for its contribution to understanding the variety of karma and rebirth hypotheses, there is some incidental mention of disability. Miller mentions "the story of the learned brahmin Prabhakara, who brought his mute, idiot son before Samkara" - the boy, aged seven, being touched by the sage, reportedly began speaking "in elegant terms" (pp. 65, 80, 115). Klostermaier, writing on North Indian Vaisnavas, recounts a story of two saints of Vrindaban, one of whom laughs while mentally contemplating the Krishna Lila, but this laughter coincides with the other saint, who is lame, crawling out of his bath in the Yamuna. The lame one thinks the laughter is mockery; karmic consequences ensue (p. 91). There is also a brief run of 'consequences', e.g. "misuse of one's voice in this life will be punished by dumbness in the next", while "cunning and argumentativeness" will result in 'madness' next time round (p. 92). (Cf. later becoming 'mad' after indulging in passion {rajas} in this life, p. 279). The usual, varied misuse of 'blind' occurs, e.g. "Men's hearts may be blinded" (pp. 159, 163); "morally blind individuals" (p. 251); "one is blind to the mechanism" (p. 306).
O'FLAHERTY, Wendy Doniger (ed.) (1980/1983) Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. University of California Press (1980). Indian edition 1983, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. xxv + 342 pp.
Based on two scholarly conferences organised by K. Potter and intermediate drafting and critique between 1976 and 1978. Three contributed chapters (by G. Obeyesekere; J.M. McDermott; W. STABLEIN) discuss karma and rebirth in historical Buddhism. Two chapters (ROCHER; WEISS; see below) discuss material directly linking karma and disabilities, from major legal and medical texts of Hinduism. Most of the other chapters are also illuminating on this complex and multi-faceted "theory, model, paradigm, metaphor, or metaphysical stance" and its historical development in South Asia and beyond, and the parts it has played in Buddhist, Hindu, Jaina beliefs and philosophy, and in Tamil and Sanskrit literatures. [Incidentally, while having nothing directly to do with disability, Karl Potter's chapter, pp. 241-267, is relevant to the credibility of "the two most thoroughly worked out theories of karma and rebirth in classical Indian philosophy", i.e. "the Yoga and the Advaita accounts". Potter does what a philosopher is supposed to do, i.e. defining his terms carefully, then looking for the most carefully constructed statement of the theory he is examining, trying to understand it and seeing how far it succeeds in what it sets out to do (rather than taking a poor example and bashing holes in it; or berating a dog for not being a cat). With these cautious approaches, he finds some Indian theories of karma and rebirth no worse than some theories of physics that are "deemed successful in Western science". Their main flaw is to be untestable with currently available technology; but they are not in principle untestable.]
PABONGKA Rinpoche (edited in Tibetan by Trijang Rinpoche). Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment, translated by Michael Richards (1991). Boston: Wisdom Publications. 980 pp. [After a revision in 1993, a New Revised Version was published in 2006. The 2006 version may be partly previewed online and keyword searched, in Google Books (as seen in Sept. 2012). For example, in the 2006 revision, words containing 'cripple' i.e. 'cripple', 'crippled', 'cripples' can be found on pp. 251, 535, 736; and similarly: 'amputate' (358); 'blind' (pp. 57, 87, 98, 130, 280-281, 342, 350, 381-382, 403, 407, 443, 480, 527, 618, 619); 'castrated' (417); 'deaf' (443); 'defective' (273, 712); 'deformed' (87, 343, 359, 387); 'depressed' (15, 317, 340); 'dull' (79, 107, 108, 120, 129, 338, 358, 443); 'dumb' (635); 'eunuch' (273); 'idiot' (271, 273); 'insane' (285, 447, 471); 'lame' (558); 'leper', 'leprosy' (87, 186, 248, 537, 552, 844); 'mad', 'madman' (51, 120, 232, 250, 251, 326, 357, 471, 527); 'maimed' (15, 451, 454); 'mute' (44, 271, 273); 'mutilate' (78, 87); 'paralyzed' (234, 248); 'senile' (443); 'stupid' (50, 150, 338, 346, 381, 443, 454, 505, 635); 'ugly' (347, 359, 389, 443, 447, 449, 451, 463, 565, 736, 863); 'wrinkled' (339, 443). (Words such as: cripple, defective, dumb, idiot, mad, senile, might already, in 1991, have looked somewhat offensive to some people, in a newly published book where a choice of more modern terms could have been made; and still more inappropriate 15 years later, when a significant revision was produced, in which such words could have been replaced. The editors responsible for the 2006 New Revised Version may have thought that these older English words were a fair representation of the thoughts of Pabongka Rinpoche in Tibetan in 1921 so it was better to let them stand, regardless of the impression they give that Tibetan Buddhists might be indifferent to the feelings of disabled people and their families in the English-reading world). In any case, most page numbers from 1991, shown below, are different in the 2006 version, though most of the 1991 material is still there in 2006, and has been much augmented. (One could also, of course, argue that there are some methodological limitations to approaching a handbook of Buddhist teaching, by looking up all the words pertinent to 'disability' or impairment!)]
This entire "concise discourse" attempts to distil and translate in one printed volume (which a large palm of a strong hand can hold #) the teachings of 24 days (or 2400 years) given to a gathering of hundreds of Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people at Chuzang Hermitage, near Lhasa in 1921, by the revered teacher Pabongka Rinpoche, who was transmitting the essence of the teaching from a line stretching back to the Indian master Atisha in the 11th century CE, and before that to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha (see lineage, pp. 760-761). The present discourse follows the shape given to such teaching by Tsongkapa (1357-1419 CE), and it attempts to maintain the standard of providing "a profound, completely unmistaken instruction for confering liberation... the stages on the path to enlightenment... essence of the nectar of instructions" (p. 17). [Whatever views the reader may have of this kind of teaching and transmission, one can be reasonably certain that it did not aim to project itself forward by decades or centuries, to present a polished and compassionate address on the Human Rights of People With Disabilities as perceived by westerners in the 2010s. It is pointless to criticise those Tibetan teachers for transmitting what they knew in their own time, language and context. Yet when that teaching is republished in English in Boston, Massachusetts, and is then revised and further offered for the public enlightenment, it may be a legitimate exercise to see whether and how 'disability' makes any appearance in what is being taught and thought - provided it is understood that what is found in this tome does not necessarily represent the current thoughts that all Asian Buddhists, or Tibetans, or Western Buddhists, may have about disablement or people with disabilities.]
# The weight of the tome is increased by 250 pages of Appendices, with 170 pages worthily devoted to a Bibliography, a three-way Glossary of terms in Tibetan, Sanskrit, and English, and a detailed Index. The earlier ten pages of 'Notes' to the text are comparatively modest, but happily include the lively tale of the Crippled Child and the Kiang: "Once a crippled child slipped and rolled down a hill, landing by fantastic coincidence on the back of a kiang, the Tibetan wild ass. The kiang ran away, but the child hung on grimly. Everyone yelled to him to let go, but the child shouted back, 'A cripple like me will get to ride a kiang only once. Now is the time to enjoy it!'" (p. 802) For its flash of understanding of disabled children, such a story perhaps outweighs a thousand lame footnotes!
[The sage cited this Kiang story on p. 586, while exhorting his hearers to work hard now, in the present birth, where they are not cockroaches or apes but human, and can hear Buddhist teaching, and have the chance of putting it into practice. "People waste their lives reading books, becoming academics, or doing recitations. They are missing the point!" -- i.e. they should try to do something that will be of real benefit and compassion for suffering humanity... In past lives we ourselves have been all these suffering creatures, we have already lived through all those hells and impediments and disabilities, and now have an opportunity to hear and understand the truth and to practice it... See also warning on p. 707: "There is a great risk that tantra will prove profitless for you, and as dangerous as riding an unbroken horse is for a small child."]
To encourage people whose palm might be too small to hold the whole book, the ancient story is told of Arya Chudapanthaka (pp. 133-139, 400). As a baby he was placed in the care of a 'lazy girl', who made little effort to set him on the best road. So when Chudapanthaka tried to learn to read, by the time he had memorised half a word, the other half was beyond his grasp; and if he made efforts with that half, the first part would disappear from his memory. Several teachers failed to make any progress with this slow-learning or perhaps dyslexic lad. His older brother, Mahapanthaka, had become a monk and a scholar, and finally head of a monastery. He tried to do something for his weak-minded kid brother, but finally gave up: "you are the dullest of the dull - why did I ever ordain you?" he asked. Chudapanthaka was humiliated, and wept. Then the Buddha took his education in hand, finding first some simple tasks that Chudapanthaka could do, e.g. polishing the other monks' shoes. Next the Teacher devised 'Community-Based Rehabilitation', enlisting all those monks to repeat the same phrase that Chudapanthaka needed to memorise. Then our slow-learning hero learnt how to sweep out the temple, while meditating on the removal of dirt. After some time, it dawned on him that he should sweep out the dirt from his own heart and life, and thus he reached illumination. [The sequel was that Panthaka - as the Buddha called him - was sent to teach the nuns. Understandably, these worthy women believed they were being humiliated by having a feeble-minded sweeper sent to teach them. Some of them planned a practical joke to ridicule the new teacher, and invited a huge crowd. Yet by an exercise of faith, Panthaka turned their trick to his own advantage, then gave a detailed exposition of what he himself had learnt. Several thousand people responded positively to this message, according to the storyteller.]
A book intended as a complete guide to the 'stages on the path' of Buddhism, cannot be both briefly and correctly annotated even with regard to a single feature such as disability - there is such a range of incidents and involvements, as suggested by the page references above, for disability-related terms in the 2006 revised version. However, a small selection will be given from the 1991 original (in order of appearance, rather than of perceived merit):
"We are told, 'It is right to cut off your flesh and sell it for the sake of your studies.' But now that you can study in comfort, without having to mutilate your body, you ought to study as best you can. The above verse was given to the Bodhisattva, [Prince] Chandra [Vyilingalita, one of Shakyamuni's former lives], after he had hammered one thousand nails into his own body for each line in the verse." (p. 101)
Among the 'Four Unfavorable States' of human beings (pp. 308-310), one is that "if you are born an idiot with a defective or unclear mind, or a mute with defective speech, you will either not understand the real purpose behind the Dharma or only go through the motions and not practise properly." (p. 310). Among the 'Five Personal Endowments' (pp. 310-311) is to have all one's organs, from birth. Those who lack something, e.g. "hermaphrodites, eunuchs and so on, are not suitable for pratimoksha vows" -- so provided that "you have not been born as one of those" you can be happy that you have all your organs.
We should make the most of being born into this human life, and not waste the opportunities. "Suppose a merchant goes to an island of jewels and instead of taking any of the precious stones he just spends his time singing, dancing and so on ... What could be more insane than eventually returning with no jewels? ... You could not be blinder or more stupid than not to take these jewels..." (p. 323) [Once again, people who make very bad choices are described in terms associated with disability and mental disorder: insane, blinder, more stupid. Similarly, 'stupid', 'dull and stupid', on pp. 181, 380, 388-389, 426, 489 {"you're dull, stupid, deaf, blind, and senile"}, 692, are used for unwanted, animal-like experiences and rebirths. Words such as dull, dull-witted, dullness are used to describe failures, pp. 102, 134, 148, 157, 400, and so on.]
You cannot judge the actions of your own teacher correctly: "You cannot be sure that the guru is not just simulating a fault as a teaching for your own good. ... the Tathagatas [may] manifest as hostile persons, misers, cripples, madmen, immoral people, and so on, where this will be of benefit." (286-287) [Cf. pp. 517-518, "because of the influence of good and bad company, the man who used to drink had now given it up and the former non-drinker now drank alcohol. ... When pupils depend on a thrifty teacher who is tight-fisted with all his possessions, the miserliness of the pupils increases. And the same goes for bad-tempered teachers."]
"Buddha looked after people like the ugly brahmin who had the eighteen signs of ugliness and was an outcast even among beggars. Buddha protected and looked after people who never had any luck, such as King Prasenjit's daughter Vajri, who was deformed and had a face like a pig's..." (p. 401) The {lame} servant Kubjottara {Khujjuttara} "escaped from the fire by fleeing into a ditch full of water" (438-439, with full page illustration). "Age makes a beautiful body ugly ... Your sense faculties, wisdom, etc. gradually dim, your body gets bent like a bow; your complexion declines; it is difficult for you to sit down and get up; your hair whitens; you have many wrinkles - you become as ugly as a dead beggar." [Description of the ugly elderly gets more detailed...] "Drops of mucus dribble from their noses ... Their rows of teeth have fallen out... Their heads are nodding, nodding ... When they walk, they sway and lurch... Their hands clutch at things and tremble..." (488-492).
"..a mad patient may hit the doctor or a mad son hit his father but the doctor and the father do not get angry with either the patient or the son -- they work hard to cure them of their madness. People who do you harm are likewise made mad by delusions. ... Atisha always used to be accompanied by King Asangavyaya's jester, a difficult fellow to get along with. When Atisha was asked to get rid of him, he replied, 'With him around, my patience has a chance to fully develop its qualities!'" (pp. 638-639)
RECHUNG RINPOCHE Jampal Kunzang (1973) Tibetan Medicine illustrated in original texts, presented and translated.... London: Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine. viii + 340 pp.
This work includes a short history of Tibetan medicine (pp. 8-28), a translation of chapters from the second and fourth books of the rGyud-bzhi (pp. 31-97), with European-language bibliography, having some brief annotation (98-102), 19 plates with notes (pp. 104-139). By far the greatest part (pp. 141-327) is the "Life of the Great Physician Saint gYu-thog Yon-tan mGon-po" who lived (in the period) 786-911 CE,[*] and made great efforts to acquire medical knowledge from all sources, and to disseminate it for the benefit of the Tibetan people; plus a short glossary and index. The work was carried out at the Wellcome Institute, and is introduced by the Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts, Marianne Wilder (pp. 3-7). * [Perhaps gYu-thog actually lived these 125 years (pp. 18, 300, 314), which would be at the margin of 'long lives' known to have strong documentation, but not inevitably incredible. Elsewhere, scholars refer to an Elder gYu-thog, and a Younger gYu-thog (the latter in the eleventh century?)] Rechung Rinpoche refers to the Elder gYu-thog as "the famous Court Physician of King Khri-sron-lde-btsan who lived during the eight century A.D." (p. vii), with coronation in 754 (p. 16). Proof-reading of the English text has been somewhat weak. Book review by P. Denwood, Bulletin of SOAS (1974) 37 (2): 488-89, points out 'countless' slips and inconsistencies in the transliteration. Another reviewer gives the King's reign as A.D. 755-797: T.V. Wylie (1981) J. Asian Studies 40 (2) 371-72. [See further critical remarks below, in annotation of F. MEYER, Tibetan Medicine.]
Despite some technical problems, and great difficulties (invariably mentioned by specialists) in establishing critical medical texts and translating them from Tibetan (or Sanskrit) to English, the present work has much fascinating information about historical medical practice in a northern Buddhist context. It is apparent that 'disability' is subsumed within medical categories and is seldom treated as a separate category. Disabling impairments are listed at various places in the translated chapters of rGyud-bzhi. There is differentiation between being born dumb (p. 34) and "dumbness due to sickness" (p. 75) or illness (77), or "deafness due to ill health" (79), with medicines being proposed as cures for the conditions linked with illness, but none for the congenital condition. Similarly, being born blind or hunchbacked (34) is not considered curable, whereas operation on later blindness is possible (14-15), and a cataract removal tool is listed (132-133).
The Index of Medical Topics (pp. 331-340) covering all parts of the book, has some inconsistencies and does not show every page on which a listed word appears. Thus, for example, indexing for 'Deafness' gives only p. 79, and for 'Dumbness' only pp. 75-76; but in fact 'deaf' and/or 'dumb' appear (though not as 'topics') on pp. 34, 196, 199, 228, 305, 307. Several of these may be indicative of beliefs within some schools of Buddhism (also of Hindu teaching), e.g. "Idle chatter causes you to be born dumb" (307), or other reference to being 'born dumb' as a consequence of your wrong action (305). [Yet p. 34 warns that if the pregnant woman is denied the (unusual) food she wants, "the baby may die or it may be born blind or dumb or hunch-backed".] The reader might also be glad not to miss the rather fine progression up the food-chain of wisdom on p. 199:
"The reality of the essence of things of no arising and no cessation
Is what the learned people do not know and ask the dumb and deaf
Nor do the dumb and deaf know and they ask the dead bodies in the cemetery
And what the dead bodies explain is of the nature of the Dharma."
[Footnote: "One cannot say anything about the nature of the Dharma.
Conceptual thought about it is impossible."]
Meanwhile, 'ear' or 'ears' are not indexed at all, but appear at least on pp. 41, 42, 54, 104, 112, 122, 130, mostly in lists of parts of body systems (plus an insomnia remedy: "A little heated oil put into the ear enables one to sleep soundly" (54). 'Blindness', on the other hand, is not indexed, though 'blind' does appear on pp. 14-15, 34, 92 ("a blind man cannot recognize gold"), 220 ("His suffering was like that of a blind man put suddenly onto a plain who does not know where to turn"), 273, 274, 305, 324. Yet 'Eye' is indexed with 'diseases', 'operation', and 'eyes' is indexed with 'hollow', 'itching', 'reddish', 'sore'; and 'Eyesight' with 'good', and 'weak'. Further words of interest that are omitted are: 'Crippled' 274; 'Defect' 47 ("one who has no physical defect"); 'Fool' 154, 186 (various kinds of doctor, e.g. fond of alcohol, a cheat, distracted by flattery or women's charms, etc, are fools), 306; 'Madman', used of gYu-thog himself, 198 (with some irony, "the prayer of a madman without religion" etc), 281.
The word 'karma' is not indexed (not being a 'medical topic'). It appears or is strongly implied throughout the book, i.e. pp. 6, 7, 12, 32, 33, 37, 38, 47, 54, 175, 189, 190, 211, 213, 221-223, 226, 233, 234, 242, 245, 247, 264, 270, 273, 275, 276, 279, 282, 287, 289, 291, 301, 302, 305, 308, 320, 328 (and maybe more). Some references are more clearly pertinent to doctrine: "In general, births and subsequent fates are dependent on karma..." (p. 33); "If through the baby's bad karma it has to die in the mother's womb..." (37); "Good health does not always depend solely on physical reasons. It also depends on the noble or bad deeds of one's previous life. To maintain a long and healthy life, one must take nutritious food, practise good habits, take proper medicines and say prayers" (47; and comparable, 54); knowledge of medical texts persisting from former lives to present infant; but both good and ill effects of karma would be manifested (189-190); deep compassion and prayer remove sinful karma (221-222).
Amidst endless repetition, boasting, and seemingly fantastical hyperbole (unpalatable to the dim western mind, but perhaps having some hidden merit when perceived by culturally attuned minds) some impressive cases of multiple impairments can be found, which may perhaps have drawn upon clinical observation, and might even have an unexpectedly transgressive outcome. For example:
"story about a brahmin who lived at the monastery called 'Jungle Monastery' who never ate a grain of salt or drank a drop of alcohol, who looked upon woman as an enemy and who, since he lived underground, never saw the sun any more. After some time he became quite emaciated and very feeble. His skin was very rough and he suffered from air diseases and his semen became as hard as stone preventing him from urinating. His five limbs became swollen like a head, and when he bent down or stretched himself he suffered pains as if his bones were broken." (chapter 27, pp. 216-219, on p. 218)
[The point (or one point) of the story seems to be that the four things which the Brahmin had earnestly avoided, i.e. salt, alcohol, sexual intercourse, and sunlight, were considered poisons by Nepali doctors; but a goddess invoked by the Brahmin took the view that they were poisonous only if used in excess. The complete absence of these commodities caused serious breakdown of health [not surprisingly, in view of modern knowledge about micro-nutrient deficiencies]. He should dose himself with the missing items. The Brahmin did so, and got better...] A further example, but without solution:
Towards the close of the gYu-thog biography, in a question-and-answer session, mostly on the vast merits accruing to doctors for treating patients in kindly, prayerful and well-informed ways, there is (or appears to be) a specific 'staircase of merit' for curing different kinds of people and conditions, in order of increasing difficulty:
"If he cures a baby boy he will accumulate merit like a Bodhisattva who has achieved the first stage, / And if a boy child the second stage, / If a man the third stage, / And a pregnant woman the fourth stage, / And a Guru who has made a vow of morality the fifth, / A person suffering from a contagious disease the sixth, / A person suffering from dropsy the seventh stage, / One suffering from a demon-caused plague the eighth, / One suffering from leprosy the ninth / And one suffering from paralysis the tenth, / Suffering from hdug-nad, a composite disease, the eleventh / Suffering from bya-gdon* the twelfth, / One suffering from rabies the thirteenth."
* [footnote: Fifteen diseases of children caused by demons.] (p. 302)
ROCHER, Ludo (1983) Karma and rebirth in the Dharmashastras. In: W.D. O'FLAHERTY (ed.) Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, 61-89. University of California Press, 1980; Indian edition 1983, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Consequences of evil deeds are discussed and tabulated in detail from legal texts of Manu, Yajnavalkya and Vishnu, showing disabilities and other adverse physical conditions in a succeeding birth [in the 'Hindu' ways of understanding these phenomena or formulating these beliefs.] Some have an evident logical link, e.g. a "thief of the word (Veda)" is reborn as a dumb person; one who steals a lamp (which enabled people to see) is himself reborn blind, but one who extinguishes a lamp is reborn one-eyed; one who steals a horse (the means of going faster) is reborn lame; a calumniator is reborn with foul-smelling breath. Rocher discusses some of the difficulties in translation and interpretation, and ends by considering an alternative strand of thinking, in which some penitential actions during an offender's lifetime might (though rarely) alleviate or even eliminate the due penalty. [Caution should also be exercised, in any comparisons with Buddhist ways of handling apparently similar connections between wrongdoing and later appearance of disabling conditions.]
RUCH, Barbara (1990) Akashi no Kakuichi. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 24 (1) 35-47. [Reprinted from a chapter in The Cambridge History of Japan, ed. Kozo Yamamura, vol. 3, pp. 531-541, Cambridge UP.]
Ruch celebrates the masterpiece in which the blind composer-performer Akashi no Kakuichi {ca. 1300 to 1371} reformulated Japan's major medieval epic, the Heike monogatari, based on the late 12th century "cataclysmic Gempei War between the Genji and Heike clans". One of his achievements was to dispel the partisanship of earlier versions: the "Buddhistic themes and motifs that resound in his version give the work a reassuring quality, a serenity and universality. Kakuichi attempts neither to glamorize nor vilify: the great oratorio is on the side of all those who fell and died." (p. 37) His personal involvement arose after he lost his sight and earned a living among the lute-playing "biwa-priests (biwa-hoshi)". Ruch suggests that the activities of these 'priests' originally began in performance of "rituals to placate unsettled spirits attached to home and village". The sound of the lute was believed to "reach across to the spirit world and dissipate malignant forces (much as was the sounding of the string of an archer's bow in other shamanistic connections)." The performers were usually itinerant, poor, and "portrayed as blind, a misfortune attributed in those days to karmic hindrances originating in a previous existence. Blindness was certainly lamented, but it was also perceived as a sort of fortunate early warning that in this life one should at once occupy oneself with activities conducive to improved karma and salvation, or rebirth in paradise, depending on doctrinal proclivities. The biwa-priests' exorcistic services, though surely intended to accumulate merit for themselves, also provided spiritual service to a society that universally embraced a belief in onryo, malignant spirits of the dead." [See also B. Ruch (1977) Medieval jongleurs and the making of a national literature, in: J.W. Hall & Toyoda Takeshi (eds.) Japan in the Muromachi Age, 279-309. Berkeley: University of California Press. Also, more specifically: K.D. Butler (1966) The textual evolution of the Heike Monogatari. Harvard Journal of Asian Studies 26: 5-51.]
RUIZ-DE-MEDINA, Juan (2003) The role of the blind Biwa Hoshi troubadours in the history of Christian mission in Japan. Bulletin of Portuguese-Japanese Studies 6: 107-145.
This detailed paper with extensive quotation and translation of Portuguese primary sources, rather unexpectedly shows the flourishing of some Biwa Hoshi, blind minstrels, in 16th and early 17th century Japan, who seem to have adjusted their roots in Buddhism to accommodate the strange foreign religion. The first Jesuit missionaries had some contact with blind men and children from 1549 onward. Lives and activities are described from early Jesuit records, of some blind Japanese who embraced Christianity. The lay brother Lourenço was of great assistance to the missionaries. A man named Tobias, who was converted as a boy and lived with the Jesuit fathers, later had the ear of the ruler of Tosa (Shikoku). One named Miguel, related to a noble family, obtained the rank of Kengyo soon after his conversion. A blind convert named Jomura, being a poor man, was assisted with alms by some wealthy Christian families, as a result of which he was expelled from the local 'brotherhood of the blind'. Other active blind Christians were "the nobleman Ugosa dono Joaquim"; "Tomás, a preacher" and "Shoichi Joaquim, another blind catechist" both with the Franciscans. The stories appear of blind Christians threatened with death or martyred in the persecutions of the early 17th century, such as Mancio of Arima (pp. 133-134), and Damiao of Yamaguchi (134-139, 141-144). Some of the records are of a hagiographical nature, but Ruiz de Medina points out the considerable incidental detail of everyday life of the blind itinerant minstrels at this period, the environment in which they worked, and the ways in which the Jesuits incorporated indigenous media in their worship and preaching. An interesting note, based on a letter from Luis Frois in 1587, was that blind youths might serve in the households of powerful men, who employed them not only for recreation but also "to send them out with their messages, as they are generally very discreet and skilled in taking care of affairs." (p. 112)
SANTIDEVA. The Bodhicaryavatara, translated, with Introduction and Notes, by K. Crosby & A. Skilton (1995), reissued (1998) in Oxford World Classics. Oxford UP. xlviii + 191 pp.
This work of spiritual enlightenment, generally attributed to an Indian Buddhist monk in the 8th century CE, has long been highly regarded as a guide or training manual in Mahayana Buddhism, more so among Tibetan teachers. Amidst the instructions and assertions, there is incidental reference to various forms of disability, which mostly serve as well-known 'unwanted' conditions, threats or metaphors. Thus, in a "Confession of Faults", it is noted that "someone taken away today to have a limb cut off withers, throat parched, gaze wretched. He sees the world in a completely different way" (verse 2.44; p. 17), {but the person confessing his* faults is in a still more terrifying position - (2.45; p. 18)}.
* ['his' - The text, being mostly addressed to monks, is overwhelmingly 'male' in reference. Where people appear whose 'disability' is being female, they may be seen as sources of distraction or temptation; or in a wittily dismissive proverb, e.g. "Whether the mind is luminous or not, talking about it is pointless since it is never seen by anything, like the beauty of a barren woman's daughter" (9.22; pp. 117, 182).]
In chapter 3, spiritually exalted beings are begged not to leave the world, but to remain and help humanity: "Do not let this world become blind!" (3.5; p. 20). The 'example' is given of a blind person as one who could only search randomly: "As a blind man might find a jewel in heaps of rubbish, so too this Awakening Mind has somehow appeared in me." (3.27; p. 22) In chapter 5, to achieve and maintain mindfulness is difficult: "I should act at all times as if lacking senses, like a block of wood (5.34, 5.50-53; pp. 37-38) - though one may from time to time glance at the horizon, to rest one's eyes (5.36)... (Also, take thought for other meditators: "One should not throw down stools and other furniture violently with a crash, nor should one pound on doors...", 5.72; p. 40) In chapter 8, somewhat more advanced 'meditative absorption' is introduced with discussion by the translators (pp. 75-87). It includes advice on avoiding 'fools', who, to judge by the behaviour described, may comprise much of the ordinary adult population, i.e. people who do not devote themselves to religious practice or mindfulness but prefer normal chit-chat, gossip, rehearsal of the faults of others and praise of one's own merits, and may therefore be regarded as a complete waste of time and space. While "uselessly preoccupied" with such fools, even if they were once friends or family, "life gets shorter by the minute" (8.8 - 8.15; pp. 88-90). Mental disorder is everywhere... "The world is a confusion of insane people striving to delude themselves" - this interesting characterisation comes amidst a detailed, scatological effort to consider everyone's body as a stinking bag of filth and putrification (8.30 - 8.32, 8.40 - 8.71; pp. 90-94), and to encourage students to frequent the charnel ground or graveyard. [Such contemplation has been a standard monastic exercise in Buddhism and some other religions, though in other times and places it might be seen as a symptom of mental disorder.]
More positively, the solemn exercises may lead on to some saintly resolutions for the benefit of the world, in chapter 10. Thus, "may the blind see forms, may the deaf always hear..." and "May those beings lacking vigour be greatly invigorated. May those wretches who are deformed attain perfect beauty" (10.19, 29; pp. 140-141). An endnote to the latter pages, refers to "inopportune births, so called because one cannot benefit therein from the Buddha's teachings". One such occurs when a person is born "deficient in faculties" (p. 190).
SANTIDEVA. Siksha-Samuccaya. A compendium of Buddhist doctrine, translated from the Sanskrit by Cecil Bendall {with assistance and revision by E.B. Cowell, W.H.D. Rouse, and L. de la Vallée Poussin} (1922). London: John Murray. [This can also be found open online, where the text has been scanned with Optical Character Recognition, mostly with success; yet with e.g. a word such as 'revihng' obviously meant for 'reviling', the machine having misread 'li' as 'h', or elsewhere as 'K' or 'U'; or 'll' as 'H'; thus 'bhnd' for 'blind', 'fooHsh' for 'foolish' {though 'fooHsh' might be a welcome addition to transcriptional English, graphically and audibly indicating the forcefulness of the speaker's denunciation!} To learn that "the world wanders perplext, Hke a bumble-bee in a jug", or to read of one "not upKfted and not cast down", should not puzzle the alert reader with some awareness of earlier English orthography.]
Long before that encounter with modern speed and nuisance, Dr. Rowse in his preface noted the precarious journey to publication through a quarter century: "The manuscript was brought from Nepal by Mr. Cecil Bendall, and edited by him for the Russian Bibliotheca Buddhica (St. Petersburg, 1897)." Bendall taught Sanskrit at Cambridge University, and was, or had been, headmaster of the Perse School. He received some help from Mr Cowell, Professor of Sanskrit, until the latter's death, when Bendall inherited the professorship. He was further assisted by the learned Rowse, to whom, on his deathbed, Bendall bequeathed the task of completing the work. In this task Rowse was assisted by the Professor of Sanskrit from Brussels, Louis de la Vallée Poussin, who resided at Cambridge from 1914 to 1918, having spent the previous decade producing a critical edition of Prajnakaramati's commentary on Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara. (Rowse thanks the Librarian of the India Office "for the loan of the Tibetan translation" of the Siksasamuccaya).
As with other medieval compendia of Buddhist doctrine, the work quotes extensively from earlier works, exhorting monks to strive toward enlightenment and the faultless attainment of the Bodhisattva. Regarding disability, particularly in chapter 4, there are detailed warnings of the consequences of failure, after which "he is born blind, or dumb, or tongueless, or a Candala, and in no case blessed; he becomes a scandalmonger, a hermaphrodite, or a eunuch...", (pp. 73-74) especially for hindering others from entering the religious life. Even in the present life, a catalogue of bodily ailments and plagues is waiting, "diseases of the eye, diseases of the ear, and so forth, piles, blains, or fistula, ... the body has torments, the body has pains, it suffers decay, is broken down, is bent double; it is lame, is greyheaded, is full of wrinkles; the senses come to maturity and then decay, the elements of the body grow old and decrepit" (p. 82). Lust and passion cause men to fall into hell or become ghosts or animals; then "through passion men are born one-eyed, crippled, with tongue awry, misshapen: every varied blemish is the portion of such as walk the miserable way of lust" ... or they may be "blind from birth, deaf, and idiot" or reborn as animals or insects (p. 84). Much of the problem is blamed on the seductiveness of women (p. 86, and elsewhere). Old age also bears some responsibility: it "withers men and women as a creeper kills a grove of sal trees: old age steals strength, energy and force; in old age a man sinks as in a bog, old age makes beautiful things ugly, old age steals brightness and takes away the power of strength", and so on (p. 199). It's an old story.
[See above, MROZIK, Virtuous Bodies, particularly chapter 4, for a focused modern commentary on Siksasamuccaya.]
SCHOLZ-CIONCA, Stanca (1992) What happened to the Zatô Kyôgen? Paradigm shifts in the evolution of Blind Man plays. Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde ostasiens, No. 152: 39-58.
This article gives detailed historical perspectives on the development of the Japanese zato kyogen drama. Scholz-Cionca suggests that the earlier plays involved frank ridicule of blind men, upon whom "coarse pranks" and farcical tricks were practised to amuse the sighted audience (as occurred also in medieval European drama), whereas later interpreters could not stomach this "uninhibited derision", so they introduced moralising elements. (See also GOLAY, above). However, it appears that there were also significantly different versions of some kyogen (apart from the variations 'incidentally' introduced, on the moment, by actors). For example, Kawakami may originally have had "nothing whatever to do with the zato plays, but was rather meant as a parable on the dangers of bad karma", and was classified among the "woman plays": "the blind man spends seven days of fasting and praying at Jizo's shrine and is miraculously healed. But instead of a warm welcome, his wife receives him with a torrent of accusations, suspecting him of a secret tryst with a concubine" (p. 41). For this supposed infidelity, she bashes him all around the stage, until finally he loses the sight he had just regained! (This alternative would of course have provided both the required comedy and the tragedy, without derogation of Jizo's compassion). Other variations are discussed, and translation is shown of two parallel texts of "The Blind Man and the Monkey" illustrating earlier and later versions (pp. 51-58).
'SEI SHONAGON' [ca. 986-1000] The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, translated by I. Morris (1967 / 1971). London: Penguin. 411 pp.
Intimate description of daily life, etiquette, poetry and trivia at the imperial court in Japan's great Heian culture, in the late first millennium CE. Includes some reference to deities, priests and religious practice, with illness being the work of evil spirits, which a skilled Buddhist priest should be able to exorcise by transfer from the afflicted person to a medium [chs. 13; 171; 182] (pp. 26; 41-42; 253-254; 260-261, notes pp. 280; 374). Two Buddhist nuns are mentioned, who come separately to beg from the court ladies [ch. 56] (pp. 99-102, 104, notes pp. 311-313). The first is described with Shonagon's witty contempt for anything not neat and pleasing to her fastidious gaze. This nun, 'Hitachi no Suke', an old woman in filthy clothes, begs vigorously and jokes coarsely until she obtains food, then a robe. For this she performs a ceremonial dance of thanks (which would be the normal response of a person of rank receiving a gift, but by a beggar would be impertinent mimicking, p. 312). To the ladies' disgust, 'Hitachi' returns regularly to beg. The second nun is "a cripple... but with a naturally elegant manner". For Shonagon, elegance trumps the impairment; the ladies are "truly sorry" for the crippled beggar, and she obtains a fine robe. 'Hitachi' arrives and is annoyed to see this rival leaving. After a sulking absence, Hitachi returns and vents her annoyance in a poem of contempt for the crippled nun.
SHATTAN, {Merchant Prince}. Manimekhalaï (The dancer with the magic bowl), translated by Alain Daniélou with TV Gopala Iyer (1989 / 1993) New Delhi: Penguin. xxiii + 191 pp.
Probably from the 2nd century CE, at the close of the third and final Sangam of Tamil literature, the story of Manimekhalaï in its South Indian context differs substantially from the world of North Indian Sanskrit literature. The Buddha Gotama's teaching offers a challenge to the Brahmins' rituals and the ascetic's privations, but has not yet made much headway: "The noble way preached by the Buddha appears veiled by a fog like that which sometimes hides the red morning sun. All know that the bright sun must have risen in the east, but their eyes cannot see it. It is the same with the Buddha's teachings, which remain a dead letter since no one puts them into practice." (Canto 12, pp. 50). The beautiful young courtesan Manimekhalaï, evading hot pursuit by wealthy young men with improper intentions, abandons her hereditary profession to adopt Buddhist religious notions and social work with the poor and disabled. She also goes to college for a (commendably abridged) 'Intelligent Girl's Guide to Current Philosophies and Their Flaws' (Canto 27, pp. 126-241). Behind each character and action there is a sub-plot and earlier activity, told by some wise old woman or a passing goddess. [Eh? - Wise, active, powerful women in ancient India!? But this is ancient southern India.] Thus the history of the magic bowl is told, providing food aid to the poor, sick and disabled; and eventually the bowl is handed over to our young heroine, after she has duly venerated the Buddha, and on condition that her charitable motives be 'really sincere'. "Around Manimekhalaï, beautiful as a doll ... there soon gathered the blind, the deaf, the crippled, the orphans, the idiots, the ascetics who performed severe practices, all those that were hungry, the poor dressed in rags, and hundreds of thousands of other living beings, who crowded together to approach her." (Canto 28, p. 149) Her predecessor in charitable works, Aputra, had benefitted a similar list of deserving people (Canto 13, p. 55). Yet there is a glimpse beyond Level One of the charity game, i.e. the daily hand-out of food to the poor. One day, the Buddha's presence and teaching would cause a new age to dawn: the earth would offer its riches, humankind and animals would live at peace; and nobody would be "born hunch-backed, dwarfed, dumb, deaf or deformed like a beast or misshapen mass devoid of human faculties." (Canto 12, p. 51)
SMITH, Richard J. (1991) Fortune-tellers and Philosophers. Divination in traditional Chinese Society. Boulder: Westview.
Includes information on involvement of blind people in fortune-telling, divination and shamanistic practices, e.g. pp. 138, 200, 205-206, 230, 317, 331, 347. Underlines influence of physiognomic lore in the Ming and Qing, e.g. pp. 188-200, 213, which reflected adversely on disabled people: "wherever a deformity exists, trouble will strike" (192). Smith suggests that "Buddhist doctrine blended well with physiognomy because of the common belief that one of the primary ways karma expresses itself is in the body. ... Buddhist monasteries often served as a base for physiognomers. But, as with most other Chinese concepts of fate, the idea of negative karma expressed in a 'bad face' did not preclude the possibility of modification by good behavior." (p. 208)
SPENCE, Jonathan D. (2008) Return to Dragon Mountain. London: Quercus. xvii + 332 pp. (Originally published by Viking Penguin in the USA, 2007.)
Professor Spence translates, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly in narrative form, some of the writings of Zhang Dai, a notable historian of the Ming dynasty, who lived to see that dynasty crumble before the Manchu invaders from 1644 on. One of his cousins was Zhang Pei. In the Zhang family tree (pp. xiv - xv), Zhang Pei's dates are 1607-1663. He was known as the "Blind Physician". The major Chinese source for pp. 59-61 and 215-216 (giving details on Zhang Pei's life) appears to be Zhang Dai shiwenji {The collected poetry and short prose of Zhang Dai}, ed. Xia Xianchun, pp. 80, 281-82, 359, Shanghai: Guji chubanshe, 1991. Zhang Pei lost his sight by the age of 5, but his education continued as his family hired readers who read the major textbooks to him throughout the day. The boy reportedly memorised the books and demanded more. Eventually he focussed on medical and botanical texts, then concentrated on the art of feeling the pulse at various points in the human body. By this means, the blind young man became expert at diagnosing illnesses, and also ran a pharmacy in which drugs were prepared meticulously following famous practitioners of the ancient methods, and with hygenic precautions. Zhang Pei was generous toward patients who had no means to pay for their treatment, according to his admiring cousin (pp. 59-61). He also displayed "an extraordinary range of other abilities, none of which were {sic} affected by his blindness", supervising the repair and management of ancestral properties, undertaking legal business, and taking part in military activities in resistance to the incoming tide of the Manchu invasion from 1644 onward (215-216). [see also pp. 98, 233, 268-69, 271 and end-notes on pp. 292, 305, 312. {On p. 305, endnote for p. 215 actually refers to p. 216}.] Mention of people with other impairments is found on pp. 39-40 ("Pockmarked Liu"); 86 (apparently a cure for an infant's wry neck); 120 (a mad monk); 166 (a dwarf); 236 (leper woman and baby - an image borrowed from Zhuangzi; eunuchs also appear in the index on nine pages).
[This item is listed as a possible example of 'negative evidence' (see Introduction, 1.3.1 {d.5}), i.e. it describes the life of an outstanding historical blind man in China, without mention of Buddhism. There could be many reasons for the absence of links being mentioned here between Zhang Pei and Buddhism. Buddhism does appear regularly in the rest of the book, with 33 indexed page references (while Confucius and Confucianism appear on 25 pages); and religious beliefs and practices had been some sort of influence in Zhang Dai's life since his birth (e.g. 78-79, 110, 113-135, 218-219, 223-224). It is quite possible that Zhang Pei observed some Buddhist cultural practices or festivals just like everyone else, so there was no reason to mention them. Or, like many Chinese with strong intellectual abilities and a 'scientific' profession, he may have regarded 'popular' Buddhism with scepticism, while remaining agnostic about imponderable questions, e.g. the 'spirit world', rebirth, and the effects of karma. (Perhaps some other sources on Zhang Pei do mention Buddhism, or indicate his stance toward religion).]
SSU-MA CH'IEN {Sima Qian}. The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume I, The Basic Annals of Pre-Han China, edited by William H. Nienhauser, transl. Tsai-fa Cheng, Zongli Lu, W.H. Nienhauser, Robert Reynolds (1994). Bloomington: Indiana UP. xliv + 251 pp. + maps.
[The translation volumes in this series from Indiana University Press do not represent a chronological sequence in ancient China, nor does their numbering correspond with the dates of publication. Of nine volumes originally planned (and begun ca. 1989), six have been published so far: Vol. I (1994); II (2002); V.1 (2006); VII (1994); VIII (2008); IX (2011); and three more are anticipated (presumably III, IV, and VI; while an apparent bifurcation 'V.1' suggests that a tenth volume, 'V.2', is also planned). The volumes contain different genres of historical material, which have some mutual overlap of period and activity. This edition gives some depth and detail of introduction and explanation of the chronological, geographical and linguistic complexities and frailties involved in reconstructing the world of ancient China, understanding the textual materials available to the historian Sima Qian, whose working life crossed from the 2nd to the 1st century BC, and interpreting the outcomes in ways that can make sense both to modern scholars and to well-educated, non-specialist readers of English, with copious footnotes, bibliographies, indexes, glossary, and similar aids to navigation. [These efforts by a slowly changing and expanding team of scholars over 20 years were preceded and then paralleled by the cumulative translations to English (and revision) by Burton Watson from about 1958 onward, titled "Records of the Grand Historian", Columbia UP; and also by R.V. Vyatkin {and V.S. Taskin}, to Russian, from 1957 to Vyatkin's death in 1995.]
The seven 'Basic Annals' translated in this volume contain little if any material indicating 'responses to disability'. However, notes on Ssu-ma Ch'ien (145 - ca. 86 BC) in the Introduction remind the reader that the historian himself incurred the displeasure of the Emperor Wu, was imprisoned in 99 BC, and "was tried and sentenced to death or castration. Believing that by living on he could complete the promise to his father to finish their history, he submitted to castration." (p. x) Thus as a man in his 40s he joined the disgraced ranks of those with a physically mutilated body, and presumably experienced stigma and opprobrium from having suffered this particular punishment, as well as the pain, physical inconvenience, psychological discomfort and enhanced risk of illness, from being forced into this condition.[*] This volume also has incidental notices of Chao Kao, a "notorious eunuch" (p. 154, ftn. 294) who was a powerful palace official and manipulator in the late 3rd century BC (123, 154-162, 173-174). There are brief notes on "the Venerable Blind One", father of the emperor Shun; and a suggestion that Shun's eyes had two pupils (11, 208, 209).
* [Eric Henry, in a perceptive article, "The motif of recognition in Early China", Harvard Journal of Asian Studies 47 (1) (June 1987) 5-30, gives some examples of (more or less) historical figures who had blemished records yet found their life worthwhile because their achievement, skill, or sacrifice, high-principled stance, or meritorious inner life, was after all recognised by at least one worthy person. One example was Ssu-ma Ch'ien, who wrote to a fellow official, Jen An, about his disgrace and his decision "to live on as a eunuch ... Ssu-ma Ch'ien's position as court annalist and astrologer was a low one, little removed from that of diviners and mediums. He was a plaything of the emperor, he says, kept like any singing girl or jester. If he had killed himself, no one would have thought his death comparable to those of great men who died for principle; they would rather have assumed that he was simply a wretch at his wit's end with no other way out." By remaining alive, he could complete his historical project, and this might finally preserve his worthwhile character and motives in the eyes of later generations.]
SSU-MA CH'IEN {Sima Qian}. The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume VII, The Memoirs of Pre-Han China, edited by W.H. Nienhauser, transl. Tsai-fa Cheng, Zongli Lu, W.H. Nienhauser, R. Reynolds (1994). Bloomington: Indiana UP. xxiii + 396 pp. + maps. [See preliminary notes on whole series, in the annotation of Volume 1, above.]
With considerable annotation, this volume gives translation of chapters 61-88 of the Shih chi {Shiji}, China's greatest early work of systematic history, compiled, written and edited by Ssuma Ch'ien incorporating earlier work by his father, Ssu-ma T'an. The present volume contains 'Memoirs' 1 to 28, concerning historical figures mostly from the 7th to the 2nd centuries BC, including Lao Tzu, notable disciples of Confucius, and Meng Tzu (Mencius). [This was the Chinese period in parallel with the Indian intellectual context of the Upanishads, the subsequent life and teaching of the Buddha Gotama, and the early centuries during which the verbal transmission of 'Buddhist teaching' was being formulated and would slowly begin to spread beyond its earliest location.] Amidst reports of endless power struggles, battles and treachery, there are a few striking tales that suggest 'responses to people with disabilities'.
In the middle of the third century BC, a commoner who was lame lived near the back of the palace of nobleman Chao Sheng (Lord Pingyuan). One of Pingyuan's ladies of pleasure saw this "cripple who limped as he went to draw water from the well" and she "burst out laughing" (p. 203). The lame man called next day at the gate of his grand neighbour to complain of the disgrace. "Your servant is cursed with an infirmity, yet My Lord's rear-palace women looked down and laughed at me. I beg to have the head of the one who laughed at me." (203-204) Lord Pingyuan idly gave consent; but afterwards ridiculed the idea of killing the lovely lady "because of a laugh!" Subsequently, many of his protégés and retainers took their leave, and Pingyuan's entourage or court was much depleted. He enquired into the departures, since he did not think he had treated those gentlemen with discourtesy. One of them gave the reason: by failing to satisfy the lame man, Pingyuan had appeared to prize female charms and despise worthy men. Lord Pingyuan then had the lady's head cut off, "and went up to the gate of the cripple himself, presenting the head to him with his apologies." (204) After that, the men who had withdrawn gradually returned. [This resolution appears rather stark, but the story is given here without moral commentary or socio-ethical context. Pingyuan's first reading of the situation might make more sense if he had required the offending concubine to grovel before the affronted cripple and offer a gift in compensation; or had craftily presented the woman's head and body as one unit, alive, for the lame man to enjoy rather than to decapitate (assuming that she preferred this alternative). His false consent to the lame commoner, and dismissal of the insult as trivial, seemed questionable to the gentlemen retainers, and reduced his credibility. (Even so, supposing that some such event actually took place, it may seem odd that no face-saving diplomacy was recorded, short of removing the lady's head). Some earlier Memoirs, 5 {*} and 15 {**}, may shed light on the cheapness or transient value of women's lives in such noblemen's households, and also a local tendency of derisive expressions toward bodily differences. [Some possibly pertinent material appears in two memoirs immediately following; and in other parts of the Records, such as the misfortune of Beauty Ch'i, in Vol. II, Basic Annals No. 9, below; and most strikingly in another case, where in 593 BC the Duke of Chi's mother reportedly laughed at the hunchback Hsi K'o and companions having impairments, in Vol. V.1, pp. {85}, 88-89, {91}, 93, with some footnoted discussion, and further detail in a later chapter, p. 354.]
* [Memoir 5, on Sun Tzu Wu, during the reign of Ho-lu (514-496). Sun Wu offered to demonstrate military training to any group - noble, common, even women! The king brought out the palace beauties, about 180 women, perhaps anticipating some amusement. Sun Wu divided them into two companies, under command of the king's two favourite ladies. Drill signals were given with the drum, but the temporary recruits had not learnt their lessons properly and burst out laughing. Sun Wu held the two company commanders responsible for the flaws, and had their heads cut off, apparently 'pour encourager les autres'. He promoted the next two beauties as commanders in their place. The women were now terrified, and learnt the drill with amazing speed, keeping in line as though it were "marked out by a carpenter's square, compass and plumb line". Sun Wu informed the king of the result: "however Your Majesty would like to employ them, even marching them through fire and water, could all be done." But the king, regretting the loss of his two favourites, declined to be pleased with the results. (pp. 37-38)]
** [Memoir 15, "The Lord of Meng-ch'ang" (pp. 189-202, see pp. 191-94). The prime minister of Ch'i, T'ien Ying, had many sons, and gave orders not to raise one baby, T'ien Wen, born on an inauspicious date - he might grow "as tall as a door frame" and harm his parents (p. 191). Yet the boy survived and eventually became Ying's heir, and was known as Lord Meng-ch'ang, also Duke of Hsueh. On a journey he passed through Chao, and "the Lord of P'ing-yuan treated him as a guest. The men of Chao had heard that the Lord of Meng-ch'ang was worthy and came out to see him. They all laughed. 'We thought at first the Duke of Hsueh would be of stalwart build. Now we see him, he's just a tiny little fellow'. The Lord of Meng-ch'ang heard this and was furious. The retainers travelling with him dismounted and hacked, beat, and killed hundreds of people, laying waste to the entire country before leaving." (p. 194) {Footnote: the story does not appear in a contemporaneous source.}]
The Grand Historian did of course elsewhere portray a more admirable level of behaviour in some rulers, counsellors and gentlemen - who exercised self-restraint, were thoughtful toward their subordinates, and exerted themselves to relieve the suffering of the common people; while some who neglected such values were rebuked. In Memoir 8, the Lord of Shang was criticised by Chao Liang for needless severity, when he "inflicted mutilation and tattooing on the Heir's mentor and preceptor, and crippled and wounded the commoners with savage punishments; this is accumulating resentment and storing up calamities." (p. 94) Better-advised conduct would have been to "exalt the men of cliffs and caves" {i.e. the sages who preserved their independence}, "nourish the aged, preserve the orphaned, respect the elders, rank the meritorious, and honor the virtuous; thus you may gain some peace." (95) The Lord of Meng-ch'ang's hospitality toward the capable but poverty-stricken guest Feng Huan was approved, together with the latter's subtle psychology while organising a successful debt-collection drive (pp. 197-198). Yet it was noted against the famous general Meng T'ien that he had been reckless with the forced labour of the ordinary people when they had not recovered from previous turmoils: he "did not relieve the plight of the populace, did not nourish the aged, did not pity the orphaned, or labour at renewing harmony among the common people" (p. 366, Memoir 28). Such virtues, or lack of them, enshrined in the great classic of history, could maybe provide some common ground or resonance with aspects of the Buddha's teaching, when it began to reach China.
SSU-MA CH'IEN {Sima Qian}. The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume II, The Basic Annals of Han China, edited by W.H. Nienhauser, transl. Weiguo Cao, Scott W. Galer, W.H. Nienhauser, David W. Pankenier (2002). Bloomington: Indiana UP. lxv + 341 pp. + maps.
[See Note above and in previous annotation. This Volume II contains Basic Annals 8 to 12.] Basic Annals 9 (pp. 105-144) concerns the Empress Dowager Lü, whose character reportedly may have been "obstinate and resolute, perverse and unfathomable" (107, ftn. 16). She had been a consort of Kao-tsu in earlier years, and with him had her son, Hsaio Hui-ti. But when Kao-tsu became King of Han (in 206 BC), he took up with Beauty Ch'i, and had a son by her, Ju-yi. "While Beauty Ch'i was in favor, she often followed the sovereign ... weeping and whimpering day and night, intending to cause her son to be installed in place of the Heir", a plan in which she nearly succeeded (107). However, in 195 BC, Kao-tsu died, and Hsaio Hui-ti inherited the main title, while the former king's other sons were given subsidiary domains. Empress Lü, "harboring the greatest resentment for Lady Ch'i and her son" (109), took steps to remove any lingering threat, despite some protective moves by Hsaio-Hui-ti. Having had Ju-yi murdered, she "cut off Lady Ch'i's hands and feet, removed her eyes, cauterized her ears, caused her to drink a drug that rendered her mute, and sent her to live in the privy, calling her 'the human hog'." (p. 111) [An extensive academic footnote discusses how this 'human hog' name arose, and whether it was in the privy, or in an area designated for kicking balls around, that {what was left of} Beauty Ch'i was to reside. The mutilated lady herself (if she was still alive) was hardly in a position to give any opinion.] When Hsaio Hui-ti was called to view his mother's handiwork, "He had to ask before he realized that this was Lady Ch'i". Reportedly, he was ill for a year afterwards, took to drinking, and neglected any serious duty. (111) [This story, which might have acquired some embroidery in the telling but has further documentation shown in evidence and scholarly discussion, has some possible relevance to weighing up the story given above, of the lame man at whom one of Ping-yuan's courtesans laughed too audibly.]
SSU-MA CH'IEN {Sima Qian}. The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume V.1 The Hereditary Houses of Pre-Han China, Part 1, edited by W.H. Nienhauser, transl. Weiguo Cao, Zhi Chen, Scott Cook, Hongyu Huang, Bruce Knickerbocker, W.H. Nienhauser, Wang Jing, Zhang Zhenjun, Zhao Hua (2006). Bloomington: Indiana UP. xlviii + 501 pp. + maps.
[See introductory notes to previous items. Vol. V.1 gives Hereditary Houses 1 to 10, from the Shi ji chapters 31-40. These seem to date from the mid-eleventh century BC onward (p. xxv), and continue through maybe 700 years.]
Under 'Hereditary House 2', some joking over disability occurs among two servants of Duke Yi. around 609 BC. "The two men were bathing and joking. [Yung] Chih said, '[You are] the son of cut-off feet!' [Ping] Jung said, '[You're the one] whose wife was snatched away!' The two men, both sickened by these words, subsequently harbored resentment." Duke Yi had cut the feet off Jung's father, and taken Chih's wife into his palace. The two men plotted together and assassinated Duke Yi (p. 85) (Footnote 379 gives a parallel passage in the Tso Chuan). Some years later, in 592 BC, [the Marquis of] Chin sent a hunchbacked envoy, Hsi K'o, to [the Duke of] Chh'i, to call him to a meeting. "Ch'i had Ladies observe him from among the curtains. As Hsi K'o climbed [the steps], the ladies laughed at him," and the envoy was much annoyed and wanted to take revenge (pp. 88-89, 93-94) [Most of these two pages comprise footnotes giving background and some parallel accounts in which four envoys having different impairments (lame, hunchbacked, blind in one eye, bald) are similarly observed and laughed at. A further detail has each of the four being received by a host having a similar impairment, probably with the idea that they could thus feel more comfortable.] A further view of the incident or parallel, and outcomes, appears under Hereditary House 9, pp. 354-355, and 376.
Elsewhere there is mention of a shaman called to treat "various nervous disorders afflicting Duke Huan" (77); a "muddleheaded" ruler Chow, who added to the disarray of his kingdom by heavy drinking, and may have seen that he could end up going crazy (267-268); a nobleman who tried unsuccessfully to remonstrate with Chow was driven to pretend madness (p. 269); and the "unrestrained" behaviour of a further ruler, Duke Ling, suggested he was already mentally disordered (p. 375). Various court eunuchs played their roles, from the 7th to the 5th centuries (pp. 78-79; 99, 103, 117). As against those unattractive records, there was a ruler noted for being "good at caring for the elderly" (pp. 38-39, in the 11th century BC); and Duke Ching of Chin (reigned 599-581 BC) who reportedly "opened the gardens and menageries, lightened taxes and collections, offered relief to the orphans, asked after the sick, and emptied accumulated items in his storehouses to aid the people" (94-95), as discussed by the translator of Hereditary House 2 (B. Knickerbocker, p. 128).
Somewhat unexpectedly, Confucius, as a senior officer of Lu, shows up in pp. 108-109, intervening zealously in aid of correct ritual (and apparently also in avoidance of a plot). He has some musicians, jesters and dwarfs arrested and executed, ostensibly for leading rulers astray. However, "Scholars who prefer a kindlier Confucius have argued against the historicity of such activities" (p. 109, ftn. 559).
SSU-MA CH'IEN {Sima Qian}. The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume IX, The Memoirs of Han China, Part II edited by W.H. Nienhauser. transl. J. Michael Farmer, Enno Giele, Christiane Haupt, Li He, Elisabeth Hsu, W.H. Nienhauser, Marc Nürnberger, Ying Qin (2011). Bloomington: Indiana UP. lxiv + 425 pp.
[p. 190] "When [Han] An-kou had been Grandee Secretary for more than four years, Chancellor T'ien Fen died. [Han] An-kou took care of the chancellor's duties. [Once] when he was respectfully leading the Emperor's carriage, he fell off his carriage [ftn. 94] and became lame. The Son of Heaven caused the appointment of the chancellor to be deliberated, and wanted to employ [Han] An-Kuo. He sent an envoy to take a look at him, but his lameness had worsened. Only then did the Emperor replace [him] ..." [191] "Several months after [Han] An-Kou had been removed from office for sickness, he recovered from his lameness. The Emperor reassigned him as Commandant of the Capital. Over a year later he was transferred to be Commandant of the Guards."
STABLEIN, William (1983) The medical soteriology of karma in the Buddhist tantric tradition. In: W.D. O'FLAHERTY (ed.) Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, pp. 193-216. University of California Press, 1980; Indian edition 1983, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
This study, with detailed examination of sources in Tibetan such as the Book of the Dead, and the Blue Lapis Lazuli, focuses on karma in "its flow through the continuum of the afterdeath state into the flesh and blood of an earthly being", which is speculatively believed to take place during a few days or weeks. [The process described appears to be of considerable importance to this traditional school of Buddhist beliefs or theories with regard to karma and rebirth. Yet after several readings, this compiler found the descriptions hard to follow, and the evidence for them hard to find. That might result from the compiler's own stupidity or mistaken expectations. Dr. Stablein may be congratulated on having persevered across such difficult textual ground! [*] A short account of the Bardo or 'after death' process by the DALAI LAMA (1994) in layman's language appears in The Way to Freedom, pp. 63-66, see below. This has been modernised to accommodate even 'test tube babies', though still short of reasons to believe it, other than that the 'teacher says so'.]
* [Cf. Paul Griffiths (1982) Notes towards a critique of Buddhist karmic theory. Religious Studies 18: 277-291, who opens with a memorable apology: "...the effort involved in becoming competent in several Buddhist canonical languages and in becoming familiar with a range of philosophical ideas and preconceptions which are in many respects alien to one's own culture tends to mean that the Buddhologist's apprenticeship is long, his# publications so clogged with jargon as to be inaccessible to any non-specialist, and his# appetite for truth stifled by Sanskrit syntax and Tibetan declensions."]
# {Maybe the female Buddhologist's superior linguistic dexterity and more recently developed take-off fuel enable her to soar over such obstacles.}
STATLER, Oliver (1984) Japanese Pilgrimage. London: Picador / Pan. 349 pp., with maps, illustrations.
Statler's book is about people in the changing rural environment of modern Japan, about the medieval saint Kobo Daishi or Kukai (774-835 CE, founder of the Shingon school or sect of Buddhism), about Japanese cultural micro-history, thoughts and practices with which ordinary people do their religious life, and everything else. On this two month pilgrimage, Statler walks nearly a thousand miles to visit 88 temples on a known but now little-used route around Shikoku island (most pilgrims, not having two months to spare, now 'do' much or all of the route by bus or car). He was accompanied by a young Japanese college graduate, Nobuo Morikawa, who was making the trip for the first time and usefully contributed different perspectives and questions, as well as native familiarity with the language (pp. 29-32, 192, 292, 327, 335), plus a mutually-confessed lightness of verbalised knowledge about either Buddhist or Christian doctrine. They journey as henro - pilgrim(s), entering a world in which the invisible travel companion is the Daishi himself; "Beyond that, doctrine is for priests" (171-172, 292). Sometimes the Daishi shows up in the person of a much-needed local child, who cheerfully guides the pilgrims where paths diverge and they have lost their way (263-264). Statler ranges widely across history, myth and legend, usually tied to recorded events in particular lives. As many of the Shingon temples and other revered sites visited along the way were associated with healing or shamanic practices, there is frequent mention of impairment, disability or chronic illness, experienced by ordinary Japanese people seeking some relief by healing ritual or prayers. Some of this may be found in the index, lumped together under 'faith healing', 'pilgrimage - cures effected by', or 'miracle-worker', also under 'Buddhism - service to the people'. The index might more usefully have added 'blind people' (pp. 156, 177, 194, 279, 282, 283); 'crippled, physically disabled' (67, 142, 156-158, 177, 194, 260, 306, 323); leper (121); malformed baby (94); 'mentally retarded' (29-30, 194 {someone prays for a neighbour who is 'mongoloid'}, 279); mental disorder (195-196, 206, 273, 283); mute (156); senility (269-270, 310). It is said that as a young monk Kobo Daishi was moved by disability and impoverishment: "Whenever I saw a cripple or a beggar, I lamented and wondered what had caused him to spend his days in such a miserable state" (67). Later, many cures or healings were attributed to him. [Statler, who has accumulated years of experience on previous pilgrimages, seems to keep a fairly open mind about such reports - the mental and psychological processes involved in 'having faith' and maintaining a positive attitude toward the possibility of 'getting better' often seem to enhance the chances, as physicians in many countries are aware; yet there are cancers and other serious conditions which may have some remission but usually end up killing people (195).] This fascinating account is much enhanced by more than 50 full- or part-page black-white graphics from different periods and many skilful hands (listed pp. 11-16).
STEIN, R.A. (1972) Vie et chants de 'Brug-Pa Kun-Legs le Yogin, traduit du Tibetan et annoté. Paris: Maisoneuve et Larose. 443 pp. and plates.
[Not seen. Specialist review by Jamyang Namgyal in Kailash appreciated the "long-awaited translation of the autobiographical reminiscences of 'brug-pa Kun-Legs, one of the most popular cultural heroes of the Lamaist world," achieving with some difficulties the passage of the 'Holy Madman' (smyon-pa) from Tibetan to French, with a "learned historical and cultural introduction". (Review is also in JStor, and full text open online at http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/kailash/pdf/kailash_01_01_09.pdf ) This eccentric Tibetan wandering teacher, whose asceticism seems to have been relieved or somewhat mitigated by a hearty indulgence in the charms of beer and women {perhaps he 'rose above' mere thirst and lust, and was simply demonstrating his 'non-attachment'}, is transliterated with variations on Drugpa / Drukpa and Kunley / Kunlek / Kun-legs, and a choice of accents. His dates may have been 1455 to 1529 (but some, including BOWKER, Oxford Dictionary, give a late death in 1570 at 115 years, possibly in conflation with a brother or cousin). He is said to have been influential in the development of Buddhism in Bhutan, where a small Drukpa Kunley monastery remains open.]
[While no doubt a majority of Tibetan lamas have offered a sober and reputable model of conduct and teaching, the alternative thread of the 'holy fool' or 'crazy guru' testifies to the capacity of Buddhism (as also the other major religions, in some times and places) to accommodate people who see things very differently, and allow them to develop a role and transmit their vision, rather than trying to confine them in straitjackets or dope them into oblivion.]
STUNKARD A.J., LaFleur, W.R. & Wadden, T.A. (1998) Stigmatization of obesity in medieval times: Asia and Europe. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 22: 1141-1144.
The authors suggest that people with obesity experienced stigma in medieval Japan partly through the Buddhist connection of the condition with earlier moral failings; whereas the stigma in Christian Europe arose from connecting obesity with gluttony.
SUZUKI, Daisetz Teitaro (1938) Zen Buddhism and its Influence on Japanese Culture. Kyoto: Eastern Buddhist Society, Otani Buddhist College. xii + 288 pp. + plates.
Includes the history of Ryokwan (1758-1831) or Ryokan, a monk and poet who was a kind of saint-fool and eternal child (pp. 238-251), or perhaps a profound teacher. "..the highest form of Zen was playing ball with children.." (BOWKER, Oxford Dictionary, 828).
TACHIBANA, Shundo (1926) The Ethics of Buddhism. Oxford: Clarendon. Reprinted 1994, Richmond: Curzon. xv + 288 pp.
In the context of disability, 'ethics' is often understood to concern discussion of the sanctity of life, the need for benevolence towards fellow creatures, the correct practice of giving alms to those in need (and who will not be damaged by reinforcement in self harm, e.g. spending the money on drugs or alcohol), the appropriately respectful language and demeanour to maintain the dignity of the one needing assistance, etc. Tachibana's classic review of Buddhist ethics runs through the traditional features of a harmless life of self restraint, benevolence, liberality and other right conduct, with very little mention of disability. Yet in the chapter on Humility, he notes that people entering the religious life should undergo the social adversity normally experienced by the seriously disabled person, reminding themselves that "I have attained the state of (bodily) disfigurement; my life depends upon (the aid of) others; and I ought to attire myself in a different way from others" (p. 178), as indicated in the Pali text Anguttara nikaya. Giving up the pride of good appearance, undertaking a change toward whatever locally looks unattractive, and adopting a life of dependency by meekly begging for daily food, are steps toward humility on the Buddhist way. (They suggest an agenda that would differ significantly from the demands of disabled people's organisations in many western countries, which are sometimes mistakenly assumed to be of universal applicability).
Tachibana does mention disability when citing Jataka stories, such as that of a princess who, not content with marrying the five sons of Pandu, also "sins with her hump-backed crippled attendant." (p. 156) In a different tale, drunkenness and rage lead a ruler to order the brutal flogging of an ascetic and teacher, followed by the further order to "mutilate his two arms, legs, ears and nose successively." (p. 135) "Fictitious", pronounces Tachibana, "and clad with the usual Indian exaggeration as this story is, it is still Buddhistic in its nature...", teaching patience, fortitude, and forgiveness.
TANABE, George J. (1995) Myoe's letter to the Island. In: Donald S. Lopez (ed.) Buddhism in Practice, 88-91. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP.
[See items above by ABÉ, on unusual activities of the Shingon monk Myoebo Koben, 1173-1232 CE.] Tanabe recounts the story of Myoe writing a letter to Karma Island (in Yuasa Bay, Wakayama prefecture), which "in addition to being an ordinary island" was believed to be "the extraordinary body of the Buddha" and thus in a literalist way was a reasonable target for letter-writing {there being no Facebook in those days}. In Tanabe's view Myoe's action amounted to "acting out the central fantasy of Mahayana Buddhism: all things are one." The letter, given in translation, reads normally enough, displaying a range of sentiments and reflections, recalling "how much fun I had playing on your island shores", and Myoe's longing to be in touch with a particular cherry tree, to know how it's doing -- but Myoe has refrained from send a letter to the tree because he fears "that people will say that I am crazy to send a letter to a tree that cannot speak." [In fact the history of Poetry and Fine Art in Japan would suggest that cherry trees have spoken to many people over the centuries, not all of whom have been crazy - but it might be counted in defence of Myoe's sanity, that he realised people might think him crazy.] The arrangement for delivery of the letter displayed that borderland between common sense and fantasy which probably worried his public more than if Myoe were frankly crazy. The messenger asked who he should deliver to. The response was "Simply stand in the middle of Karma Island; shout in a loud voice, 'This is a letter from Myoe of Toganoo!'; leave the letter; and return."
TATTVARTHA Sutra. That Which Is. Umasvati/Umasvami with the combined commentaries of Umasvati/Umasvami, Pujyapada and Siddhasenagan, translated with introduction, by Nathmal Tatia (1994). San Francisco: HarperCollins. xxxxv + 324 pp.
This central summary of Jaina doctrines with commentarial interpretation includes some textual evidence connecting "crooked action" with "inauspicious body-making karma" and consequent physical or mental impairment. Thus, "Normal physical and mental health are signs of straightforward and harmonious behaviour in past lives. Physical deficiency and mental disability indicate crookedness of thought, word and deed." [6.21-22 / 22-23] (pp. 160-61). The hunch-backed, dwarfish or asymmetrical body is linked with ill deeds (99, 102, 197, 215). [Such links seem to have been part of the common heritage from Indian antiquity, across many strands of religious thinking.]
THANISSARO BHIKKHU {Geoffrey DeGraff} (2007, 2nd edition, revised) The Buddhist Monastic Code II. The Khandhaka Rules translated and explained. [Open online.]
Chapter 14, "Ordination", explains the orthodox Buddhist procedures for ordination, in modern English, as set out in the Vinaya, including the references to disease, impairment and disability, which appear under the heading of 'disqualifications' (though these are not necessarily absolute).
TIWARI, Kapil N. (ed.) (1986) Suffering: Indian Perspectives. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. xiii + 302 pp.
Seventeen chapters by Indian and Western authors, covering many aspects of suffering in various Hindu, Jain and Buddhist belief systems in different centuries. "Suffering in Theravada Buddhism" is specifically addressed by James W. Boyd (pp. 145-162), and "Suffering in Mahayana Buddhism" by Harsh Narain (163-174); yet many of the other chapters also have pertinence to Buddhist perspectives on suffering. Disability appears briefly, e.g. when some beautiful nymphs suffer as a result of laughing at the 'eight-ways disabled' body of the sage Ashtavakra (p. 179, ref. Vishnu Purana V.38).
The TSO CHUAN. Selections from China's Oldest Narrative History. Transl. Burton Watson (1989) Columbia UP. xli + 232 pp.
Watson's Introduction compares a passage in the Tso Chuan (now often Zuozhuan) with a somewhat similar text in another historical work, the Kuo yü, of comparable period (i.e. several centuries BC): various courtiers and servants are mentioned, including "...the blind musicians to present musical compositions, the historians to present their documents, the teachers to admonish, the pupilless blind to recite, the dim-pupilled blind to chant..." (p. xvii). [The Chinese words apparently differentiating levels of visual impairment are not shown.] Burton remarks that we cannot know what wisdom was presented "by the various kinds of blind musicians mentioned", but considers that "as in so many cultures, their blindness was associated with unusual mnemonic powers and that they commanded a large body of oral lore which they could draw upon to tutor the king."
Men who were known as eunuchs held office in rulers' courts at least as early as the seventh century BC. Thus for example Duke Hsi in 655 BC "despatched the eunuch P'i to attack the city of P'u", and P'i{?} [*] was sufficiently close to active fighting that he reportedly "sliced off the cuff" from the robe of Prince Ch'ung-erh as the latter was making a fast exit over a wall (pp. 24-25). Later, when Ch'ung-erh was in the ascendant and P'i asked for an interview to warn him of a plot, Ch'ung-erh reminded him of the earlier encounter and cut sleeve{?} [#]. P'i gave a diplomatic reply (46-47). "Ch'ung-erh or Double Ears" (pp. xix, 21; but see note below) [**], became Duke Wen of Chin (reigned 636-628) and Burton calls him "the most memorable figure in the Tso Chuan" (21), with a surprising amount of minor detail about his wandering life (see index). In the front cover illustration Ch'ung-erh is the central figure washing his hands in a basin, {was this the occasion when he spattered the daughter of Duke Mu while shaking the water off his fingers, ignoring the towel held by the third figure? (p. 44)}. More remarkably, for present purposes, it is recorded that "Duke Kung of Ts'ao, having heard that the prince's ribs were all grown together, wanted to catch a glimpse of him naked. When the prince took a bath, therefore, he peered in through the curtain", {alternative transl. "he pressed forward in order to get a better look"} (42). Burton noted that neither the Tso chuan nor the Kuo yü "gives any details on this physical peculiarity, p'ien-hsieh or 'linked ribs', which is said to be a sign of great strength. It is of course one of the marks of a hero that he should have some unusual physical feature." (42)*, #
* + # [In the course of Nienhauser's analysis (above), he explains the possible confusion between the names of two eunuchs, Lü T'i, and Po T'i, each supposedly sent by Duke Hsien to kill Ch'ung-erh, while in the Tso Chuan it is the eunuch P'i. {No connection seems to have been made between the cuff of Chung-er's robe, slashed off by the eunuch and later produced in evidence against him, and the 'cut sleeve' of people signaling alternative sexual preferences. See e.g. Bret Hinsch (1990) Passions of the Cut Sleeve, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 29, 182.}]
** [During more than a century of Sinological studies in European languages, the name "Ch'ung-erh" (and other roman transliterations) has been rendered as "Double Ears", without further clues (other than Parker's cryptic comment about "strange lobes"). The two components of the name also appear in other names, e.g. "Chang Erh" (one of the two principals of Memoir 29, Vol. VIII, pp. 1-31, G.S. Records, ed. Nienhauser); and in "Ch'ung-hua", the praenomen of Shun son of Yeu (who became Emperor Shun), where the meaning was apparently "Double Pupils" (Vol. I, pp. 8, 11; 208-209, G.S. Records), also without further light. (Nienhauser, in "Translator's notes", V.1: 371- comments on the possible career of some Ch'ung-erh texts. He introduces the "anomaly" of a "doubled Chin" - which sounds like a well-known bodily phenomenon, but turns out not to be so!)]
[Various academic authors have remarked on the 'ears' and 'ribs' of Ch'ung-erh {also Chung-er, Chong'er, Chonger}, and the rude 'peek' supposedly taken by Duke Kung of Ts'ao (Gong of Cao). James Legge in the 1870s noted that when the wanderings of "Chong'er" and his entourage took them to Cao, "Duke Gong, having heard that the prince's ribs presented the appearance of one solid bone, wished to see him naked, and pressed near to look at him when he was bathing." {Bolding added} One of the courtly wives, knowing of this, suggested that the prince and his men seemed destined to rule in due course, and at that time they would repay any courtesy or discourtesy experienced during their travelling days. A French translation by Séraphin Couvreur of the "Tch'ouen Ts'iou et Tso Tchouan" {1914; reprinted 1951 vol. I: 344) gives a somewhat extended version of the Duke's 'peek' or 'peep' at Chong'er, and this was circulated in English by Robert Hans Van Gulik in 1974 (Sexual Life in Ancient China p. 93). Here the duke had heard that Chong'er had "double ribs, and wanted to verify this by spying on him when he was naked." Together with Hsi- Fu-chi and wife, the Duke "made a hole in the wall of the room where Ch'ung-êrh and his two followers were taking a bath. Thereafter the wife remarked that "the latter two seemed capable of becoming ministers of state. Evidently she based her opinions on the physical behaviour of the men she had seen naked, and not on their talk." By 1990, in a book on male homosexuality in China, Bret Hinsch reports the incident, based on Van Gulik, the Zuo zhuan and the Guo yu; but now, events seem more scandalous, the viewers more numerous, and (imagining the cartoon version) their eyeballs double-sized: "the duke had heard that Chonger had double ribs. Wishing to see this unique anatomical condition the duke and his wife drilled a hole in the wall so they might spy on Chonger in his bath chamber. The bevy of voyeurs witnessed the unexpected sight of Chonger engaging in sexual intercourse with two male retainers, a scene that prompted a grandee's wife to remark drolly that Prince Chonger's retainers seemed capable of becoming ministers of state."
Some sources: Tch'ouen Ts'iou / Tso Tchouan. La Chronique de la principaute de Lou, 3 vols, ed. and transl. Séraphin Couvreur. Ho Kien Fou, 1914; reprinted Paris: Cathasia, 1951. E.H. Parker (1909) The ancient Chinese bowl in the South Kensingtom Museum. T'oung Pao 2nd series, 10 (4) 445-494, see pp. 475-476: "Like Julius Caesar (the Tso Chwan continues), 'The Tsin Marquess thrice refused, but finally accepted, saying "Double Ears (his private name, on account of the strange lobes) {14 Chinese characters; (Cf. note to T. 1-7);} took the patent (in bamboo); and went out". It is difficult to imagine a more striking confirmation of our bowl text...'". J. Legge {1872} The Chinese Classics. Vol. 5, The Chun tsew, with the Tso chuen, 2 vols. London {p. 187?} (Quoted above from online version, maybe slightly modernised). Paul R. Goldin (2000) Personal names in Early China: a research note. JAOS 120 (1) 77-81, on p. 80. "One other obvious example that, as far as I know, has never been explained is the personal name of Duke Wen of Chin [ ] (r. 635-627 B.C.): 'Ch'ung-erh' [ ] ('Double Ears'), which must refer to some distinctive physical feature. Duke Wen is also noted for his 'linked ribs' (p'ien-hsieh [ ]), but it is not clear how the name Ch'ung-erh could refer to his unusual ribs." Mariya Khayutina (2006) Die Geschichte der Irrfahrt des Prinzen Chong'er und ihre Botschaft. In: H. Roetz (ed.) Kritik im Alten und modernen China, 20-47, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. [Khayutina considers the history of Chong'er and his entourage "...not a documentary report, but a fiction, I suggest that it can be understood as a fable, offering place for expressing critical views regarding contemporary political, social and ethical matters." ... "In ethical respect, the criticism for the most part aimed at xenophobic feelings and humiliation of foreigners, which were among the main threats for travelling literati of the Warring States period, in whose milieu this fable was probably produced." (p. 20, from summary in English. Khayutina's main text, in German, was partly viewed online, but not read in detail. She cites Thiel, 1962, several times). Joseph Thiel, "Ch'ung-erh und sein Glück: Das Leben des Wen-kung von Chin (697-628)", Sinologica 7 (2) (1962) 81-127, and 7 (3) (1963) 161-198. [Nienhauser, ed., Grand Scribe's Records, I: 77, ftn. 226.] Jeffrey Bissell (1996) Literary studies of historical texts: early narrative accounts of Chong'er, Duke Wen of Jin. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin. (Nienhauser, ed., G.S. Records, V.1: 375, ftn. 567). Between these various sources, it seems that there remain some issues to be cleared up in the history of Ch'ung-erh.]
[UPANISHADS.] (1996) Upanishads translated from the original Sanskrit, by Patrick Olivelle. 'The World's Classics'. Oxford: Oxford UP. lx + 446 pp.
The Upanishads contain more advanced or esoteric religious teaching of Brahmanical India, dating probably from between 600 and 300 BC, i.e. the period during which the Buddha Gotama was teaching, and his followers would later be establishing the teaching they had heard, against contrary arguments of contemporary philosophers. The major Upanishads abound in philosophical speculations on the nature and essence of being and knowing. In the 'Contest of the Senses' (or of the 'Vital Functions', prana), of which several versions and echoes appear, there is comparison and discussion of major impairments or disabilities, i.e. being without mind, without sight, without hearing, in Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad (6.1.7-14), Chandogya Upanishad (5.1.6-15; see also 8.10.1-2). Blindness appears repeatedly as a metaphor for ignorance, e.g. "the fools go around, staggering about like a group of blind men led by a man who is himself blind" (Katha, 1.2.5; Mundaka, 1.2.8), apparently a familiar sight and saying, then as later. Disabilities were cited in arguments to establish what was essential or inessential to life: "A man continues to live after his speech leaves him, for we see people who are dumb. A man continues to live after his sight leaves him, for we see people who are blind. A man continues to live after his hearing leaves him, for we see people who are deaf. A man continues to live after his mind leaves him, for we see people who are imbeciles. And a man continues to live after his arms are cut off and after his legs are cut off, for we see such people." [Kausitaki, 3.3; pp. 216-217] (There are many further examples of functions or impairments used in various kinds of argument or reasoning, such as Chandogya Upanishad, 8.9., pp. 172-173, Olivelle provides a substantial index, pp. 417-446).
WEERAKKODY, D.P.M. (2008) Blindness as a form of disability in pre-modern South Asia. In: C.S.M. Wickramasinghe (ed.) Philologos. Essays presented in felicitation of Merlin Peris, Emeritus Professor of Western Classics, University of Peradeniya, 125-155. Colombo: Godage International.
In this festschrift for Professor Peris, his successor in the chair of Western Classics contributed a wide-ranging scholarly account of blindness mainly in the religious literature of early South Asia, with digressions into Roman, Greek, Hebrew and Ethiopian antiquity. Weerakkody provided examples of Buddhist practice, such as "care of one's disabled parents" or "old, blind and deaf parents" as in Jataka stories; and differentiation "between the congenitally blind and those who become blind in later life", when it concerned admission to the Sangha (pp. 129-130). The social welfare provisions of the 3rd century BC Buddhist Emperor Asoka, reproduced with more elaboration in the 4th century CE by the Ceylonese ruler Buddhadasa, reportedly included care and assistance for disabled people, and the same was witnessed ca. 400 CE in Buddhist North India by the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien (pp. 136-137). Weerakkody gave further examples from folklore of Buddhist Sri Lanka, e.g. the water tank [reservoir] constructed for the benefit of the villagers at Handapanagala by a blind Queen (138), and the highly-respected blind Prince Manavamma, who was "entrusted with the protection of the Tooth Relic, having been provided with the necessary facilities and personnel". (145) A blind Sri Lankan poet, from a literary circle at "the court of the last king of Kandy, Sri Vikrama Rajasimha", composed the Tunsarane, a devotional poem usually sung by pilgrims climbing to the Sacred Footprint." (154)
[Sadly, Emeritus Professor Dom Patrick Mervyne Weerakkody (also known as 'Wimal') died suddenly in June 2013 at the conclusion of a technical course he was giving to some blind young people at Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He had been blind from his birth in 1945. His education culminated in a Ph.D. in Classics at the University of Hull, England. He was the first blind Sri Lankan to achieve a full university professorship, was a contributor to international scholarship in his field, and his translations of numerous works directly from Greek and Latin were published in Sinhala for the benefit of the public. Several obituary notices are open online, by colleagues who appreciated the man for his wisdom, kindness, and tireless labours on behalf of younger blind people as well as his remarkable personal achievements. Weerakkody emailed me once to ask if I knew a good book on Fine Art - he expected to give a course of lectures on Art and the Western Classics, standing in for a colleague who was going on leave. I know nothing about Fine Art in any period, but Weerakkody evidently found books in the University library, got parts of them Brailled, and gave the lectures. Long afterwards, I figured out how he must have done it, and mentioned this to him during further correspondence. He confirmed the method - he read up the background, found reproductions and put them on display, then made the students do the looking and seeing, assisting them with questions, to describe more accurately and sensitively what they saw, how it was depicted, how the composition worked etc. They ended up teaching themselves and one another something worthwhile about Fine Art. Apparently the course was much appreciated, and was repeated several times. Weerakkody did not let himself be disabled by sighted people's fixed ideas about what a blind man could or could not do.]
WEISS, Mitchell G. (1983) Caraka Samhita on the doctrine of Karma. In: W.D. O'FLAHERTY (ed.) Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, 90-115. University of California Press, 1980. Indian edition 1983, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
The Caraka Samhita, probably compiled during the first three centuries CE and revised ca. 500, became one of the major medical texts of Indian history. It suggests a medical aetiology for many physical defects, as well as recording the religious explanation of karma as a cause of disability. Caraka (and editors) manages to adjust these two possibly conflicting explanatory strands, with some shuffling and redefinition. Considerable attention is given to embryological detail.
WERNER, Edward T.C. (1922, reprinted 1995) Ancient Tales & Folklore of China. London: Senate; Studio Editions. [454 pp. + illustrations. Original published by Harrap. Pagination now starts at p. 13, but there are only six previous pages (unnumbered) in the softback reprint. The missing pages might list, and give sources for, ca. 32 full page black/white illustrations, and perhaps give other introductory information.]
While working in China for many years in a consular or legal capacity, Werner "translated or paraphrased" many stories from large Chinese collections listed in the Preface [p. iii]. His "Glossary & Index" (pp. 425-454), and some of his footnotes, take this work beyond the 'popular' level, and partly compensate for some dubious eurocentric generalisations about the Chinese people. Some tales involve disability and deformity in Chinese folklore, e.g. the (initially) dwarfish Creator Pan Ku (pp. 76-81); the Deaf-Heaven and Dumb-Earth (82, 109-110); dwarfs at court (169-170); the writer Chung Kuei, rejected for ugliness (250); the Immortal Li Tieh-kuai [Li Tieguai, Iron Crutch Li] as a lame beggar "depicted always with his crutch and gourd full of magic medicines", after mislaying his own body and having to occupy one recently vacated by a mendicant (289-291); and further dwarfs, giants, headless and armless people, or people with a single eye, leg or side (386-390).
Some stories have more specifically Buddhist reference and perhaps style. One comes with a frame of historical dating, "between 1628 and 1643", when a Buddhist nun named Chen had walked as far as Peking and collected money "for casting a new image of the Buddha" at the northern port of Weihaiwei. The first donor was a passing fool or madman, who inscribed his name in big letters in her subscription book, giving just two cash (worth perhaps a spoonful of rice). When the needed sum had been raised, and the Buddha's image was about to be cast, the furnace somehow failed to melt the mass of metal, after several efforts. The head workman asked if some important offering had been mislaid - the subscription book should be examined. The nun Chen then remembered the fool's donation, so small that she had not bothered to hand it over. "There is one cash", she said, "and there is another. Certainly the offering of these must have been an act of the highest merit, and the giver must be a holy man who will some day attain Buddhahood." Chen threw them in the cauldron, and the whole mass of metal promptly became molten, and the new Buddha image was cast. (pp. 401-402).
[Werner titled this story "The Maniac's Mite", though "The Simpleton's Cash" might have been more appropriate. (Probably he was referencing "The Widow's Mite" from early Christian sources, where a widow quietly slipped a tiny coin into the temple treasury at Jerusalem. The companions of Jesus recorded his remark that she had given her entire wealth, whereas the rich people who were making a great display of pouring bags of money into the treasury, gave only a fraction of their wealth). The Buddha image story is preceded in Werner's collection by a legend about casting a great bell for Peking, of which he notes that a similar legend exists for the big bell in many other great cities (394). In this case, after immense technical efforts, the first two attempts turn out to be flawed, the emperor is annoyed, and the engineer is in despair. His only child, a beloved daughter, learns from an astrologer that the missing ingredient is a maiden's blood; so when the third attempt is made, she throws herself into the molten metal, and the resultant bell is true and sound, thus saving her father from execution, and potentially saving her city from being unprepared for enemy attacks. Such stories pick up the ever-popular theme of filial devotion, but also an echo of the technical development of bell-making and other kinds of metal casting, in which various catalytic additives (other than daughters' blood) were historically discovered and used to good effect.]
YULE, Henry & BURNELL, A.C. (1984, 4th edition) Hobson-Jobson. A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. New edition edited by William Crooke. Reprinted at New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. xlviii + 1021 pp. (This edition originally published in 1903, London: John Murray. Yule's original Preface appears, dated January 1886).
Examples of the use and dating of some head words pertinent to Buddhism are: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, which are shown in date order, in English, French, German, Greek, and Latin, with eight quotations between ca. 200 and 1000 CE, and a further 13 quotations up to 1810. (See also, e.g., Arakan; Bonze; Burma; Candy; Ceylon; Gandhara; Gautama; Lama; Nirvana; Pali; Poongee; Talapoin; Tibet; Tope (stupa); and doubtless many more). [Even in the Internet era, where casual browsing notoriously consumes hours and days without trace, Hobson Jobson should come with a 'Time Warning' - whatever one originally intended to look up, hours seem to pass like minutes, browsing around everything else.]
ZEUSCHNER, Robert (1981) The understanding of Karma in Early Ch'an Buddhism. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 8: 399-425. [Full text open online]
Zeuschner notes that "some contemporary Japanese Zen masters" do not seem to understand 'karma' in the way that it was "traditionally understood in India", i.e. that "deeds and choices of previous lifetimes ... contribute to the circumstances of present birth, present health, physical defects or advantages" etc (p. 399); or that "One's karma-generating choices in this life create conditions for one's next life in the following sorts of ways: they determine the social status and wealth of the family into which you will be reborn; they determine (some, all?) the potential talents one will have in the next life; determine the state of the physical body of the infant (defects, deformities, unusual features, etc);" (p. 402). Tracking karma concepts back to early Ch'an in China, from the period approximately 500 to 750 CE (note 1, p. 419), Zeuschner found the textual evidence rather thin, but not much different from the Indian tradition: "the majority of references to the doctrine of karma indicate a somewhat traditional understanding by the majority of masters. No speculation upon the mechanism by which karma acts was found, and little discussion pertaining to whether karma functioned in just the physical realm, just the psychological realm, or both, was encountered. However, a "metaphorical interpretation of transmigration" can also be found in the earlier Indian texts, which would avoid the erection of ever-grander philosophical schemes or mechanisms for individual souls passing from one life to another. Vimala quotes the Buddha instructing his followers, "in a single moment you are born, you age, you die, you transmigrate, and you are reborn." [note 58: E. Lamotte, 1962, L'enseignement de Vimalakirti, Louvain, Institut Orientaliste, p. 192 ("Lamotte traces this quotation to the Samyutta Nikaya II, the Suttanipaata, the Digha Nikaya II, the Mahaavadaana, and the Lalitavistara"). {A web source suggests Vimalakirti: Nirdesai Sutra, Part 4.}] "This provides an interpretation of the doctrine of karma which many Westerners can feel very comfortable with, for it does not commit one to a literal interpretation of rebirth. There need be no implication of another physical life following the termination of the present physical body." (p. 418) Regardless of the comfort or discomfort of Westerners, it aligns better with the Ch'an / Zen practice of avoiding a burden of "dependence on conceptual overlay".
ZYSK, Kenneth G. (1991) Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India. Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery. Delhi: Oxford UP. viii + 200 pp.
Lucid account of early Buddhist notions of the body, its defects, and methods of healing in South Asia during about five centuries B.C. The herbal knowledge and practical healing experience of "fraternities of ascetic wanderers" began to be more formally accumulated, refined and institutionalised as the Buddhist monasteries developed, with greater possibilities of transmission to younger practitioners, the use of an enlarged pharmacopoeia, and more awareness of foods and culinary arts beneficial to health. Nursing skills also developed in monastery infirmaries. Case histories of treatment occupy pp. 84-116, 120-127, with notes pp. 158-167. As in the following item, Zysk goes into considerable detail, drawing on a wide range of primary Pali and Sanskrit sources and secondary literature, and providing several indexes, bibliography and other assistance (pp. 168-200). (See next item).
ZYSK, K.G. ('further edition' 1998) Medicine in the Veda. Religious healing in the Veda, with translations and annotations of medical hymns from the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda and renderings from the corresponding ritual texts. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. xxvii + 311 pp.
[While this book is not concerned with Buddhism, it may usefully be read with the previous item by Zysk, as it shows the medical and healing culture which the early Buddhist monks presumably inherited.] "The medicine of the Vedic Indians is inextricably connected with their religion and must not be considered in isolation from it." Thus Zysk prefaces this detailed, scholarly study, comprising introductory material, internal diseases (pp. 12-71, including 'insanity'), external diseases (72-89, with fractured limbs and skin disorders), and medicines (90-102), found mostly in the Atharva Veda, Rig Veda, Caraka, Susruta, and many other classical texts and commentaries. A significant amount of text is translated by Zysk in the first part, and corresponding detailed textual annotations appear in pp. 104-256, all Sanskrit being transliterated. A critical bibliographic history and specialised bibliography appear (261-290), plus indexes of Sanskrit text locations, Sanskrit words, and general index. Disability-related terms can be located e.g. ear disease, epilepsy, foot problems, fractures, healers, insanity, leprosy, skin disorders, trepanation. Blind and conjectural 'deaf' or 'mute (p.162), and 'mental disorders (p.10), possible hydrocephalus (p.4), and maybe some other impairments, are not so clearly indexed.
('Modern' is here taken to extend back as far as about 1850, and up to the 2010s).
It must again be emphasised that the annotations are concerned only with Buddhism and Disability etc, or their background. In the works listed below, there are many interesting and admirable lessons of all kinds, and different aspects of human lives and activities -- but they do not appear in the following annotations because they are not the target of this bibliography.
Kindly Note: A few authors listed below may have expressed critical remarks about the activities of governments (past or present) in some Asian countries. The listing of their work in this bibliography is neither an endorsement nor a repudiation of any political views, or of country regimes, ideologies, geographical frontiers which may have changed, or other features of any particular country. The present exercise is about trying to understand Buddhism and responses to disability in Asia.
ARDUSSI, John, & Epstein, Lawrence (1978) The saintly madman in Tibet. In: J.F. Fisher (ed.) Himalayan Anthropology: the Indo-Tibetan interface, pp. 327-338. The Hague: Mouton Also found at: http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/booksAndPapers/Saintly_Madman_Tibet.pdf {Upper and lower case letters are as shown.}
The authors describe in some detail how various kinds of 'mad' or 'crazy' behaviour have been perceived and classified in Tibetan tradition, and up to the 1970s when they were writing. In many cases, the strange behaviour does not seem to be under the control of the person exhibiting it. However, the "saintly madman seems to be in full possession of his mental faculties" (p. 33). This 'controlled craziness' arises from the 'deeper' perception that the conventions of everyday life, and of 'good and bad', are meaningless and lacking any reality. Various anecdotes illustrate the outcomes of this way of thinking, which may be used as a means for teaching conventional thinkers some important lessons in Buddhism; or as a justification for 'men behaving badly' without getting themselves locked up by the police or psychiatric services. The Tantric tradition, employing such means, tended to arouse some disquiet among the other, more sober (or perhaps merely more hypocritical?) teaching traditions. [Cf. STEIN (above) on Drukpa Kunley.]
BATCHELOR, Martine (2004) Rencontre Internationale de Femmes Bouddhistes - Seoul 2004. http://bf.2zen.free.fr/2condition.htm
Report on the Eighth International Conference of Buddhist Women, organised by Sakyadhita {'Daughters of Buddha'}, on the theme "Discipline et Pratique des Femmes Bouddhistes: Passé et Présent", at Seoul, 27 June to 2 July. Two hundred Buddhist women, both nuns and laywomen, attended from Asia, Europe and America, together with a large number of Korean nuns. "Le deuxième jour, je fus impressionnée par les présentations très technologiques de nonnes Coréennes qui utilisèrent le système d'ordinateur power point pour nous montrer d'une façon très vivante leur travail avec les enfants, dans les media et dans les hôpitaux. Un soir, nous avons été émues et surprises par les chants d'un choeur de 23 nonnes Coréennes qui nous montraient en même temps le langage des signes qu'elles avaient toutes apprises en travaillant avec les sourds et muets." [On the second day I was struck by the high-tech presentations by Korean nuns using Power Point on computer to show us, in a very lively way, their work with children in the media and in hospitals. One evening we were moved and surprised by the singing of a Korean nuns' choir, who were simultaneously using sign language which they had all learnt while working with deaf and mute people.]
BAYARSAIKHAN, Jargalmaa, & Hartke, Bodo (2009) Soziale Akzeptanz von Menschen mit Behinderungen in der Mongolei. Psychologie aktuell 2009 (1), pp. 26-44. http://www.psychologie-aktuell.com/fileadmin/download/esp/1-2009/bayarsaikhan.pdf
The history of educational structures in Mongolia is described, and outcomes are reported of a questionnaire survey to elicit attitudes toward, and understanding of, people having various categories of physical, sensory, or cognitive impairments and disabilities. Much of the response seemed rather negative and prejudiced. People with mental and physical disability were more likely to be met with social rejection, as compared with those with impairment of sight or hearing/speech (Some comparison is made with public responses in Germany and Austria). The authors suggest that the results in Mongolia may be linked with the Special Education policies of the Soviet era, in which children with severe developmental or intellectual backwardness or multiple disabilities were excluded from schooling, and considered 'ineducable'.
The authors note (p.39) that during seven decades of state Socialism, the strong Mongolian cultural background of religious practices was suppressed. Buddhism and shamanism, and their impact on the lives of the population, ceased to have any official recognition. Reportedly, some 90% of monasteries and temples were destroyed, and tens of thousands of monks were killed. The historical services of worship and practice of religion could survive only underground. The atheistic propaganda of that era also had its effect, and many of the younger generation abandoned religion. Faith was replaced by ideology. Buddhism is based on the development of ethical depths in the individual, with a profound sense of compassion and loving-kindness. The philosophy of Buddhism emphasizes social harmony and tolerance, equanimity and impartiality of response toward everyone, and the removal of selfishness and ignorance. The 1992 Mongolian Constitution now guarantees free exercise of religion, and there has been a significant upswing in religious life and practice. However, the authors consider that any influence of Buddhist values is hardly apparent now in the responses of the population interviewed, toward vulnerable people.
[No doubt some advocates of socialism would contend that they have little or no conflict with the humane and compassionate teaching of the Buddha; but any socialist state is likely to move, sooner or later, toward a more equitable distribution of resources when it finds a centuries-long accumulated infrastructure of monastic power and property, with monks occupying a privileged position in which they do no agricultural labour but eat the food that others have grown, while teaching doctrines that threaten the poor labourers with hell-fire if they fail to comply. That imbalance of power and resources may not have been intended by the Buddha.]
BERTRAND, Didier (1997) Les pratiques thérapeutiques des bonzes dans les pagodes au Cambodge. Cahiers d'ethnopsychologie No. 27 (June 1997), pp. 129-148 and No. 28 (December 1997) pp. 75-86.
[Not seen, not readily obtainable in UK. This background study is cited in the following item.]
BERTRAND D. & Chantaravady Choulamany (2002) Mental Health Situation Analysis in Lao People's Republic. Vientiane. 120 pp. http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/en/lao_mnh_sit_analysis.pdf
This substantial report gives significant attention to the spiritual and religious factors and influences on mental health, illness and recovery in the Lao People's Republic, in contrast with the customary neglect of these factors by foreign commentators. After a detailed 'contents' list (pp. 5-9), summary (11-16) and recommendations (17-20, in English and French), the main body of the report (21-55) is followed by 60 annexes (56-114) and bibliography. Approximately 52 pages use terms such as 'spirit', 'monk', 'karma', 'buddha' / 'buddhist', 'religious', reflecting the pervasive influence of these factors, which the first author had evidently studied in detail (as seen in the previous listed item, "Therapeutic practices of monks in the temples of Cambodia"). The availability of modern services focussing on mental illness is extremely small, while the main resource for mental, psychological or spiritual troubles in the community consists of family care, religious treatment at the temples, and some treatments by indigenous healing practitioners. "Moral values based on solidarity as well as Buddhist teaching and practices such as meditation are useful and should be promoted." (p. 17) The present analysis "relies on 46 interviews with key informants and patients and their families and with 40 medical practitioners". Key informants "included village leaders and teachers, monks or healers" (p. 29).
The rural people classify mental disorders as 'mad' or 'non-mad', using a series of terms that are tabulated and discussed in detail, with descriptions and attributed causality (pp. 31-34, and annexes 10-14, pp. 64-69) under headings such as "Lao folk representation of mental illness", "Lao folk diagnoses of mental problems". Social responses, and recourse to treatment, are reported and discussed on pp. 34-41, 70-80, with greater use of 'western' categories such as psychoses, schizophrenia, neuroses, epilepsy, mental retardation, intellectual disabilities, acquired brain syndrome, drug addiction, etc. The Lao People's Democratic Republic is "recognised as a Buddhist country, but for the most part it is the Lao Loum" [some 50% of the population, living in the plains] "that practices this religion", while the highland population may hold animist belief systems, with wide local variation (22-24). During the past 35 years, Marxist rhetoric has been widely propagated, while 'consumer culture' and the 'madness' of dedicating one's life to acquiring more possessions spread rapidly among the modernising fraction of the nation, in some conflict with traditional religious beliefs and morality. The authors, and some of the health professionals interviewed, see the potential for practitioners of modern medicine to build (or at least tolerate) a "pluralistic approach to mental health care", recognising the value of some cultural traditions, and the accessibility and validity of some religious and traditional resources and their treatments, while developing appropriate community psychiatry with referral centres, as have been successful in some other Asian countries, as well as inclusive educational facilities for children with 'special needs'.
BHALLA, D; Chea, K; Hun, C; Vannareth, M; Huc, P; Chan, S; Sebbag, R; Gérard, D; Dumas, M; Oum, S; Druet-Cabanac, M; & Preux, P-M (2012) Population-based study of epilepsy in Cambodia, associated factors, measures of impact, stigma, quality of life, knowledge-attitude-practice, and treatment gap. PLoS ONE 7 (10): e46296. [Open online]
In this population-based study in rural Cambodia, data derived from detailed questionnaires used with 96 people having epilepsy (confirmed by specialist) and 192 randomly selected matched controls described as 'healthy'. For the present annotation, only some findings under 'knowledge-attitude-practice' and 'stigma' are selected: "Most (84.3%) cases considered their epilepsy as treatable and mainly by modern medicines (91.5%). Origin of epilepsy was largely unknown (56.3%) or natural (43.7%) and none of our cases reported origin of their epilepsy as supernatural." "Twenty-two (22%) cases reported taboos: fear of contamination (52.4%) and inviting bad luck (47.6%)." [The data on reported 'origin' may be considered interesting, and perhaps surprising in view of the prevalent background of Buddhist tradition in the rural population. However, the majority view that the origin of epilepsy was "unknown" (56.3%) might conceal a belief that karma had some part to play. To disclose such a view to a 'scientific' survey team, or any other team of outsiders who might report the results to the government, could be unwise; whereas 'Don't know' is a safe option, simply confirming the surveyors' expectation of ignorance in villagers.]
BINSTEED, G.C. (1914) Life in a Khalkha Steppe Lamasery. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (October 1914) pp. 847-900.
In Autumn 1913, Lieutenant Binsteed was travelling in Mongolia in the company of two lamas, one of whom, called Baljir, interpreted for him. He spent "a week at the Hoshun Lamasery of Sait Sudjiet Gung Hoshun on the Kerulen River" (p. 848). One of the most senior lamas he met was the 'Momboin Lama' (having some medical interests): "a most interesting personality. He was a small hunchback with a face and beaky nose which reminded one partly of Mr. Punch..." (pp. 856, 858). Binsteed was "specially consulted" to know if he could suggest any remedy for the Hanbo Lama (High Abbot) of the temple, who was unable to walk (863). When needing to move about 60 yards from his yurt to the temple, this man "therefore sat in a chair on wooden rollers which was dragged with ropes by several lamas", and he was then helped out of that contraption into his temple seat (871). Binsteed also noticed a woman in the temple who "was afflicted with some form of intermittent madness. During her fits of madness she would destroy everything she could lay her hands on. She had two little sons, but had no husband, at any rate none living" (886-887). (Apparently there were other "women who were constantly in and out of the temple habitations", some perhaps being relatives of the monks, others evidently there for sexual purposes). Officials had decided that the afflicted woman should wear a heavy iron collar "locked round her neck, either by herself or any other person whenever she or they felt that a fit was approaching" to which a chain of heavy iron links was fixed. "The other end of the chain was not attached to anything, its purpose being to weigh her down and impede her movements during her fits of fury ... the woman even when wearing the chain was quite cheerful about it, and seemed to regard the decision of the authorities as a most reasonable and humane one", even though the chain was "an intolerable weight" (p. 887). Binsteed understood that, in the absence of hospitals, prisons or asylums, "her present semi-liberty was preferable to being shut up" and that she "seemed to live on the temple. She was always in and out picking up whatever she could obtain for herself and her two little boys ... I saw her gathering up in her apron the grain which had been swept into a heap from the floor of the temple where it had been strewn during service. (887-888) Binsteed also witnessed the lamas performing a kind of shamanistic rite upon the woman, which a crowd of neighbours and other lamas seemed to find an amusing spectacle. "The difference between the hopeful devotion of the poor family, who probably had to pay dearly for the celebration of this rite by the parasite clergy, and the levity of the latter and of the spectators was rather pathetic." (889-890). The elderly Momboin Lama also "expressed a certain disapproval" of this rite (890).
BRAY, Francesca (1999) Chinese health beliefs. In: J.R. Hinnells & R. Porter (eds) Religion, Health and Suffering, 187-211. London: Kegan Paul International.
Bray notes that "Isolating a category of ideas or behaviour that is distinctly 'religious' is extremely difficult in the case of China, nor is it easy to draw clear boundaries between the cosmological, the divine and the supernatural". She sketches something of the "easygoing eclecticism" that was "characteristic of Chinese religious behaviour", assembled mostly from the "three schools" of Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist teaching, and applying to health beliefs and practice over long periods of Chinese history, with a particular focus on "qi", breath, vital energy, (sometimes represented as "ch'i" or "chhi"), in the 17th century, bridging the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, and also a glance at some late 20th century interpretations. [This chapter credibly indicates a conceptual world in which one fifth of the human population lives and thinks, a world with which many common western ways of discussing 'disability' seem to have little or no connection at all.]
CHATTERJEE, A; Ray, K; Panjwani U; Thakur, L; & Anand, J.P. (2012) Meditation as an intervention for cognitive disturbance following total sleep deprivation. Indian Journal of Medical Research 136 (6) 1031-1038. [Full text open online.]
This small study with 10 healthy young male volunteers was conducted by the Neurophysiology Division of India's Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS), which has considerable experience of investigating human performance under various conditions of stress and difficulty. Under controlled conditions, the volunteers' neurological profiles were measured by the appropriate instruments, and cognitive capabilities were identified using Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, through several nights and days during which they were prevented from sleeping. They were then taught a simple 25-minute meditation exercise which they practised twice daily for 60 days. Next they were again put through sleep deprivation, and measurements were taken. After statistical analysis, the results were understood to suggest that the disturbance or deterioration of cognitive performance attributable to sleep deprivation could be significantly reduced by meditation. For present purposes, the main interest of the article lies in the fact that the features of the meditation exercise were described in some detail: "Each session consisted of four stages with volunteer sitting in upright position and back erect - first quietly with eyes closed for 6 min. This was followed by the Pranayama 'Udgeet' - the respiratory exercise for the next 6 min, in which the volunteer sat with hands in upright position and mouth shut. The index finger was placed on the forehead; with next three fingers covering his eyes and the thumb pressing the ear lid. This is to ensure blockage of energy exchange with the universe except through respiration. In this state the person chanted 'mmmm' of the 'Om' with slow deep breathing. Next 6 min the 'Om' was chanted while sitting erect on back and exhaling slowly with the eyes closed. Last 6 min were spent in absolute stillness, wherein the volunteer sat with eyes closed and breathing slowly, again in first posture. At the end, participants raised their hand above their head, rasped the palms first slowly, and then briskly, placed the palms over the eyes and the session was completed." [The "Yoga Trainer" of the Defence Institute was thanked for conducting the meditation training. Among 32 references cited, 29 refer to the strictly 'scientific' features of the experiment and measurements, while three concern meditation and its possible physiological effects. One of these was by Kabat-Zinn and colleagues. The other two were from DIPAS, and involved measuring the effect of "Sahaja Yoga practice" (in 1996), and "Hatha yoga and Omkar meditation" (2004). The outcomes of the present (2012) article, concerned with meditation, are reported briefly and in a 'factual' manner. Most of the discussion and report in fact concerns matters of neurophysiological interest relating to the adverse effects of sleep deprivation.]
CHRISTOPHER, M.S.; Charoensuk, S.; Gilbert, B.D; Neary, T.J.; & Pearce, K.L. (2009) Mindfulness in Thailand and the United States: a case of apples versus oranges? Journal of Clinical Psychology 65 (6) 590-612.
In professional literature of psychology during the 2000s, a more critical scrutiny was slowly developing toward the various uses, meanings and possible measurements of 'mindfulness', in the Western and Asian contexts of 'meditation' as a means {mostly} of stress- or pain- reduction, and the question whether the Western and Asian researchers and practitioners seemed to be conceptualising the same or fairly similar phenomena while using the term 'mindfulness' in cultural contexts that were significantly different. Christopher and colleagues engaged in some cautious measurements using the KIMS (Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills) and the MAAS (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale) with groups of Thai and American college students (n = 385 and 365 respectively), the Americans being slightly older and having a wide range of declared religion {or none}, while 91% of the Thais (resident in Bangkok) reported "a Buddhist religious affiliation". The instruments were translated to Thai and back-translated independently, and the outcomes checked carefully (p. 596). The present report is unusual in devoting almost two pages (593-594) to preliminary discussion of how mindfulness seems to work in the context of Thailand, where as "the de facto state religion, Buddhism has a great deal of influence on mind, character, way of life, health, and particularly mental health", considering actual doctrines of Buddhism as well as Thai research reports on practice. The appropriately sceptical nature of the methodological procedures adopted by the researchers, with statistical testing and cross-checking of many aspects and nuances thrown up by earlier research, to try to discover more realistically the meanings and significance of the results coming out of the self-reports by culturally-different students, also seems to reach a new level, recognising both the powers and subtleties of modern Western psychological research and analysis and the powers and subtleties within the Asian Buddhist heritage of knowledge of the human mind and the "interrelatedness of all phenomena". The studies did produce some results that surprised the researchers, and some that suggested the "apples versus oranges" of the title; yet they succeeded in keeping a grip on the uncertainties, and continued to ask themselves whether each aspect or nuance reflected a significant difference or merely a flaw in the methodology.
DALAI LAMA, His Holiness (1994) The Way to Freedom. Core teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, edited by Donald S. Lopez. HarperSan Francisco. vi + 181 pp.
[The book has certainly been translated, but the translator does not seem to be named. Perhaps it was Professor Lopez, in conjunction with one of the 14th Dalai Lama's close colleagues who monitors and assists his communication with the Western world. (See annotation of following item).]
Not surprisingly, the teaching given briefly here is quite similar to that found in greater detail in much heavier translated tomes of 'core" Tibetan Buddhist teaching, such as PABONGKA (see "Earlier history" section above). It is heavily dependent on citing Atisha, Tsongkapa, and other earlier teachers. However, there is frequent mention of the Dalai Lama's position as a refugee from his country, and the difficulties and new opportunities that this has brought: "Whether I am exalted or condemned, I will still be the ordinary Buddhist monk that I am. I am a monk, and I find it very comfortable. People call me the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara, but that does not make me Avalokiteshvara. The Chinese call me a wolf wearing a yellow robe, but that does not make me less of a human being or more of a wolf. I just remain an ordinary monk." (p. 37) This follows a passage involving various impediments or disabilities: "There have been cases in the past where, due to mental obstruction, practitioners saw the actual Buddha in ordinary form. Asanga (fourth century C.E.) had a vision of the Buddha of the future, Maitreya, as a maggot-ridden dog, and Sang-pu-wa saw a female Buddha as an old leper woman. If we were to meet the great masters of the past who achieved enlightenment within one lifetime, they would look just like ordinary Indian beggars who wander around naked with lines painted on their foreheads." (p. 37) Further, "Suppose we had taken rebirth in a place where the Dharma flourishes, but if we were born without full mental faculties, the Dharma would not benefit us. Physical disabilities need not impede the practice of the Dharma, but without use of the mind, it would be impossible." (p. 41) The familiar emphasis on 'the mind' is set forth in the opening statement of the book: "To practice Buddhism is to wage a struggle between the negative and positive forces in your mind."
DALAI LAMA, His Holiness; and Cutler, Howard C. (1999) The Art of Happiness. A Handbook for Living. London: Hodder & Stoughton. xvii + 261 pp.
The book retells material from a series of conversations taking place through interpreters between the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) and Cutler (an American psychiatrist), reorganised by subject matter, with additional material from public talks, mainly in Arizona in the 1990s, plus anecdotes about the DL's chosen brief encounters with various hotel staff and bystanders, and a considerable amount of Cutler's personal reflections and contextualisation of what he was learning, the whole having been reviewed by the DL's interpreter, Thupten Jinpa, before publication "to assure that there were no inadvertent distortions of the Dalai Lama's ideas" (pp. ix, 267-268). From these indirect processes, a few observations on disability emerge.
pp. 113-114. Cutler posed the question of a sonograph showing substantial defect in a foetus, which would cause great fears and worries in the parents, whether they consider aborting the baby, or not doing so, and having a lifetime of difficulties. The DL remarked that such cases are very difficult, and "nobody really knows what would be better in the long run". [While doubtless true, this comment was somewhat surprising in view of a strong anti-abortion stance usually taken in Buddhist literature: the prevention of the foetus from developing and being born can appear as an act of killing, with ill consequences for the perpetrator, and consequences also for the person prevented from this rebirth. However, it may merely be one of several illustrations recorded by Cutler, where the DL frankly admitted that he did not have a considered response to a difficult human problem. It tends to suggest that, up to the close of the 20th century, Tibetan Buddhist thinking had not engaged with issues of impairment and disability with the same depth and discernment that might be found in Buddhist responses on many other ethical issues. Cutler reported the DL continuing to chew over the rights and wrongs and different levels of suffering in the parents' predicament, with periods of silence in between remarks. {Cf. responses on this issue in GAMMELTOFT, below; also GREEN (1999), LAFLEUR (1993) and reviewers}.]
pp. 127-128. Discussing Tibetans' acceptance of suffering with an acknowledgement that "Maybe it is because of my Karma in the past", the DL gave the example of some Tibetan refugee families living in settlements in India, "living in very poor conditions, and on top of that having children with both eyes blind or sometimes retarded. And somehow these poor ladies still manage to look after them, simply saying, "This is due to their Karma; it is their fate." (127) However, he then clarified the doctrine of Karma, as not meaning an ineluctable fate, but being "a very active process", the future of which "to a large extent, lies within our own hands in the present. It will be determined by the kinds of initiatives that we take now." (128)
pp. 199-204. Discussing 'afflictive delusions' of the mind (e.g. anger, hatred, greed or attachment), the DL expounded three premises by which the mind has power to combat and finally remove these negative and afflictive mental states, by employing and training the innate positive resources within the mind, which ultimately have a much greater 'reality' than the negative delusions. The psychiatrist Cutler reflected that this seemed to be a new kind of 'mind science': "cultivating positive attributes - love, compassion, patience, generosity - as weapons against all negative emotions and mental states". (204) Cutler's final vignette shows the Tibetan teacher taking the risk and the time to deploy positive attributes - against all 'common sense' - amidst a crush of people trying to get a glimpse of his entry to a conference. Noticing a dishevelled and clearly disturbed young man at the edge of the crowd, the DL broke away from the security people and stopped to meet him. The flood of words from the young man must have been incomprehensible, yet the message of pain was obvious. The DL "took the young man's hand between his, patted it gently, and for several moments simply stood there silently nodding" - seemingly oblivious to the mass of people crowding around (260-261). Finally, the distressed young man seemed to realise that he was being accepted and understood at a deeper human level.
DAS, Sarat Chandra (1902) Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet. (Edited by W.W. Rockhill. Second edition, revised). London: John Murray. [Open online.]
[After negotiations by lama Ugyen-gyatso, the learned Indian scholar and ethnologist Sarat Chandra Das had spent nearly six months at the Tibetan centre of learning at Tashilhunpo, in the major city of Shigatse, in 1879. In the role of 'student' he had reviewed the contents of the libraries, and also made some travels to the north, which he reported back to interested persons on his return to India. (Western governments at the time had very little well-founded knowledge, or even basic information, about the geography of Tibet or the lives of the people, as very few outsiders were permitted to visit the country, and the available literature was sparse). Having left with an invitation to return from a very senior person, Sarat Chandra made a second visit from November 1881 to January 1983, again accompanied by his assistant lama Ugyen-gyatso, and made more extended travels including a visit to Lhasa, collecting much more useful information. [The British Indian Government later circulated his reports as "strictly confidential documents", presumably to avoid making it too obvious to the Chinese and Tibetans that the 'theology student" was also a highly accomplished spy.]
On 21 December 1881, while at the Tashilhunpo monastery, Sarat Chandra noticed a vast gathering of male and female beggars near the eastern gate. "Among them were people from Amdo and Khams, whose eyes had been put out for crimes such as murdering lamas; some were cripples and walked with crutches, some in heavy chains and drawn on wheel-barrows, some maimed, others deaf and dumb, others, again, still bearing traces of the torture to which they had been subjected - a vast concourse of misery and pain." (p. 64) Amidst them was a wealthy man of the town, Lhagpa-tsering, who distributed alms of one anna to each beggar, a custom he had kept up for ten years, on the first day of every moon. He had been a silversmith, jeweller and banker, and had established a thriving emporium of the finest wares, and was known to have made "munificent gifts to the lamasery of Tashilhunpo." With a view to extending his business still further, Lhagpa decided to visit a famous saintly lama of the region, Chyabtam Lama, and obtain his blessing. He took substantial gifts of money and valuable objects to offer to the holy man. To his dismay, Chyabtam rejected the offerings, "telling him that they represented dishonest earnings, and were the property of a dishonest man." Further, the saint informed Lhagpa that he had been a great sinner in a previous existence, and in his next life he would be a crocodile [!]
"On the following morning Lhagpa, filled with horror at his impending fate, came and begged the sage to tell him how he might avert the horrible punishment - what acts of charity, what good deeds would save him." (p. 65) The lama ignored his pleas. Returning the next day, Lhagpa again enquired, and the saint "looked in his magic mirror" and told him to "give alms to the poor and helpless, of whatever station, creed, or country they may be, on every new moon throughout the year till your death". (65) This was the sole way to escape. Lhagpa was dismissed with these instructions. He went home and did as he had been told, every month since then; and the example of his conduct, and the reason for it, reportedly had some impact on other merchants of the vicinity. [For the benefit of the foreign clods who would later read his account, the Indian scholar added an explanatory note: "A trader, when he cheats others, thinks, as a general rule, if he is a Buddhist, that the amount thus gained was due to him in a previous existence. This is a dangerous principle." (65)]
Sarat Chandra also commented on some of the major diseases suffered by Tibetans: "In Lhasa, Shigatse, and other towns and monasteries of Tibet, the principal disease from which people suffer and die is paralysis." [There is footnoted editorial discussion of the word used, i.e. gzah-nad, ranging from apoplexy to epilepsy.] "Leprosy is prevalent in most countries of High Asia. ... Leprosy is likewise assumed to be the consequence of the sins of former lives. .. Eighteen different kinds of leprosy are recognised." He mentions that 43 different varieties of dyspepsia have been observed by native physicians. (pp. 336-338).
DE FERRANTI, Hugh (1996) Text and Music in Biwa narrative: the Zato Biwa tradition of Kyushu. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Sydney. Two volumes, xv + 359 + 215 pp.
In this highly detailed doctoral study in Japan, De Ferranti made great efforts to obtain the views and detailed histories of the few surviving blind performers and views of elderly people who could remember the traditional musicians performing. From both sides the low or very ambivalent social status of the musicians became clear as many respondents viewed them practically as 'blind beggars', and the men themselves knew this and had ways of coping with their 'damaged' status. The link with Buddhism has been continuous: the term 'moso' "has historically denoted members of organisations of blind priests associated with a number of temple complexes of Tendai sect Buddhism, from at least the ninth century ... These itinerant, blind musicians had the appearance of priests, and were thus referred to as 'hoshi', men of the Buddhist law (ho), from as early as the mid-eleventh century." (pp. 4-5). The last few modern biwa hiki whom De Ferranti could interview, in the 1990s, had learnt some 'ritual work' during their training (pp. 157-158, 160, 163-164); and Yamashika had applied to the Gensei Horyu moso sect in Fukuoka to become certified as a Tendai priest, both to insure himself of continuing income through harai [blessing] work, and to fulfil a long-held aspiration for professional recognition and legitimisation." (p.164)
'DEAF' IPPUKU [2004] Traditional Japanese comedy performed in Sign Language. DisabilityWorld No. 22, January-March 2004. (Translation by the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities).
The world of deaf communication and deaf humour is, by its nature, a very 'visual' world. When it comes to the traditional 'Rakugo' style of Japanese comic storytelling, the humour needs to be translated into visual forms for deaf people really to enjoy the jokes, a skill at which some deaf comedians excel. 'Deaf' Ippuku tells a joke about the love life of the famous Liberty statue that greets immigrants to New York. He learnt from Miss Liberty that she had no boy-friend and she wondered whether Ippuku might know someone nice. Ippuku told her about a very big guy in Japan called Daibutsu-sama. [This is the colossal Buddha statue at the Todaiji temple in Nara.] Then he mentioned to Daibutsu that Miss Liberty was feeling a bit lonely. Daibutsu didn't need to be told twice. He promptly left Nara and swam across the Pacific Ocean to meet this upstanding lady. Now they're dating!
[Oh, really...? In a serious, academic bibliography?! Exactly what has this got to do with Asian Buddhism and responses to disability, deafness etc? Uh, well... there are two sides to every response. This story is one of many responses by the Japanese Deaf to the world of Buddhism. Actually, it's quite a good image of 'Engaged Buddhism' getting off its pedestal and acting directly to relieve suffering wherever it may be found in the world - and telling the story in a completely unforgetable way, to a class of people who don't often hear such a message in their 'own language'.]
EISENBRUCH, Maurice (1991) From post-traumatic stress disorder to cultural bereavement: diagnosis of South-East Asian refugees. Social Science and Medicine 33 (6) 673-680. [Article also open online at http://www.eisenbruch.com/ {and navigate} This site gives an extensive list of Eisenbruch's publications etc.]
In the 1980s and 1990s, the highly qualified and experienced cross-cultural psychiatrist, psychotherapist and development agent Eisenbruch worked in various locations with Cambodian children and adults who were refugees, or were displaced within Cambodia, or had remained at their homes through war and severe social disruption. [See following items, and also SOMASUNDARAM et al. (1999), below, in which Eisenbruch participated.] Throughout these articles, Eisenbruch emphasizes the merits of learning from the Cambodian traditional healers and Buddhist monks, as well as sharing with them some of the 'modern western' experience of treating or managing mental illness. No single one of these items has a detailed description of the actual activities of Buddhist monks, yet a picture can be built up across several items. In the present article, Cambodian refugee children in the US suffering 'cultural bereavement' and stress disorders, seemed to be saying that "their painful feelings could be combated by traditional religious beliefs and access to ritual. Sometimes the importance of these feelings is ignored by policy-makers and care-givers, who feel that rapid integration into western thought, behaviour and religion is better for these children, especially as they are young! The fieldwork showed that much good could be done by promoting access of the refugee children to Buddhist monks and Cambodian kruu kmae (traditional healers). It was striking how often my young Cambodian informants expressed their yearning to participate in traditional Buddhist ceremonies. They wanted to learn how to chant with the monk and the older participants, and how to 'make merit' for their dead or lost parents and ancestors for a better life in the next incarnation and to protect themselves from vengeful spirits. They were helped to make sense of their feelings when the monk explained sansaa (samsara or the inevitable cycle of rebirths) and tanhaa (excessive desire or craving)."
EISENBRUCH, M. (1994) Mental health and the Cambodian traditional healer for refugees who resettled, were repatriated or internally displaced, and for those who stayed at home. Collegium Antropologicum 18 (2) 219-230. [Open online, in Archives.]
[See annotation of previous and following items.] Between 1990 and 1994, Eisenbruch and his Cambodian assistants made detailed observations of the healing rituals and activities of more than 200 healers and their patients, among whom were some Buddhist monks and their ritual assistants, and some Buddhist devotees. They recorded "how the healers embarked on procedures, made objects such as amulets and applied them to the patient, and helped the patient's integration back into their village ... In some provinces there are already several key healers, some based in Buddhist pagodas, whose fame extends throughout Cambodia. Some of these monks, and the kruu, manage up to ten or fifteen inpatients, and their outpatient clinics can have more than one hundred patients. The healers would not claim to cure all serious psychiatric illnesses, but they believe they can ameliorate the symptoms in about seventy per cent of cases. // The healers understand the psychiatric disorders are stemming from three universes: the human world in the same plane as the patient, and the Buddhist and Hindu deities from above and the demons from below." (p. 224) Some vocabulary is recorded, and graduated levels of suffering and damage, before people cross a line and are considered çkuet (mad or crazy), or other conditions having descriptions that may or may not map onto western classifications (pp. 224-226). Responses of Cambodians to people with symptoms of mental disorder are less readily mapped, e.g. "how on the one hand they may ridicule them and at the same time then give them food and make sure that someone gives them refuge; or the way that healers such as monks and kruu define a legitimate illness - which has a legitimate treatment - out of the disorganised or anti-social behaviour of the person. The Cambodian concept of çkuet reflects how the society makes sense of misfortune, illness, and deviation from the norm." (p. 225) Some of the healers had earlier been banned from practising, when their ideas were "seen to be revisionist, opposed to modern socialism" (while others with whom Eisenbruch had worked in Australia among the Cambodian refugees, had been impaired by "a host society arrogantly defining them as quacks and witch-doctors", and had "lost their nerve" and could work only furtively or not at all). Eisenbruch, as a practitioner experienced in a different idiom, was evidently impressed by much of the practice and outcomes of what he saw as a participant / observer. He also notes the widespread Asian custom of moxibustion; and a treatment of "the childhood illness of skan", in which the healer "transforms the child's identity, making an image of the child from earth, which he changes in form, so that the image represents the child. This treatment seems to allow the mother to give vent to a problem in the mother-child relationship and, by setting her mind at rest, the treatment helps restore some tranquillity to the mother-child dyad." (p. 226) Eisenbruch saw that some NGO workers were also "aware of the value of indigenous healers, and steer profoundly non-functioning people to the Buddhist pagodas renowned for accommodating such people - but they are already overloaded with patients." (p. 228) What was lacking was "any systematic attempt to utilise the traditional healers' skills for service delivery or for medical education", building a wider system that would use all beneficial resources. He cautioned that "Before rushing in with the Western psychiatric tool-kit, one might turn the scientific question around", since little evidence was available that western methods would easily translate into something that relieved the sufferings of Cambodian people, whereas those sufferers did claim that the indigenous healers brought them some relief (p. 229).
EISENBRUCH, M. (1998) Children with failure to thrive, epilepsy and STI/AIDS: indigenous taxonomies, attributions and ritual treatments. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 3: 505-518.
[See previous items. This article seen only in 'Abstract'. Cited below in annotation of MORGAN & TAN, where the category of 'skan' is applied to children with severe cerebral palsy. By this time, Eisenbruch's and colleagues' participant observation had been carried out with "921 male and female traditional healers (kruu, monks, Buddhist ritual assistants, mediums and traditional birth attendants) from all provinces of Cambodia. Where possible, their diagnostic techniques and therapeutic rituals with infants and children were recorded. The healers' knowledge of local taxonomy, aetiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment, showed up powerfully the popular beliefs about the main conditions affecting children in Cambodia. The results also helped to identify the Cambodian logic of the child's mind and body; time, epigenesis and child development; cause-and-effect; and gender, guilt and responsibility for childhood illness." These observations and outcomes caused Eisenbruch to question "the headlong rush in the Asia-Pacific region to 'modernize' child psychiatry at the expense of local systems." See further, SOMASUNDARAM et al. (below), where the anthropological experience base of Eisenbruch and colleagues is employed in practical training for community mental health workers.]
ENDO, Shusaku (1959 / 1974) Wonderful Fool, translated from Japanese, with introduction, by Francis Mathy S.J. (1974). London: Penguin. 237 pp. [Originally published in 1959, titled Obaka San.]
The major Japanese novelist Endo created a clumsy fool of a foreigner as the leading character of this hilariously comic-serious book. Gaston, a stupid-looking Frenchman, is physically huge but timorous and afflicted with the 'disability' of loving and trusting people. He ambles ludicrously through the neat and superficially buttoned-up lives of an ordinary, suburban Japanese family, then wanders off through the backstreets and low life of Yokohama. With the simpleton manners of a large, friendly dog, or of a 'holy fool', Gaston astonishes, infuriates, attracts or disgusts people he meets. Beaten by some, cared for by others, he becomes a mirror in which people may discover the moral cowardice and emptiness of their souls; yet some also surprise themselves with a spark of goodness toward this puzzling hulk of vulnerability who stumbles into their lives for an hour or a day. The Jesuit translator sees Endo himself darkly reflected here, a Japanese convert to Roman Catholicism, depicting the radical strangeness of a 'Christ figure' amidst the 'moral swamp' of Japan in the 1950s. [In the actual context, it might be more appropriate to perceive a Bodhisatta playing the role of innocent victim and life-giver, and finally being glimpsed flying heavenward as a white bird.]
GAMMELTOFT, Tine (2001) Between "science" and "superstition": moral perceptions of induced abortion among young adults in Vietnam. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 26: 313-338.
This article (and following items) is one of at least a dozen articles and books produced by Gammeltoft (as an anthropologist, as a woman, as a socially concerned European, and as an academic under the modern pressure to publish) with Vietnamese colleagues, reporting research in which Vietnamese young men and women had been interviewed both formally and informally in the Vietnamese language, to come to grips with their (possibly evolving) moral and ethical perceptions concerning sexual intercourse outside marriage, and induced abortion of a resultant foetus or baby (and in later articles, abortion of a foetus diagnosed as having a significant impairment). The series appears to be well situated in a substantial literature on sexual mores, family planning, abortion and ethical debate in South East Asian countries and further afield, as well as in collaboration with official Vietnamese organisations. "The [communist] government strove to create a new and enlightened society in which social life was to be governed by modern scientific principles rather than by superstitious beliefs ... concerted efforts were made to replace 'feudal' and 'backward' ideas and practices with scientific knowledge and socialist behaviour ... Belief in spirits, ghosts, and the protective power of ancestors, which had previously guided much social and ritual activity, were to be abandoned..." (p. 316) "In Vietnam a child was traditionally not regarded as a human being with a true human soul until it was one year old and birthday rites had been performed to mark its human status" (p. 319). "The vast majority of participants in the study expressed moral scruples of varying intensity over having an abortion"; a 21-year-old woman (who had already had three abortions) "was outraged by my suggestion that an early abortion could be less sinful than a late..."; "Many of the young people expressed a belief that the fetus has a human soul and consciousness..." (325). "...lay Vietnamese interpretations of Buddhist moral doctrine maintain that the pregnant woman and her relatives are morally obliged to protect the fetus until it is born" (325-36). Gammeltoft noted evidence for the full range of views, and the fact that the 'official' view had effectively suppressed open discussion of the privately felt moral uneasiness or distress, which could more easily and safely be shared with her, "a stranger and foreigner" (332).
GAMMELTOFT, T. (2008) Childhood disability and parental moral responsibility in northern Vietnam: towards ethnographies of intercorporeality. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (new series) 14: 825-842.
(See previous and following items). Here, Gammeltoft struggles to digest the complexities and ambiguities of parental thoughts about children's impairments and disabilities (expressed in Vietnamese, translated to 'international Asian English', mentally chewed over in Danish (?), compared with francophone anthropological theorising, before being expressed in 'academically acceptable English'), with added conflictual parameters of traditional / Buddhist / karmic dogma, as against modern / scientific / government-approved ideologies. "..parents of disabled children in Hanoi seemed to imagine and shape the subjectivity of their children in ways that were fraught with contradiction: while insisting fiercely on the humanity of their children and caring for them with love, most parents also depicted their children as pitiful; as being of less value than others and as a heavy burden on their families." (p. 827) Further puzzling was "the discrepancy between the image of a rather severely disabled girl that Nam and Lan had conjured and the girl whom we met" (in whom Gammeltoft thought "one would hardly have noticed" the impairment, p 831, Cf. 825). Views seemed to be structured along conflicting lines: "...Buddhist conceptions of the meanings and implications of human impairment, and by party-state notions of productive citizens" (p. 834). "In the local moral worlds that we got to know in Vietnam, karmic explanations were most often mobilized within a terrain of kinship where children born with congenital malformations were considered to be innocent victims of parental or ancestral misdeeds, carrying the burdens of the moral transgressions of their elders" - illustrated with the vigorous denunciation of a mother by her aunt: "You eat but you can't give birth. The child you have given birth to is like a goose. How must you have lived to have given birth like this..." (834). Fortunately, Gammeltoft presents a fair amount of direct (translated) communication, with some Vietnamese words inserted or end-noted, and mostly keeps the western theorizing under control, so that something from the complexity of ordinary Vietnamese conceptual worlds peeps through, amidst the "..Buddhist notions of karma - which, though often verbally denied, seemed to be prereflexively practised in daily lives - along with everyday ethics of reciprocity and party-state discourses...", which took part in "structuring people's visceral and 'doxic' reactions to human impairment" (839).
GAMMELTOFT, T. & Hanh Thi Thuy Nguyen (2007) Fetal conditions and fatal decisions: ethical dilemmas in ultrasound screening in Vietnam. Social Science & Medicine 64: 2248-2259.
(See previous two items). Studies in northern Vietnam in the early 2000s suggest that one outcome of the introduction of obstetrical ultrasound scanning has been a rise in ethical dilemmas concerning observed fetal malformations, among medical personnel and for individual Vietnamese mothers, with recurrent failures of communication between these parties. The doctors often lacked sufficient training and experience to know how seriously the observed malformation might affect future life. However, "..we found nearly universal agreement among everyone we talked to, within as well as beyond health-care institutions, that the birth of a disabled child imposes immense burdens of costs and care on its family, and that the child itself is doomed to an unhappy and unfulfilled life." (p. 2254) The predominant medical practice was to guide families toward abortion, while maintaining a semblance of being non-directive. Mothers told the researchers of their need for more information and sympathetic counselling, while in reality mostly having a brief and uninformative contact with a doctor, pitching them into an almost immediate life-or-death decision on the growing fetus. Previously, without the new technology, "you simply have to accept your child as it is. But this [i.e. new ultrasound scan] has pushed us into a world of action. And until the day we die, we will feel tortured over this." (2252). In an economically struggling country, the imported gadget is understood to reinforce a supposed need of the wider community not to 'waste resources' carrying supposedly 'burdensome' disabled people. [It is a striking set of metaphors on the darker side of indiscriminate export/import between nations. The impressive magic of the imported gadget - reliably seeing 'inside' the pregnant woman for the first time in human history - easily trumps or outjumps any imported notions that might counsel a measure of caution in deploying the magic. Philosophical discussions were indeed taking place in East Asian nations on bioethical issues during the 1980s, e.g. RATANAKUL (1984, 1988) below; but importers of technology did not wait for the philosophers to complete their endless circling of the issues, balancing individual 'rights' of the fetus (or 'unborn child') against parental 'autonomy' to decide 'for themselves' whether to give birth to such a child, or to have the unwanted fetus destroyed.]
GOMBRICH, Richard F. (1971) Precept and Practice. Traditional Buddhism in the rural highlands of Ceylon. Oxford: Clarendon. xiv + 366 pp.
The book is based mainly on fieldwork for a doctoral thesis, comprising "three dozen interviews with monks", ten to twenty miles from Kandy, where Gombrich lived between August 1964 and August 1965, the interviews being conducted without interpreters. A Ceylonese mentor is thanked for taking two months to teach Gombrich Sinhalese {p. viii} -- as that language was "descended from Sanskrit and Pali", Gombrich anticipated "as a Sanskritist" that he would learn it more easily than Burmese or Thai (p. 20). Some revisions were made during a further visit to Ceylon in 1969 (p. 37). Gombrich states that "Buddhism was discovered for the West mainly by British missionaries and civil servants in Ceylon in the nineteenth century" (51), and great efforts were made, e.g. by R.C. Childers and T.W. Rhys Davids, to publish and translate Pali texts from 1869 onward. Textual knowledge of 'Buddhism' generated by these scholarly efforts became something of a 'colonial product', together with interventions by European savants and idealists seeking to retrieve the "purest form" of Buddhism, as originally given (54). Gombrich sought to find out how 'ordinary' rural Sinhalese, and Buddhist monks living among them, put their knowledge of Buddhism into practice. However, direct evidence on disability is very brief: "In one monastery which I came to I found an aged monk, quite blind and nearly deaf, living all alone in filth and neglect: he was kept alive by food brought by a local family who took pity on him, but seemed to have no other company or support. Both the children who brought the food and the monk at the next temple, which was very nearby, said that the old man was too bad-tempered (sära vädi) for it to be possible to deal with him..." (p. 279). Another monk, marked by not being fully ordained, lacking in learning, and having curious ideas, seems to have been the only one in Gombrich's sample who "lived in the direst poverty with no perceptible possessions" and who needed to beg for his daily food, from the few households that would respond to him (278).
GOMBRICH, R.F. (1996) How Buddhism Began. The conditioned genesis of the early teachings. London: Athlone. xi + 180 pp.
The five chapters in this book arises from the 'Jordan Lectures' given in 1994 by Professor Gombrich. The first was given 'for the general public', titled "Debate, Skill in Means, Allegory and Literalism", discussing some issues of how the 'original teaching' given by the Buddha Gotama seems to have been retold and reformulated for onward transmission by his disciples and later editors, and some of the hermeneutical processes by which people have attempted to understand the meaning of such teachings. The following lectures were intended for interested scholars, covering more detailed topics in this field, referring to Pali and Sanskrit texts. The final lecture (pp. 135-164) shows in considerable detail a process of trying to determine "Who Was Angulimala" from various texts, editions and commentaries, scrutinising significantly differing accounts and explanations, none of which is entirely clear or plausible. As mentioned in [The BUDDHA.] "Middle Length Discourses" (above), the story of Angulimala can be understood in terms of "change in the unbalanced mind of Angulimala, a man who had been falsely accused of wrongdoing, and was then tricked into becoming a serial killer (pp. 710-717, & 1292-93; Angulimala Sutta, 86)." One of the more memorable features of the story, supporting a diagnosis of 'mental disorder', was that Angulimala supposedly wore a necklace comprising the severed fingers of his many victims, which would count as a bizarre twist to a tale of mass murder. However, Gombrich demonstrates various problems in versions of the Pali text on Angulimala, the transmission, commentaries and attempted translations; and proposes a solution that should avoid most of the problems and make better sense of the story (with the admitted flaw that no textual evidence is currently available to support such a solution). Nevertheless, the processes of textual and literary criticism, and the scholarly discussion that should arise from them, are highly pertinent to all items in the present bibliography that refer back in some way to 'what the Buddha {reportedly} said'. Gombrich points out that "almost all our evidence for the texts of the Buddhist Canon comes from manuscripts", and that "hardly any Pali manuscripts are more than about five hundred years old. The vast majority are less than three hundred years old." (p. 9) (He lists some fragments that are reliably dated earlier, and other sources that shed light on the Canon. Nevertheless, it is accepted by critical scholars that an unknown number of editors and scribal copymakers have had a finger in the textual pie under various pressures and motivations, as well as ordinary human failings of eye and hand).
GREEN, Ronald M. (1999) The Mizuko Kuyo debate: an ethical assessment. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 67 (4) 809-823.
As a rationalist and professor of ethics, Green reviews the positions of some principal contributors in the ongoing debate on abortion in Japan, and Buddhist responses, with some broader consideration of the status of the fetus in various religious teachings.
GUÉSHÉ KELSANG GYATSO (2001) La voie joyeuse: la voie bouddhiste qui mène à l'illumination. Editions Tharpa. (728 pp.)
In the course of enumerating and expressing pleasure in various benefits, the distinguished Tibetan teacher (b. 1932) gave the following passage concerned with disability and deafness (one preceding 'benefit' is shown below, to indicate the context and pattern of thought): "La liberté de ne pas être né et de ne pas vivre dans un pays où il n'y a pas de Bouddhadharma. // Nous méditons: Si j'étais né dans un pays où la religion est toléréé mais où personne ne pratique le dharma et où il n'y a personne pour l'enseigner aux autres, il m'aurait été encore impossible de m'y intéresser et d'apprendre comment le mettre en pratique. Quel Bonheur de ne pas vivre dans un tel endroit. // La liberté de ne pas être né et de ne pas vivre avec des handicaps physiques ou mentaux. // Nous méditons: Si j'avais été un handicapé mental à vie, je n'aurais pas été capable de comprendre et d'appliquer le dharma, et si j'avais été un handicapé physique à vie, il m'aurait été beaucoup plus difficile de prendre contacts avec les enseignements. Si j'avais été aveugle, je n'aurais pas pu lire beaucoup de livres du dharma. Si j'avais été sourd, je n'aurais pas pu écouter les enseignements. Si j'avais été handicapé physiquement, il m'aurait été difficile d'aller dans les centres du dharma ou les temples et d'y apprendre à méditer. Quel Bonheur de ne pas avoir de handicaps physiques et mentaux. // La liberté de ne pas maintenir de vues erronées niant le dharma..." (etc.) (p. 143)
[It is salutary to see these thoughts spelled out so clearly by a modern Tibetan Buddhist teacher. Doubtless there is a measure of reality in the 'benefits' enumerated, yet it is surprising to find in a book published in 2001 such an apparent lack of thought for those who do have disability or deafness. There seems to be a lack of recognition that Buddhist teachers might have some responsibility to offer their message in a more widely accessible manner and through more inclusive media (or at least have some awareness that more appropriate media have existed for many years), or proposed action to make use of such means and thereby remove the obstacles. Fortunately, in some countries Buddhist communities do exist that display such awareness and do take steps to offer their teaching in more accessible ways. {It could be said in favour of CHOGYAM TRUNGPA (below) that, whatever his many flaws, he had grasped this essential point during the 1960s, and spent the rest of his life trying to 'deliver' a kind of Buddhism that should be accessible (at least in 'Oxford' English) to North Americans who might be seeking something of the sort}.]
HUNT, Peter C. (2005) An introduction to Vietnamese culture for rehabilitation service providers in the United States. In: J.H. Stone (ed.) Culture and Disability. Providing culturally competent services, pp. 203-223. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage.
Vietnamese culture is bound up with religion and religious philosophies, with Buddhism predominant, Confucianism strongly influential, and strands of Daoism, Christianity, Islam, animism, and local belief systems (pp. 204-206, 211-212, 214-215). Traditional views have attributed disability to punishment for ancestor's sins, and mental disorders to the malign actions of evil spirits. However, people blind from birth may be credited with being able to 'see' beyond the normal.
IKEDA, Daisaku (1972-1984) The Human Revolution. [First five volumes only.] New York: John Weatherhill Inc. Vol. I (1972, reprinted 1986), xvi + 250 pp. Vol. II (1974, repr. 1986), ix + 271 pp. Vol. III (1976, repr. 1987), ix + 140 pp. Vol. IV (1982), x + 245 pp. Vol. V (1984), ix + 205 pp. [Contains "a condensed English translation" of the "original Japanese version of Ningen Kakumei", serialised in a newspaper from April 1951 onward, and published in book form by Seikyo Press, Tokyo, in the 1960s. The translators are not named.]
Ikeda's 'book' now runs to 22 or more volumes, but only the first five volumes are reviewed here for disability concerns. These tell the early story, to about 1956, of Soka Gakkai, 'Value-Creating Society', a lay association within the Nichiren Shoshu sect of Buddhism. These volumes focus on Josei Toda (1900-1958), formerly a teacher and night-school founder, then educational publisher, businessman, inspirational speaker and visionary, who became the second president of the society in 1951. Toda had been jailed for opposing Japanese government efforts to control religious beliefs, but was released shortly before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the surrender of Japan to American forces. Leaving prison in July 1945, Toda was chronically ill and severely malnourished (vol. I, pp. 7-8, 16-18, 26-27, 31, 35, 38-39, 50; II: 136, 243). His serious visual impairments made it hard for him to read or to recognise people or to walk on a track in the dark; and without his glasses "Toda was nearly blind" (I: 4, 18, 21, 156, 220; II: 78; V: 95, 127). All his business enterprises had crashed, leaving heavy debts, and much of Tokyo had also been laid waste, including the night school he had founded (I: 14, 27, 28). Yet Toda believed he had found treasure in prison by coming to understand the 'true meaning' of the Lotus Sutra, as reinterpreted in Nichiren Shoshu (I: 37). This knowledge invigorated him to borrow money and within weeks to start a new correspondence school, which was soon flourishing across the distraught and starving nation (I: 51-53, 60-64, 72). A difference between Toda's beliefs and the mainstream of Asian Buddhism appears in his exposition of "the essence of true Buddhism as expounded by Nichiren Daishonin, after making it clear that though the Lotus Sutra of Sakyamuni is supreme among the sutras it is no longer valid in the Latter Day of the Law" (I: 234, see glossary 247-248; IV: 55). Later, Toda's obsessive drive to develop and expand Soka Gakkai, without care for his own health, while it did sometimes generate energy within him (III: 10, 126), would end with him collapsing from exhaustion (e.g. I: xiii; IV: 51, 171-172; V: 86, 105), though not before he had trained and prepared younger people to take the work forward.
Ikeda's preface notes that the work is a "novelised biography" (I: xiii), begun by Toda himself (in Japanese) in his last years, as his health had "failed completely". Ikeda is aware that the human mind "deliberately fictionalizes" historical facts in trying to create an accurate image (I: xiv). He states that his continuation of Toda's work broadly "follows that of the true history of Soka Gakkai, though a few incidents have been fabricated to improve the narrative or to make special points." (I: xv) [This is an interesting admission! Scholars may be aware of similar 'adjustments' in the 'historical' texts and hagiographies of other founders or prominent members of religions and sects.] The present volumes, while presenting an extremely positive picture of Josei Toda as a man of the highest moral rectitude, dedication and perseverance, also show him admitting to some character faults and flawed habits, such as being short tempered, impulsive and abreactive (e.g. II: 41, 220, 254; III: 25-27, 40, 44-45; IV: 168) and a heavy smoker (I: 13, II: 129, 252, V: 186); his long delay in taking up the presidency of SG (II: 250-251; III: 15); and giving some misguided earlier teaching along the lines of the T'ien t'ai sect, II: 257; III: 13; IV: 54, 57-61). Elsewhere, however, the entire work shows a variety of Buddhist religious belief and life embedded in the everyday circumstances of urban and rural Japan from the 1920s to late 1950s, which are open to verification, and seem quite plausible. (Ikeda himself appears under the pseudonym "Shin'ichi Yamamoto" with increasing prominence through volumes II to V, first as a naive and physically weak young disciple of Toda's, and then as his chosen lieutenant and fast track candidate for future presidency of Soka Gakkai, e.g. I: xiv xv; II: 258-262; III: 28-31; 41-43; IV: vii ix, 7, 171-179; V: viii ix). How far Ikeda's self portrayal may be considered realistic or appropriate is left for the reader to judge).
Apart from Toda's own serious visual impairment, disability is mentioned in several places, e.g. families with a disabled infant (II: 44-47; 164; 253; IV: 155-156, a rural grandmother's home-made splint for a club foot); people becoming disabled or mentally ill soon after opposing Soka Gakkai or its members or teaching (II: 65-66; 175; IV: 142-143, 155); the 'disabling' effect of kneeling through lengthy religious ceremonies ("for a few painful minutes healthy men and women crawled about on the floor like cripples", II: 73). One occasion on which disabled adults appear in a positive light, acting in their own right, occurs in vol. V: 177, during an election campaign for Sei'ichiro Haruki, a Soka Gakkai member who was known to the public as a national sportsman. "One group of physically handicapped people wore placards bearing [Haruki's] name around their necks and campaigned in loud voices for him outside a gasoline station". (This activity was stopped by SG staff, as it probably contravened election rules). Disability and chronic or severe illness also appear in accounts of healing, believed to be associated with the practice of Nichiren Daishonin's teaching of Buddhism (e.g. II: 40; IV: 141-148, 153-160; 224-225; V: 4-5, 102-103). Some space is also given to the effects of 'karma', and ways in which Toda believed it could be influenced in the present life by worship of the sacred object or mandala, the Gohonzon (IV: 67, 110; 160).
IKEDA, D. (2003) Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death and everything in between. Santa Monica, CA: Middleway Press. x + 211 pp. [The first chapter also appears full text on Middleway Press website (July 2012), and includes a section on "Karma and Medical Technology", with some comments on disability.]
"Many who suffer from genetically transmitted defects or severe illnesses consider their lives happy and worth living. In defining quality of life, we must not draw boundaries and designate everything beyond those boundaries as unlivable. Instead we must do everything in our power to build a broad minded society in which people with disabilities do not have to consider themselves 'handicapped' and can realize their full potential." (p. 29) Further remarks are made with regard to monitoring of fetal development. "For example, if a congenital deformity is detected, the decision whether to carry the fetus to term is often left to the parents. Providing equipment for prenatal testing is important, but we must also create a social system that can support and advise parents in such situations." (p. 30)
"Once, while the Buddha was staying in Shrivasti ... a monk was collecting firewood... a venomous snake bit his finger. The monk, afraid that the poison would spread, promptly lopped off the finger, a troubling course of action as the Buddhist precepts prohibited mutilation of one's body. Hearing of this incident, the Buddha suggested that, should the same thing happen again, a tourniquet be applied and only the injured part of the finger be excised. This episode illustrates that the Buddha's compassion superseded his precepts." (pp. 56-57)
"The varied ways in which mental illnesses arise and the complexity of the workings of all these destructive qualities [referred to earlier] give rise to what are said to be 84,000 types of mental illness as opposed to a mere 404 types of physiological illness." (p. 69)
"Karmic Disease ... the sutras considered leprosy a karmic disease because in Shakyamuni's time it was incurable, and victims suffered not only physical torment -- like disfigurement and death -- but also considerable mental anguish through the loathing and ostracism of their fellow citizens. Today, however, leprosy can be controlled, and those who have it can lead relatively normal lives ... Still, there are many incurable diseases, and newer ones, such as AIDS, appear continually. Some are born out of the development of society, and some even arise from medical treatment itself. ... From a secular perspective, anyway, karmic disease is an unavoidable enigma. Buddhist practice, which seeks to activate our inner life force at the most fundamental level, offers a key to overcoming all six types of illness, especially karmic illness, because it effects change in one's karma itself." (pp. 70-71)
"In recent decades, psychosomatic medicine therapies have included Buddhist-related ideas. For example, in helping people overcome resentment and ill will, doctors employ a therapy somewhat akin to Buddhist compassion. They instruct the patient to form a clear mental image of the person who is the object of resentment. The patient is then told to picture good things happening to the other person, imagining that person receiving love, attention, money or whatever the patient feels the hate-object would most like." (p. 163)
[The remarks above appear not as statements with which urban or rural Asian Buddhists would necessarily agree or disagree, but as representing those from the international leader of Soka Gakkai, who has made some efforts to update his thinking about disabling disease or impairments, and to combine traditional approaches with modern thinking, in rather vague ways.]
IKELS, Charlotte (2002) Constructing and deconstructing the self: dementia in China. J. Cross-Cultural Gerontology 17: 233-251.
Ikels offers a remarkable analysis of different perceptions of the 'self', and of the perceived effects of dementia, in rural and urban China as compared with the 'mainstream' US. Several key concepts are discussed in detail, that have roots in ancient Confucian teaching and still "shape contemporary Chinese values and attitudes": the 'heart/mind' (xin) and some compounds representing 'thought, ideas' (yi), 'consciousness, awareness' (yishi), 'absence of mind' (wang), and 'psychology' (xinlixue); the nature of morality (daode); the two different kinds of 'self' (ziji as against benxing); and filial piety (xiao). The verbal construction of these concepts is shown and illustrated with the components of traditional Chinese characters (enlarged) and their meanings are discussed with examples in literature and ordinary life (pp. 239-249). Ikels suggests that different prominence is given to the cognitive domain in the US as compared with China, and thus the effects of dementia are perceived and responded to differently. Anecdotal evidence is also shown of a continuing, mainly rural, tradition in which the 'good luck' and moral worth of the person who has succeeded in living to a very old age trumps all other considerations and earns great admiration. [While not intentionally directed toward Buddhism the meanings of 'self' and its construction in this article, arising within longitudinal ethnographical studies, seems highly pertinent to the background of Chinese thinking over many centuries.]
ILCHMAN W.F., S.N. Katz & E.L. Queen (eds.) (1998) Philanthropy in the World's Traditions. Bloomington: Indiana UP. xv + 381 pp.
This interesting collection of well referenced chapters suggests motives and practices of philanthropy in various religious traditions, e.g. L Anderson on philanthropy in South Asia (pp. 57-78); A.W.P. Guruge & G.D. Bond on Theravada Buddhism (79-96); L.S. Kawamura on Mahayana Buddhism (97-106); S.A. Arjomand on the Islamic world (109-132); M. Juergensmeyer & D.M. McMahon on Hindu philanthropy (263-278); G.C. Kozlowski on modern Muslim philanthropy (279-308). Little appears directly on disability, but many of the more positive social attitudes are implicit in philanthropic practices. It is salutary to notice some of the attributions of merit and motive suggested in different chapters. Guruge & Bond describe the centrality of "Generosity and Service in Theravada Buddhism", building up to a "list of ten meritorious deeds" in which "two more related actions extend in a further dimension the joy of giving", i.e., by advertising one's benevolence others gain "a vicarious enjoyment of merits", and there is also the deliberate act of "transferring one's merits to others". They remark that "This triple concept is the antithesis of the notion that the left hand should not know what the right hand gives. Giving publicity to one's liberality and associating others in one's acts of giving become essential obligations" (p. 85). [The intra-hand secrecy is not referenced, but presumably derives from the reported sayings of Jesus: in the record by Matthew, 6: 1-4, almsgiving should not be on display but in secret. God, seeing in secret, would reward the giver. (In Matthew 5: 16, the reported teaching took a different line: 'let your light shine before men, so that seeing your good works, they praise God').] Meanwhile, Kawamura, professor of Religious Studies at Calgary, Canada, summarizes: "whereas philanthropy in the Western civilization are acts done by granting agents geared to having a quid pro quo (something in return for another), in the Eastern civilization, and in particular in the Buddhist act of giving, there is neither a quid nor a quo." (p. 105) [A major lesson from these possibly conflicting views is that vast generalising comparisons between the teachings of two world religions, each having an immense range of schools and interpretations, are unlikely to stand up to close scrutiny, however widely they (or their opposite!) may be believed.]
IWAMA, Michael K. (2005) The Kawa (river) model. Nature, life flow, and the power of culturally relevant occupational therapy. In: F. Kronenberg et al. (eds.) Occupational Therapy Without Borders, pp. 213-227. Edinburgh: Elsevier, Churchill Livingstone.
Iwama gives elaboration and discussion of a therapy model using a metaphor familiar within Japanese culture. "Readers may readily associate some of the model's features with Eastern philosophical elements observable in Buddhist ideologies (particularly related to but not limited to Mahayana and Zen) as well as with Confucian and Taoist ethics..." (p.215) Iwama also notes that the spread of occupational therapy "constructed on Western cultural norms and universally applied to other cultural contexts without alteration" can be far from beneficial to people with disabilities. [Another chapter of the book, "Muffled cries and occupational injustices in Japanese society", pp. 351-360, by Hiroko Fujimoto and Michael Iwama, "chronicling families' struggles to raise children with special needs", depicts some of the downside of a society in which strong social pressures are exerted for conformity of behaviour and for not expressing any 'special needs' or requiring anything which might possibly be considered a nuisance to anyone else. Teachers and nurses tended to defend the boundaries of 'normality'; anything beyond those lines was the child's or the family's problem and stigma, for which they must find their own solution, or suffer further marginalisation.]
KATO SHOSHUN (1998) "A lineage of dullards". Zen master Toju Reiso and his associates. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 25 (1/2) 151-165. {Translated from Japanese by Thomas Kirchner} http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/515.pdf {and navigate}
A major tradition within Buddhism seems to put emphasis on achieving mastery by mental concentration and training the mind. Such a demand or expectation could easily disadvantage those people having weaker intellectual capacity. Yet an alternative practice is shown here in one subdivision of the Rinzai Zen tradition. Toju Reiso (1854-1916) was a slow-witted student who persevered to spiritual enlightenment without ever reaching intellectual heights, in the difficult early Meiji period (later 19th century CE) when Buddhist institutions were under attack. Briefer notes are given on some other monks of modest cognitive powers and unobtrusive demeanour, yet with a strong perseverance in practical matters, who formed part of this 'lineage' remarkable for its lack of brilliance.
KISALA, Robert (1994) Contemporary Karma. Interpretations of Karma in Tenrikyo and Rissho Koseikai. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21 (1) 73-91. [Open online.]
In 1990, Kisala interviewed 30 adherents of two of the 'Japanese New Religions', Tenrikyo and Rissho Koseikai, both of which have large elements of Buddhist belief or practice, with modern updating and Japanese cultural contextualisation. The interviewees were all involved in social welfare work, and Kisala focused on their interpretations of karma (or in Japanese, innen, in the Tenrikyo understanding). Several accounts involved experience with deafness or mental retardation, and Kisala quotes in some detail from these (pp. 83-88), showing how people tended "toward rejection of the idea of retributive justice, which is normally associated with concepts of karma", and substituted ideas along the lines of each person having a special role to play which might involve having a disability, but would bring some benefit both to the world and to the individual. One Rissho Koseikai respondent, whose own daughter was disabled, mentioned the view that "it is precisely mentally handicapped children who represent what is best in the human race", and reflected that these people "are really gentle, genuine and innocent". (p.88)
KLEINMAN, A., Wen-Zhi Wang, Shi-Chuo Li, Xue-Ming Cheng, Xiu-Ying Dai, Kun-Tun Li & Kleinman, J. (1995) The social course of epilepsy: chronic illness as social experience in interior China. Social Science & Medicine 40 (10) 1319-1330.
Detailed study of 80 people's lives with epilepsy, by experienced medical anthropologists, neurologists and other health personnel in Shanxi and Ningxia Provinces, PR China, in 1988. (The sample of 40 in Ningxia included 17 Muslims). The financial costs entailed by epilepsy often weighed heavily on families, especially in the poorer regions. "The social welfare net of communalized life is no longer available to prevent the poorest in China from falling into extreme poverty ... The economic constraints on the social course of epilepsy and other chronic illnesses often means the difference between receiving treatment and not, between remission and relapse." Families are forced into "humiliating and often unavailing negotiations with creditors, who are themselves under financial pressure." Persisting traditional notions of epilepsy may cause the family as a whole to suffer stigma and loss of status. "Ideas that attribute the cause of epilepsy to bad fate, heredity, negative geomantic forces, and the malign influences of gods, ghosts or ancestors -- all are accusations against the moral status of the family ... Over the long-term delegitimation is routinized, so that patient and family are regarded as morally bankrupt, and capable of bankrupting others." [A quarter century of colossal change has taken place in PR China since Kleinman et al. collected their data. No doubt there have been some plans to relieve the burdens of disabling chronic illnesses in conditions of serious poverty; yet there are few countries in the world that have been able to give this task sufficient priority to making a lasting impact, especially in rural areas.]
KRÄMER, Sabine V. [2001 / 2002] Körperbehinderung im kulturellen und institutionellen Kontext - Eine Betrachtung am Beispiel Thailand. [Physical disability in cultural and institutional context. A view of an example in Thailand.] GRIN verlag. 82 pp. Thesis, University of Cologne, Special Education Faculty, Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation of Physically Disabled.
[Not Seen. An abstract of the thesis, in 260 words, does not mention Buddhism; Yet a detailed list of contents, found online, shows some material pertinent to Buddhism between pp. 45 and 52 or 53, in an analysis of social context: "3.2 Faktor 2 - Gesellschaft (42)", under the following sub-headings: "3.2.1 Soziales System (42), 3.2.2 Buddhismus (45), 3.2.3 Geisterglaube (49), 3.2.4 Die Entstehung einer Behinderung aus Sicht des Buddhismus (50), 3.2.5 Buddhistiche Erziehung und Gesellchaft (51)".]
KUNZANG CHODEN (1993) Folktales of Bhutan. Bangkok: White Lotus. xx + 198 pp. (including maps, and 37 full page illustrations by Kunzang Dorji).
The living tradition of these moral tales, some of which are known in many countries, blends everyday life with the world of gods, spirits, animals, monsters and magic. Disability, folly and deformities are casually woven in, as in the stories of the old blind couple who catch a hungry boy, who in turn finds their eyes for them and turns his enemy into a cretin (pp. 21-26); the blind man, the hunchback and the princess with three breasts (68-71); the dull-witted older brother and his clever younger brother (83-87); the Silly Leopard (89-92); the goat's tail that gains half a kingdom but everything in it has some small defect (109-114); the Ghost with the Water Goiter (115-119); the intelligent Lame Monkey (125-131); the parents who devise a successful 'behaviour modification' scheme for their idle, apathetic son (133-135); the Za spirits who protect the Buddhist teachings and can cause or cure paralysis (102, 196-197).
KUROYANAGI, Tetsuko (1981 / 1996) Totto-chan. The Little Girl at the Window, translated (1996) by D. Britton; with illustrations by Chihiro Iwasaki. Tokyo: Kodansha International. 231 pp.
The author (i.e. Totto-chan, when an adult) recalls a fascinating series of events, exploratory learning activities, and her classmates at Tomoe Gakuen, the small, experimental primary school situated in some old railway carriages, which she attended in Tokyo until 1945, under the remarkable pioneer educator and musician Sosaku Kobayashi (1893-1963). (She had been expelled a short time after entering her first school because her behaviour was so 'different' and incomprehensible to the teachers, and thus she was a 'bad girl'). Kobayashi was a kind of genius at recognising many different ways in which children could and did learn, as well as perceiving the 'rhythms of life' in music, dance, nature, everything; and nurturing the 'good nature' of the children. He had had experience teaching in a child-centred school and also spent several years in Europe absorbing progressive educational ideas, some of which he adapted for the context of Japanese culture when he started his own school in 1937. One of the regular afternoon walks the children took if they had worked hard in the morning was along a stream through the fields to nearby Kuhonbutsu Temple, the wooded grounds of which were full of history, science, legend, and the symbols of Buddhism, to be discovered casually (36-39, 60, 107, 133-136), or as part of an hilarious night-time 'bravery test' (64-68), or the scene for some cheerful lessons in agriculture (133-136). Some of the pupils had physical impairments (pp. 30-31, 55, 59-64, 87-89, 103-105, 111-112, 126-128, 141, 168-171, 202-204), and care was taken to include them appropriately in all activities. One of these children was a special friend of Totto-chan; and as an adult she was much involved in working with deaf actors (200). The original book sold 4.5 million copies in its first year, and has iconic status as a guide to educating children with proper respect for the soul and spirit of each one.
LAFLEUR, William R. (1993) Liquid Life. Abortion and Buddhism in Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP. xviii + 257 pp.
Detailed study of historical and current practices, from infanticide through abortion, and some ways in which these raw events have (to some extent) been domesticated within a context of Japanese Buddhist belief. Disability appears briefly, in the 'origins' story of the 'leech child' (23-25), and cited remarks on common beliefs associating disability with karma (162). As an American and a Professor of Japanese, the late William Lafleur was impressed by the ways in which Japanese society and religious understanding managed to contain and resolve a seriously bitter and divisive issue, and to maintain a strongly cohesive, successful and remarkably healthy society, in contrast to the strongly adversarial American approach of legal battle and campaigns of partisan hatred, with one side winning, the other side losing, and no reconciliation or mutual recognition (pp. 210-217).
[Lafleur's detailed arguments purporting to show how thinking evolved during several centuries, in ways that could accommodate both the traditional strong Buddhist teaching against the taking of life and the realities of abortion and even infanticide, cannot be summarised here, and not all readers would find them plausible. See review by R.F. Young (1993) in Monumenta Nipponica 48 (4) 529-531; and review (with Lafleur's rejoinder, and a riposte) by G. Tanabe (1994 and 1995) Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21 (4) 437-440 and 22 (1-2) 185-196 {open online - navigate on JJRS site}.]
LANCASTER, Lewis R. (1991) Buddhism and the Contemporary World: the problem of social action in an urban environment. In: Charles Wei hsun Fu & Sandra A. Wawrytko (eds.) Buddhist Ethics and Modern Society. An International Symposium, pp. 347-353. New York: Greenwood.
Lancaster addresses some 'modern' issues where major ethical metanarratives may appear to differ in their stance, generating some conflicting points of view, e.g. between Confucianism, Buddhist and Taoism within East Asia, or Christianity and Buddhism internationally. In this large edited symposium collection, Lancaster's is practically the only paper to give even a fleeting glimpse of disability: "In the nations of Europe these large urban centres of manufacturing and trade created a new group of impoverished people different from the rural poor of the past. The traditional poor were 'deserving' widows, orphans, and the handicapped, or victims of circumstances. The new urban poor were the 'undeserving,' able bodied men and women who were unemployed or, worse, lacked drive and ambition." [Historically, the description is oversimplified. Yet at least 'the handicapped' (a term now relinquished by the anglophone world) get a brief appearance, before disappearing amidst 'the poor'.] [Lancaster's discussion of the perils of 'doing good' to people in need whether deemed 'deserving' or not and the chances of doing more harm than good by bestowing charitable gifts in such a way as to shame the recipient while possibly boosting the ego of the donor is pertinent to the transfers of 'aid' between supposedly 'wealthy western Christian' nations and 'poor eastern Muslim or Buddhist' nations; and also highly recognisable by many disabled people in the efforts by 'the non disabled' to 'help' them. Attempts in some Buddhist countries to disguise the transfer, or to underline that it is being done solely to earn merit, are outlined by Wrigley (below) in Thailand).]
LEE DUHYUN (recorder) & LEE MEEWON (translator) (1985) The mask-dance play of Kasan village (Kasan ogwangdae). Asian Theatre Journal 2 (2) 139-171.
[PC WARNING. Readers with a preference for Political Correctness may wish to avoid this item, which is even worse than the annotation.] A history of the wide-spread Korean folk tradition of mask-dance drama is sketched, and the specific Kasan play is given in translation. The cast of 34 people is given including four Lepers and a Chief Leper; Odingi, a hemiplegic fool and beggar; a Buddhist 'priest' {monk}; an apprentice monk; a spirit medium; a blind soothsayer; and five shamans. In Episode 3, the Lepers, who are differentiated by specific deformities, perform the "Dance of the Deformed", followed by a session of hunting lice on their bodies, then they settle down to a gambling session. Odingi enters and begs from them, but is rejected abusively. He fetches a policeman, who kicks the lepers and eventually arrests them, though he has difficulty finding limbs on which he can successfully snap his handcuffs (pp. 147-151). Episode 5 has the elderly priest running off with an aristocrat's wife, but he is apprehended, brought back and beaten, with various horseplay, and with the apprentice monk trying to take the beating instead of the old man. The priest pretends remorse and wishes to return to his monastery, but this becomes an excuse to send the apprentice round the crowd to take a collection for their travel money, "for Buddha's sake". The various satirical episodes and slapstick business come with a humour rude enough to entertain villagers having no great delicacy of sentiment, and with plentiful smacking of traditional targets and the occasional spray of urine at the spectators. Endnote 2 suggests that "the leper episode is unique to the mask-theatre of the southeastern part of Korea", and must be "a modern version of the old deformity motif" (p. 170). The donations collected by the Buddhist monk and his apprentice "are used to cover the performance cost or for a drinking party for the actors and the spectators after the performance." (p. 158)
LETENDRE, Gerald K. & Shimizu, Hidetada (1999) Towards a healing society: perspectives from Japanese special education. In: H. Daniels & P. Garner (eds.) Inclusive Education. Supporting inclusion in education systems. World Yearbook of Education 1999, 115-129. London: Kogan Page.
The authors visited special education classes in ordinary Japanese schools, and reflect critically on their own responses to what they saw and how it sometimes differed from what the teachers were aiming to do. They entered a new plane of awareness of the philosophical, moral and sociological currents in Japanese society, where the 'group-centred' and homogenizing cultural traditions are in tension with some strongly individual-needs-oriented practice. Citing the work of Kenzaburo Oe, they recognise the complexities in trying to describe various trends towards opening up some traditionally 'closed' and 'excluding' aspects of Japanese society so as to provide appropriate educational opportunities, while also accommodating parental wishes which may favour different routes for disabled people to live in society. Also mentioned is the remarkable educator Kobayashi Sosaku, whose school was established in 1937, welcoming "a range of differently abled students ... because of his strong belief in the goodness of all children". (See KUROYANAGI above).
LOWE, John (1938) The leprosy problem in Burma. Leprosy in India 10: 120-131.
Detailed report with social background in rural Burma in the 1930s. Among 568 village children examined in ten different places, 32 (5.6%) were infected with leprosy, a much higher rate than anticipated. Some isolation of adult leprosy sufferers was enforced by villagers according to old tradition, but the majority of people with leprosy continued in their homes, with consequent risk to their children. [This article does not directly address Buddhism, but provides some evidence, from a rural environment heavily influenced by Buddhism, that practical responses toward people with leprosy were other than might casually be assumed.]
LUO SHENG-TANG (2011) Undaunted by silence. SGI Quarterly, April 2011. [Online]
Brief personal story by a young Taiwanese man who lost his hearing when about one year old. His parents "were at a loss as to how they were going to raise me", so they "began practising Buddhism, with the wish that I would grow up happily." Lu Sheng-tang was brought up with a great deal of encouragement by his parents, and learnt to use various means to communicate with other people. He followed his parents' example by learning to practise Buddhism. He became an athlete, and participated in the Summer Deaflympics in 2009, winning a medal in 400-meter relay. His photo appears with the relay team. He does not dismiss the ongoing problems of being deaf in a world of speech communication, but believes that a positive attitude is the foundation for a successful life. [This article appears in the Soka Gakkai International Quarterly, an online inspirational magazine of that active Buddhist sect. Some articles tell the story of people with various disabilities, who have made progress in their lives despite having substantial impairments. Although there is no immediate means of critical evaluation of this kind of item, there seems to be no reason to doubt the main features of what is stated. Attribution of at least part of the success to the belief system, as claimed, will appeal to some readers more than others.]
MATSUMOTO, David (2004) An approach to the question of human-ness in contemporary Western Shin Buddhism the soteriological significance of disability. In: The Annual of the Institute of Buddhist Cultural Studies, Ryukoku University No. 28 (2004) pp. 26-17. [Open online]. {Pagination runs from first page (26) to last page (17). Presumably the printed book has both Japanese and English text, and opens from right to left throughout.}
Here Matsumoto confronts the fundamental question "What does it mean to be a human being?", and methodically builds bridges between some medieval and modern Japanese Shin [Zen] positions, and some western thinking of a feminist and Disability Studies nature, and recent western theologising on disability, moving toward construction of a "Western Shin Buddhist Theology of Disabilities". From 'Pure Land scriptures' he outlines (pp. 23-22) a traditional condemnatory / retributive understanding of disability arising from a 'mountain of evil karma': "Demigods keep records of offenders' acts and make sure that they are punished. That is why some are poor and destitute, corrupt, beggarly, lonely, deaf, dumb, blind, stupid, wicked, physically handicapped, deranged, or subnormal" {H. Inagaki, translator, Larger Sutra of Amitayus, 1994, Kyoto.} Matsumoto then indicates development of thinking in a commentary by T'an-Luan (ca. 488-554; a Buddhist monk who probably founded the Pure Land school in China). The new argument is that in the Pure Land, there will not even be a vocabulary of defect or deformity, since there will be nothing that evokes or corresponds with such terms. Further, while accepting (in the present world) that 'blind', 'deaf', etc are used as negative metaphors for "'ignorant persons' in general", T'an-Luan reaches the "apparently egalitarian conclusion that 'we are all disabled in the search for enlightenment'" (p. 22). While still sounding unsatisfactory (to many western campaigners), this is a useful stage along the way. "Shinran uses the imagery and language of disability to argue that all of the attributes that we normally think to be advantageous, such as belief in our own abilities and self-dependence, are synonymous with our fundamental disability" (i.e. the universal human condition of self-delusion, craving, passion, ignorance). The dawning awareness of this fundamental and universal disability is the beginning of wisdom: "To become a human being is to realize radical shame, which is a pre-condition for being able to hear the Buddha-dharma truly." (p. 19) However, this 'radical shame' need not necessarily be experienced as a crushing individual burden, since human beings have the capacity to share and to experience communal uplift. "The Buddhist sangha is not built on concepts of justice and fairness [*], but rather on the notion of oneness, mutual learning and mutual transformation. Thus, Western institutions and individuals would gain much from attempting to return to the original spirit of the Buddhist sangha."
* [Probably Matsumoto is thinking here of 'justice and fairness' in the limited, egocentric sense of 'my rights', 'my entitlement', 'being fair to me!', rather than a broader and deeper vision of justice and fairness for all humanity. Full entry to the sangha requires the individual to give up the illusion of 'me' and the importance of 'my-self', and adopt instead the reality of one-ness within the religious community -- which in turn lives by humbly begging its daily food from good-hearted folk among the wider local community. In theory, the sangha then multiplies the transaction by serving the whole wider community, teaching the Dharma and offering practical knowledge and care {e.g. schooling and skilful health care} that has been practised, developed over time and 'institutionalised' in the best sense {i.e. improved by observation, monitored practice, feedback of results and record-keeping, then transmitted onward through centuries from experienced practitioners to learners within the ongoing sangha, rather than being confined to a few specialist families, often petering out after three or four generation}.]
Masumoto's thinking is particularly interesting in that he envisages the two-way flow of benefits. He sees that Shin Buddhism has something to offer to 'western' thinking and practice; and also thinks that Shin practice has something to gain by looking at the realities of its own practice through the lens of western campaigns for a better deal for people with disabilities.
[In a later article, after a discourse on the teaching of Shinran, this author disclosed that "My son, David, has Down Syndrome. As a young person with disabilities, he has grown up facing a host of challenges and, because of him, he, my wife and I have been able to experience a depth of life that is beyond words." D. Matsumoto (2009) The Nembutsu is the Voice of Peace. Address To Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, Shinran Shonin 750th Commemoration, Ohana Conference, 5 Sept. 2009. {Text open online}.]
MEYER, Fernand (1988 / 2002) Le système médical tibétain. Gso-Ba Rig-pa. Paris: CNRS Éditions. 231 pp. {12 x 19 cm} 19 illustrations. ISBN 2-271-05860-0
[The substance of this work seems to have been issued at least as early as 1981, as it was reviewed in 1983 and 1984, with the title showing the Tibetan name first, and 237 pp; but no detail of editions is shown upfront. The start of the Bibliography (pp. 205-220), mentions that "Depuis la première publication de cet ouvrage en 1987..." {...a lot more has been published in this field}. Work is cited with dates up to 1998, so there has clearly been some revision up to then. The 2002 edition listed here is a softback of pocket size, with some black/white photos. Some earlier editions had colour graphics, and were probably larger in size.]
As Tibetan medicine (ancient and modern) is a highly specialised field, a description and evaluation of Meyer's work is best found in scholarly journal reviews, e.g. David L. Snellgrove, 1983, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 46 (1) 172-174, {who gives date 1981, title: gSo-ba riq-pa}; Erberto Lo Bue, 1984, Arts asiatiques 39 (1) 116-117, {date 1982, title Gso-ba rig-pa, with 54 illustrations}; both of which are highly appreciative of Meyer's efforts, and indicate some defects in earlier work by others, particularly with respect to careful and cautious identification of the meanings of medical and pharmaceutical terminology. Snellgrove happens to give a disability-related example where earlier writers had been misled: "the Tibetan term rkang-'bam (literally 'deformed leg') represents textually Sanskrit slipada {accents omitted here} meaning elephantiasis"; but Meyer (p. 45) having the benefit of working for some years with local healers in Tibet, avoided "les conclusions hâtives que l'on serait tenté de tirer de l'équivalence des termes sanskrites et tibétains", since he was aware that the term "rkang-'bam, bien connu des Tibétains, désigne non pas l'éléphantiasis, inexistante sous leur climat, mais les douleurs et gonflements des genoux par arthrose le plus souvent". The other reviewer, Lo Bue, appreciating that Meyer was qualified both medically, and in academic Tibetology, and in current Tibetan medical fieldwork, pointed out the problems of other Tibetan work that lacked one of these areas of skills: "Trop souvent, et même dans les travaux récents dus à des lettrés tibétains, comme Tibetan Medicine de Rechung Rinpoche, la traduction des termes médicaux tibétains ou l'identification de la matière médicale sont entièrement basées sur des dictionnaires eux-mêmes compilées par des lexicographes dépourvus de connaissances médicales et sans expérience pratiques du sujet."
To avoid the rich opportunities for spreading further confusion, the present annotation will note a few French terms used in Meyer's index, which appear to correspond with impairments or disabilities in the text; but the reader is strongly advised to be cautious in imagining even that visible similarities in French and English terms are good guides to meaning! The index itself appears to have some weakness (or perhaps some difference between French and British expectations?) Thus, in trying to chase up any form of 'mental disorder', neither 'mental' nor 'obscurité', nor 'psychique' is indexed under M, or O, or P. Yet two of these terms appear in the text, as part of a common artistic display of a fundamental Buddhist concept: "Au centre de la roue sont représentées les trois formes de l'Ignorance ('les trois poisons'): l'agressivité, l'obscurité mentale et le désir sous forme d'un serpent, d'un porc et d'un coq." (p. 63) The third is indexed under T: "Troubles psychiques", as in: "Les troubles psychiques 'plutôt névroses que psychoses véritables' (R. Moise) semblent avoir été fréquents dans les monastères." (p. 81) To learn more about 'mental obscurity' [?] one should somehow 'know' that it would be found among many pages indexed under P for Phlegme, or H for Humeur: "obscurité mentale á l'origine du phlegme" and "le phlegme au cerveau 'où siège l'obscurité mentale'" (p. 124; see also p. 119 and note on p. 196). But Meyer is here pointing out the attempts of earlier Asian medical theorists to find ways to "rattacher les trois humeurs de la médicine indienne et l'anatomie 'réaliste' aux théories bouddhistes et à l'anatomie des tantra." (p. 124) A larger index might keep track and differentiate these various possible contexts and uses of different terms, and further guidance might be given in a Tibetan-French vocabulary list - but perhaps not in a pocket-book. [Nor should a connection between mental obscurity or darkness and 'mental disorders' be too quickly dismissed as merely part of an attempted conflation of a time-expired Asian 'humoral system' with a Buddhist theory of 'anger, ignorance and lust' being the major flaws in the human spirit. For many centuries, Mediterranean and Western humoral theories also connected an excess of 'phlegm' blocking up the channels in the brain, with the apparent slowness of mental processes in the minds of people having imbecility or 'mental retardation'.]
Meyer provides 14 pages tabulating substances used in Tibetan medical treatment, with the Tibetan term(s) against a binomial Latin classification where possible, or a simple French description; but he restricts this to drugs for which he had methodically secured samples and had them examined in a scientific laboratory [tabulation pp. 168-183, within section on "Les médicaments (sman)" (pp. 166-187), under the general heading "Thérapeutique", (161-191), within the sixth chapter, "Analyse des différents aspects de la médecine tibétaine", (103-195). (This curious method of describing where the tabulation is found arises because the tabulation is nowhere listed or indexed as such; the "Sommaire" at the front of the book (pp. 5-6) does not number the chapter headings; and it misnumbers one of the sections ("Thérapeutique" is given p. 162, but actually starts on p. 161). Apparatus at the back comprises Table des figures (203-204), Bibliographie (205-220), and Index (221-230).
Other indexed terms having possible connection with the target of the present bibliographie are: Cerveau (e.g. p. 119 - "Le cerveau se forme en prenant appui sur ce canal" [de genèse] ... "L'obscurité mentale {*} semble siéger dans le cerveau, car la confusion, la lourdeur, l'obnubilation, etc. s'observent le plus souvent comme provenant de la tête.") * [see note p. 196 further defining 'L'ignorance'.] Goitre, crétinisme, lèpre (p. 80 - "Très variable d'un endroit à l'autre, la fréquence du goitre serait particulièrement élevé dans la vallèe du Tsangpo et de ses affluents avec une forte proportion de cas de myxoedème et de crétinisme. // Moise n'a pu relever aucun indice concernant la peste ou le charbon, mais il signale des cas de lèpre autochtone et des cas de rage." Leprosy (mdze) and goitre also appear on p. 144). Paralysis is listed under "Les points vulnérables (gnyan-pa'i gnad)" on p. 126: "La blessure des points tendineux et ligamentaires (certain troncs nerveux y compris) provoque la paralysie." Demons and exorcism figure among troubles of the spirit (72-76), e.g. "une maladie due aux maléfices des mauvais esprits à traiter par exorcisme" (p. 148). Effects of karma are signalled at various places, one being the pages on "Embryologie (chags-tshul)" (107-113). Some non-medical therapies are indicated from the Rgyud-bzhi, such as: "les exorcismes sont indiqués en cas de maléfices des mauvais esprits (gdon). Il faut pratiquer les vertus, visiter les lieux saints, lire ou faire réciter les livres saints, etc. en cas de maladies qui sont la conséquence des mauvaises actions passées et il faut pratiquer les rituels du 'rappel de l'âme' lorsque celle-ci a quitté le corps ou a été saisie par un démon." (191). The Abominable Snowman also gets a mention (pp. 185, 197).
The earlier part of Meyer's book has useful historical sketches of sources, medicine and materials, up to 1959. A critical description of the vicissitudes of Tibetan medicine, including more recent decades, could be found elsewhere, e.g. C.R. Janes (1995) The transformations of Tibetan medicine. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9 (1) 6-39.
MILLER, Alan L. (1993) Myth and gender in Japanese shamanism: the itako of Tohoku. History of Religions 32: 343-367.
Examines in detail how the socially marginal position of blind women in rural Japan has been perceived as fitting them for certain religious functions, as a bridge to the spirit world.
MIYOSHI, Taizo (1909) Philanthropy in Japan. In: S. Okuma (ed.) Fifty Years of New Japan (Kaikoku Gojunen Shi), 101-112. (English version, ed. M.B. Huish). London: Smith, Elder.
Historical overview taking in charity granaries, tax exemptions, Buddhist temple asylums, hospitals, orphanages and poorhouses, with some dating. In times of scarcity, "provisions, clothing and medicine were granted to the helpless, sick and disabled", from the first millennium CE. Special practices arose for blind people (p. 105). Some suggestions are made on philosophies and strategies of charitable activity and poor laws. More detail appears from the later 19th century of institutional services for people with leprosy and mental illnesses and education for blind or deaf children.
MOOTHAM, Orby Howell (1939) Burmese Buddhist Law. Oxford UP (Indian Branch). xxi + 148 pp.
Legal status of children is reviewed to some extent under 'Adoption' (pp. 50-65) and 'Inheritance' (76-85, 91-102). "Physically or mentally incompetent or defective children" appear on pp. 82-83, beginning:
"A physically or mentally incompetent or defective child is entitled to his full share of inheritance (l).
A person physically or mentally incompetent or defective includes a congenital idiot (m), a deaf mute (n) and a lunatic (o).
With regard to the devolution of an incompetent or defective child's estate, the Manugye (p) says:-
'If amongst the children so given in marriage by their parents, one shall have severe disease, shall be unable to work, shall stutter, or be dumb, let the share such a child is entitled to be set aside, and let its relations support it, and at its death, let the person who so supports it take its share.'"
The initial entitlement to a full share of inheritance is affirmed, and the italicised letters (l to p) shown in parentheses indicate footnotes of Burmese legal case references from 1875-1928.
[The case where such a child might grow up and be capable of fathering or bearing a child of their own, who might be of normal capacity does not seem to be referred to. In some other South Asian legal codes, such a child might have a claim to a part of the share that was set aside; though it might have difficulty in obtaining anything.]
MORGAN, Fiona & Tan, B K. (2011) Parental views from rural Cambodia on disability causation and change. Disability and Rehabilitation 33 (21-22): 2114-2120.
Recorded interviews were conducted with 24 rural Cambodian parents or carers of children with cerebral palsy, and were transcribed in Khmer and translated to English, to study thoughts about disability causation. (The children concerned, aged 3 to 12, were also interviewed or observed). Traditionally, beliefs about childhood disability were shaped by Theravada Buddhism, and beliefs in spirits and ghosts. "If in a previous life a child's mother was separated from the child through violence, starvation or war, it was thought that the mother in her anguish may bring illness or 'skan' upon the child following its rebirth into a new life." {Ref: M. EISENBRUCH (1998) Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 3: 505-518.} As a cause of cerebral palsy, 'skan' was disputed: "{others} have told me that it is because of karma from a previous life... They only say that she is skan, and I say that she isn't because I have been there from the start and know that she has never had a fit so she can't be skan. {Mother of 4 year old girl with severe cerebral palsy."
NAEMIRATCH, Bhensri & Manderson, Lenore (2009) Pity and pragmatism: understanding disability in northeast Thailand. Disability & Society 24 (4) 475-488.
The article draws on "research conducted as part of a multi disciplinary study in Khon Kaen province, northeast Thailand from 2002 to 2007, which examined personal, social and structural factors that moderate or compound the impact of impairment, the experience of disability within households and at the community level and the social context of disability"; and in particular "a period of intense participant observation and informal interviews" (p.477) by the first author from December 2006 to February 2007. Participants included people with mobility impairments, caregivers, health and education personnel, members of advocacy groups, and government officers. Buddhism is here described as a central and dominant feature of everyday life in Thai society, and karma (locally 'kam') is a "central moral concept" with pervasive influence, understood in terms of "doing good will get good" and "doing bad will get bad". Among the examples of 'bad' outcomes ("in past or present life") are physical and cognitive impairments. So "disability is constructed as negative" (479). The term widely used for disability is 'pikarn', meaning "physically handicapped" or having "a physical defect", with a negative connotation (480); and further details are shown of Thai concepts of mind and body. Several terms are explained, concerning personal and social behaviour considered virtuous within the Thai Buddhist context, such as loving kindness, fairness, equanimity; also the term songsarn, on a spectrum from 'compassion' to 'pity', which is displayed, in a top down way, toward one who has "experienced misfortune or is disadvantaged". Yet it is suggested that songsarn does not mean warm 'compassion' in the sense of sharing and fellow feeling, to the extent of losing the ideal of cool 'equanimity' ('upekkha') (481). Help and kindness should be given to disabled people, whose condition is "understood to result from bad kamma acquired in either a past or the present life"; and helpers thus demonstrates thankfulness "for their own good fortune" while also acquiring merit to avoid disability in their own subsequent life (482). This interpretation of disability and its origin was avoided by some participants, who minimised the level of their own impairment, or displayed equanimity. Some accepted that songsarn had its uses if someone gave them a job out of compassion they then wished to prove that they deserved employment anyway, by performing good work and worthy behaviour (483). Others accepted their disability as a misfortune, something missing in themselves, and understood that the public would look down on them with pity. Some "spoke with pain and anger about being disabled", or conditions that involved losing dignity and becoming dependent on others. "All attributed their disabilities to negative kamma" (485), and realised that society judged them in the same way.
NAGAI, Akiko (2002, February) A lesson on "seeing" from a blind priest. Toyota Foundation Occasional Report, No. 32, pp. 7-9. http://www.toyotafound.or.jp/profile/foundation_publications/occational_report/data/or_no32.pdf {'occational' is correct in this URL}
[The URL has changed several times, but Google will usually find this and the next item.]
As part of her historical studies on blind people employed in religious activities in Kyushu, Japan and South Korea, Nagai arranged to interview a blind priest R___, from the Korean Society of Divination Art of the Blind, Chonju city, Cholla Pukdo Province, during his morning walk. The 'interview' became instead a lesson in seeing and living, from dawn until late night, as Nagai was permitted to follow him through the day, the blind man striding confidently ahead along the mental map he had built during 25 years, with pauses to allow Nagai and her research assistant to catch up. The employment of all the senses to navigate and read the world has been described by people blind from birth or losing sight in infancy; but R___ was 21, working in civil engineering, when he lost his sight through being beaten by a gang. He learnt to reconstruct his life and cognitive faculties as an adult. At Seongbul Temple, near Chonju, R___ learnt the traditional religious practices in which blind people used to engage, recitation of scripture, Zhou divination, and fortune telling, from another blind priest. He also learnt Braille, and pursued his studies of Buddhist scriptures by this means. (See next item).
NAGAI, Akiko (2002) A Social History of Blind Priests in Japan and South Korea. Fukuoka: Ashi Foundation. See notice in Toyota Foundation Occasional Report No. 33, July 2002, p. 12. http://www.toyotafound.or.jp/profile/foundation_publications/occational_report/data/or_no33.pdf
(See previous item). This historical study is unusual in tracing the sometimes similar, sometimes different, paths of those blind people, in Japan and in Korea, who studied religious texts and acquired skills of musical recitation with or without instrumental accompaniment, and also some skills of fortune telling, divination, or healing.
NAKAMURA, Karen (2006) Deaf in Japan, Signing and the politics of identity. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP. xx + 226 pp.
Nakamura's useful sketch of the "early history of the deaf in Japan" includes reference to the impact of Shinto, Buddhism and Confucianism on responses to disability and deafness (pp. 32-38). There is also a later paragraph about modern Buddhist responses, and one sect in particular that links disability and karma, and is alleged to target families having disabled children, zealously offering its solution for their difficulties.
NAVON, Liora (1996) Beyond constructionism and pessimism: theoretical implications of leprosy destigmatisation campaigns in Thailand. Sociology of Health and Illness 18 (2) 258-276.
(see next)
NAVON, L. (1998) Beggars, metaphors, and stigma: a missing link in the social history of leprosy. Social History of Medicine 11: 89-105.
Study of the range and ambiguity in historical and current public attitudes toward leprosy in Thailand, suggesting that before effective medical treatment was available, Buddhist teaching on karma could support stigmatising views, since leprosy was believed to result from sins in an earlier life; yet Buddhist belief also supported an actively compassionate response, by which believers would acquire merit. The first reaction caused many people with the earlier stages of leprosy to disguise their condition or to be concealed by their families. Over time, this meant that the general population's knowledge and experience about leprosy was confined to seeing people with severe leprosy deformities who were begging in public and benefitting from the second response, i.e. the charitable impulse. Some time after modern drug treatment became available, people with severe deformities were a rare sight; yet a strong folk memory continued of the disgusting and repulsive beggars, and that memory reinforced negative attitudes in the rising generation.
NISSANKA H.S.S. (1993/1995) Buddhist Psychotherapy: an Eastern therapeutical approach to mental problems. New Delhi: Vikas. 172 pp. ISBN 0706990021.
This work by Dr. Nissanka is based on some 30 years of study and private practice, after the author obtained a master's degree in Pittsburgh, USA and Ph.D. at the University of Jadavpur, India. The aim of the book is to provide "an alternative theoretical model for psychotherapy" (p. 11), founded on readings of the discourses of the Buddha Gotama. The first part (pp. 15-53) gives an introduction to "Buddhist Psychotherapy", with a system for approaching patients, analysing and understanding their mind by asking a number of questions, listening to their responses, and observing their behaviour. Each one can then be introduced to some simple preliminaries of meditation, and to the beginnings of a better awareness of the body and its breath and functioning, the sensations and feelings, the mental processes, the working of the unconscious, and of the capacity that each one has to change his or her behaviour. Summaries of seven case studies are given (pp. 54-82), illustrating the practical course of treatment with people having a variety of psychological conditions or mental disorders, which Nissanka classifies as: simple depression; obsession; Oedipus complex; a psycho-somatic disorder; "manic depressive psychosis" (author's quotation marks); conversion hysteria; a dream leading to abortion. [In the final case, a couple reported that "they had been married for nearly six years but that so far not a single child of theirs survived the early months of pregnancy. When the wife had the first abortion, she was in her seventh month of pregnancy" (pp. 79-80). Despite many precautions, a further miscarriage or stillbirth took place, the date during pregnancy being unspecified. They consulted Nissanka in the fifth month of a third pregnancy. Use of the terms 'early months' and 'abortion' might now be a little misleading in Western English.] Nissanka next outlines the "Discourses by the Buddha on Mindfulness", principally the Satipatthana Sutta (in Majjima Nikaya), and the Maha Satipatthana Sutta (in Digha Nikaya), with some commentary and discussion (83-116). There follows some material on "Discerning the Unconscious", and "Behavioural Remedy through Self-awareness" (117-132). Nissanka gives some views about "Western Psychotherapy" (133-150), then draws his conclusions (151-165). [From the book's cover, it is apparent that Dr. Nissanka's main occupations have been as a teacher of International Studies, and Religion, at high school and university levels, also journalism and media editor. As a teacher in the 1950s, he came across some students who had psychological problems and worked out ways of helping them. He thus developed a reputation as a psychotherapist (p. 54), no doubt facilitated by his personal presence ("It is essential to win the confidence of the patient by being genuinely interested and being kind to him", {p. 154}), and continued studying and practising into the 21st century (see next item). Nissanka recommends therapists to get physical conditions checked by medical experts; and he further states that "at the outset, I must confess, that I did not get patients suffering from very serious mental problems, such as schizophrenia." (p. 55) He believes that the methods outlined can be practised successfully by lay persons, with good character, kindliness and discernment. "The system of Buddhist psychotherapy is nothing but a systematization of meditation for a therapeutical purpose". (154-155)]
NISSANKA, H.S.S. (2006) An introduction to Buddhist psychotherapy. http://archives/dailynews.lk/2006/09/13/fea06.asp, 13 September 2006.
[See previous item.] This article explains in outline the Buddhist psychotherapeutic approach given in detail in the item listed above, to which reference is made, based on Dr. Nissanka's 45 years of practice (in Sri Lanka).
OBEYESEKERE, Gananath (1970) The idiom of demonic possession: a case study. Social Science & Medicine 4: 97-111.
Detailed description and analysis of incidents of mental illness and abnormal behaviour in the life of a rural Ceylonese woman, and a diagnostic procedure by a Buddhist monk experienced in this field: the patient is put into a hypnotic state in which she answers questions more directly and accurately than she could in normal consciousness. The traditional idiom of demon possession provides a "ready made cognitive structure", with which the woman can attempt to handle "intolerable psychological conflicts" generated by her familial situation and internalised female roles, while remaining fully situated in the local belief system and therefore availing herself of local acceptance and support.
OE, Kenzaburo (1969) A Personal Matter, translated from Japanese by J. Nathan. New York: Grove, Weidenfeld. ix + 214 pp. (Original: Kojinteki na taiken, 1964, Tokyo: Shinehosa).
The novel depicts moral and ethical dilemmas confronting an immature young Japanese man who learns that his newborn son has a severe impairment. The fictional experiences parallel those of the author Oe [*], as told in later works (see following item, p. 107). The 'tragedy' of the baby is also viewed against the ongoing disaster for survivors of the American bombing of Hiroshima. (See Oe's other items and notes).
* [In English translations or anglophone discussions of Oe's 'oeuvre', earlier transliterations appeared often with a macron (a small bar) above the 'O', or an umlaut on the 'e'; but more recent anglophone publishers (whose overriding aim is to sell books) tend to omit all 'nuisance' accents that might deter buyers, or retard the production line. The trend to ditch accents and diacritical marks is encouraged by Google (though its facility for free computer translation, with increasing accuracy and linguistic variety, is pretty impressive). The 'correct' way to spell Oe's name is of course to use Japanese characters. Dolts like this compiler, who have no Japanese, can please themselves how they 'represent' the author's name using roman characters. Oe himself made two major contributions to his public identifiability, by
It would be unreasonable to complain that he should have done more to make his name clear, pronounceable, and nicely wrapped for domestic use by monoglot English readers!]
OE, K. (2001) A Healing Family, translated from Japanese by S. Snyder. Tokyo: Kodansha International. 146 pp. [Originally published in book form by Kodansha, 1995, titled Kaifuku suru kazoku.]
[See previous and following items.] Oe makes clear that he is "not someone who believes in any faith" (p. 11); yet in the same sentence, and at intervals through the book, he refers to aspects of spirituality in the world's faiths and relates them with his observations and experiences of his disabled son Hikari. For example, he sees how, in the difficult moment of making the morally right decision about the brain operation that allowed Hikari to live, he himself was in some sense 'reborn' as a moral being (p. 18). He relates the common question, when a series of life's coincidences seems perfectly engineered to change one's life, whether these are merely coincidences (which he believes), or could be evidence of a cosmic designer smiling behind the curtain (pp. 25-26). {Doubtless Oe had considered the hypothesis that the pattern-seeking brain identifies the series of 'events' that looks remarkable, while the colossal range of other event-series passes unnoticed. See following item by Oe.} He compares Hikari's unexpected ability to focus intensively on the act of composing music, with Simone Weil's description of prayer as "the directing of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward god" (p. 142).
OE, K. (2002) Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age, translated from Japanese by J. Nathan, 2002. London: Atlantic. iv + 250 + ix pp. (including 'Afterword' by translator). Published in Japanese in 1983.
[See previous items and annotation.] In this work Oe examined further some ideas sketched in the above items, in an extended ramble (pp. 203-226) through the "vast and richly articulated world" of William Blake, and of Swedenborg, rain trees, the Buddhist excavation at Borodubur with a six-fingered tea vendor outside, the Bogor Botanical Gardens on Bali and a disfigured girl in the Temple of Death, also his youthful dream (?) of children running downhill and "soaring upward into the sky as if they were on gliders. We were practicing 'soul take-offs' to ensure that our souls would be well prepared to escape from our bodies when death arrived". Note also Oe's recollected explanation (in an earlier work, The Contemporary Game) of something like the 'Multiverse' or 'multiple universe' hypothesis, with parallel worlds dividing off into infinite variations at every instant, amidst which might sit some "godlike entity as if he were playing a game" by making some part of it self-aware. These reflections by Oe are only marginally a part of 'Buddhism'; yet it is not hard to see that this elderly and prolific Japanese writer's passion and capacity to understand the poet, artist and mystic William Blake (1757-1827) - whose writings are hardly read outside literary circles in Britain - must derive in good measure from Oe's having grown up in a country imbued with many centuries of Buddhist cultural heritage. [Incidentally, Oe's books reflect various aspects of Japanese social responses to disabled children and their education and roles in society, as experienced by his family and by the author himself. Oe's work exposed him to political and personal attacks, threats and harrassment by young people, some of whom seem to have been appreciably mentally disordered.]
PALAPATHWALA, Ruwan (2008) Bodhi, Karuna and Metta; Buddhist perspectives for a theology of pastoral care for the ageing and persons with disabilities. In: E. Mackinlay (ed.) Ageing, Disability and Spirituality. Addressing the challenge of disability in later life, pp. 145-162. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Palapathwala is a Sri Lankan Christian minister who understands that Buddhist care and teaching have much to offer, and can act as a complement (and sometimes an incentive or challenge) to Christian pastoral care, speaking especially to people whose conceptual world is non-theistic. He describes in some detail the basic teachings of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and three fundamental Buddhist notions as given in the title above. "Karuna is selfless compassion that is kindled in one's being for the salvation of all sentient beings as a result of bodhi - the awakened knowledge of the true nature of the ill-laden and transient phenomenal world. Metta is the emotive and altruistic ethic that enables and facilitates another's happiness and well-being." (p. 148) These features or characteristics are then further expounded, as are the numerous ever-changing manifestations of suffering or "dukkha-laden phenomena", i.e. the "five aggregates or five bundles or instruments of clinging: mind and matter (nama-rupa); sensations (vedana); perceptions (sanna); mental formations (samkhara); and consciousness (vinnana)" {with appropriate diacriticals} (150), with some illustrations from Pali texts.
The familiar fine sentiments are expressed, e.g. from the Sutta Nipatta, 1:8, "Even as a mother protects her child with her life, so with a boundless heart one should cherish all living beings; radiating kindness, in all its height, depth and breadth, all throughout the universe; ...{etc}" For the individual to achieve this wonderful outpouring of universal love, kindness, service, transformation, and so forth, the right kind of meditation should be practised, with a foundation of the right kind of knowledge. One should aim to be a bodhisatta, or at least a saint. The Christian source for the outpouring of love would presumably be the one God; the Buddhist source is non-theistic: "the Buddhist idea of compassion provides pastoral theology with insights into the possibility of the care-giver's being an embodiment of grace... metta is not dependent upon a priori knowledge of Divine love: it presupposes knowledge about the essential nature of all phenomena." [What is not so obvious, in the ordinary world encountered every day by seven billion people, is how anyone can find, or may become, one of those saints or bodhisattas who overflows with love - not only toward their own family, friends and (maybe) neighbours, but even undertakes to save all sentient beings. That is not made clear by Dr. Palapathwala.]
RAESIDE, James (2003) This death in life: leprosy in Mishima Yukio's Raio no terasu and beyond. Japan Forum 15 (1) 99-123.
The drama "Terrace of the Leper King" (1969), by the Japanese writer Mishima Yukio (pen-name of Hiraoka Kimitake, 1925-1970), is loosely based on the life of the Cambodian King Jayavarman VII (in the late 12th and early 13th century), his construction of a great Buddhist temple at Angkor Wat, and his supposed concurrent development of leprosy. Raeside pursues different strands of significance, e.g. the 'Leper King'; leprosy as a metaphor of varied meaning; the religious background in Jayavarman's time, and religious archetypes in other times; themes of disability, decay and paradoxical hermeneutics in Mishima's major works, and influences on his thinking; uneasy relations between Japan and its Asian neighbours; and some perceived corruption within the 'body politic' of Japan.
[Cf. alternative or parallel hypothesis in Thierry Zéphir (transl. 1998) Khmer Lost Empire of Cambodia, translated from French by F. Garvie, London: Thames & Hudson, p. 104, with photo of sitting figure having white blotches on limbs: "Because of the marks made by lichens covering it, this statue of the god Yama (judge of the dead) was thought to represent a king suffering from leprosy, the famous 'Leper King'." (p. 104; and 107, 124, citing 13th century visitor Zhou Daguan, The Customs of Cambodia {ed. &transl. M. Smithies, 1993}; also pp. 80-82).]
RATANAKUL, Pinit (1984) The Buddhist concept of life, suffering and death and their meaning for health policy. In: Z. Bankowski & J.H. Bryant (eds.) Health Policy, Ethics and Human Values, an international dialogue. XVIIIth CIOMS Round Table Conference, 286-295. Geneva: Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences.
The author expressed, with apparent intelligibility, some basic teaching of Buddhism on life, its sanctity and death, on cause and effect, on the inter connectedness and transience of all things, and on suffering and its cessation; and made tentative suggestions about their application to some issues of interest to western ethicists and planners in the 1980s. [The Buddhist teachings, and their elaboration, do not appear to mesh easily into anglophone concepts and assumptions of 20th century western "health policy, ethics and human values"; indeed, they constitute challenges to some of the post-judaeo-christian philosophical underpinnings of international health policies, which are often (mistakenly) assumed to be globally agreed.]
RATANAKUL, P. (1988) Bioethics in Thailand: the struggle for Buddhist solutions. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 13 (3) 301-312.
While appreciating some of the health benefits gained through the introduction by American agencies of Western medical models, Prof. Ratanakul is concerned at the "superciliousness toward the indigenous health system" and the "minimization of Thai traditional values rooted in the Buddhist holistic concept of health and health care", as well as the uncritical import of a "new ethics based on the American cult of individualism and free market ideology [which] values wealth over persons and human needs" (pp. 302-303). With some like minded colleagues, Ratanakul has developed bioethics teaching in which "special effort is made to use Buddhism as a source of reference, since more than ninety percent of the Thai population adheres to the Buddhist teaching" (307), emphasizing truth telling by health personnel, rather than paternalistic deceptions; non injury (discussed in the context of suicide, or 'mercy killing' "when the suffering of the patient is the result of his past life kamma, it will have to run its course until the kammic potency is exhausted" but there are other factors to be considered, pp. 309-310); mention is also made of the "case of defective newborns"; but "more careful reflection" is still needed to determine Buddhist approaches to these problems (310). [While direct applications to disability issues are hardly mentioned, the "struggle for Buddhist solutions" to ethical problems during the 1980s undoubtedly extended to disability.]
RUNGREANGKULKIJ, Sumporn; Wongtakee, Wiwat (2005) The psychological impact of Buddhist counselling for patients suffering from symptoms of anxiety. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 22 (3) 127-134.
[See annotation of next item.]
RUNGREANGKULKIJ, S.; Wongtakee, W.; Thongyot, Sawitta (2011) Buddhist Group Therapy for diabetes with depressive symptoms. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 25 (3) 195-205.
This article from Thailand begins with a short review of some standard American literature on the uses of mindfulness-based meditation, cognitive therapy, or acceptance and commitment therapy, as derived from 'Buddhist tradition', with people having significant mental illnesses. It then outlines how 'Buddhist Group Therapy' is being used in Thailand, after an earlier study (2008, see previous item) in which "individual Buddhist counselling" was carried out "for 21 patients experiencing symptoms of anxiety". A noticeable difference from the American studies is that for the Group study in Thailand, focusing on patients with diabetes with depressive symptoms, the Buddhist background, principles, design and practice occupy three full and detailed pages. For example, "The group leaders are psychiatric nurses who have a Buddhist belief system and follows Buddhist principles consistently. The group leaders attended a 5-day Buddhist counselling workshop led by an Eastern-based Buddhist psychologist. The group leaders were required to learn and practice 'Dynamic Meditation' under the supervision of an experienced monk for 7 days..." and so on. (The description cannot be quoted in full here, but it is clear that in Thailand, where the national religion is Buddhism, considerable efforts were made to provide culturally embedded and authentic professional therapy within Buddhist traditions. Additionally, patients kept a daily journal, or "diary of perceived changes in their thoughts or emotions"). A control group was monitored, of patients attending follow-up appointments, getting standard information and advice on diet, exercise, and medication for anxiety or depression, where indicated. Appropriate measurements were made of depression symptoms in the two groups, during the six weeks group practice and follow-through, up to six months, with some precautions against bias in the comparisons. The authors present a further page of thoughts from Group participants' logs. Measurements apparently showed a significantly greater percentage of positive outcomes in the Buddhist Group Therapy participants, though the authors correctly admit some methodological weaknesses, and call for further research with a larger population, better matched controls, analysis of patients' earlier experiences with meditation, and other sensible precautions.
SADANA, R.; Sek, S. & Kim, H.K. (2001) Cambodia. (Culture-specific findings from the CAR study). In: T.B. Ustun, S. Chatterji, J.E. Bickenbach et al. (eds.) Disability and Culture. Universalism and Diversity, pp. 67-84. Bern: Hogrefe & Huber.
The chapter was reported from a multinational Cross-Cultural Applicability Research [CAR] study, in preparation for revision of a World Health Organisation classification of disability (ICIDH-2). Giving background information on disability in Cambodia, the authors presented the methods and results of studies conducted in 1997 and intended to elicit public perceptions and attitudes towards people with disabilities, through focus group discussions in Khmer (tape-recorded, transcribed and translated), key informant interviews in Khmer, and linguistic analyses. During the studies some cross-cultural difficulties were experienced (i.e., of translating not only the American English terms, but the underlying western concepts, into the Khmer language) and the results could not be generalised across the country. The influence of the predominantly Theravada Buddhist beliefs was described, with heavy emphasis on negative sentiments. "In the Khmer world-view, individuals who are missing limbs or suffer from severe physical disabilities are incomplete and their physical status is thought to reflect bad actions during their previous life. These individuals are stigmatized and are often excluded from entering monasteries or attending other religious or social activities that form the basis of community life and support in Cambodia" (pp. 68-69; and similar pp. 72-78). The negative judgements were also part of the beliefs of some disabled interviewees: "a male staff member who has polio stated: 'I think my body became like this because of my previous life ... I might have done bad actions.' A woman in group I explained: 'We don't want to be with handicaps, but if we think about our destiny, maybe we have committed demerits in our previous life, so in this life we have handicaps'." (p. 74) Verbal insults were reportedly heard in public: "These include extremely pejorative terms including kam-bot or kam-bak, meaning 'dismembered amputee,' or 'torn-off, broken beggar.' For women, the term mi ankot is often used, also extremely pejorative, meaning a female who is as useless as a log (reflecting the analogy of the body to a tree)", and people with difficulty walking noticed both children and adults mimicking their gait (74). In an exercise on listing features in a comparative way, "Mental impairments and bad moral behaviour are most heavily stigmatized. Most agreed that individuals with mental impairments and persons with physical impairments who also drink, gamble, sleep on the streets or visit prostitutes experience the most severe social stigma ... Individuals with mental impairments, especially çkeut, the Khmer concept for active psychosis, are particularly ostracized or exploited". (75) [No expertise was apparent in the understanding of religious features that were reported; and the great majority of disabled informants had impairments of a physical nature. However, there seems to have been little or no doubt of the main thrust of their verdict.]
SETHABOUPPHA, Hunsa (2001) Buddhist family caregiving: a phenomenological study of family caregiving to the seriously mentally ill in Thailand. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of California, San Francisco.
[See next item.]
SETHABOUPPHA, H. & Kane, Catherine (2005) Caring for the seriously mentally ill in Thailand: Buddhist family caregiving. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 19 (2) 44-57.
[Previous item is referenced as the source for the present one.] Study was made by taped interview with 15 informants (aged between 25 and 65) who were in Buddhist families, giving care to a relative with serious mental illness (diagnosed as schizophrenia) for at least one year, in the vicinity of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Buddhist concepts such as karma, boon (merit), babb (demerit), past life and rebirth, and dharma, surfaced in discourse by the participants on their duty of care-giving, according to Buddhist beliefs. There was also discussion of compassion, the management of stress, social problems, the lack of adequate information about mental disorders, the Buddhist 'middle way', and other pertinent features. The various features of Buddhism and family care-giving are discussed in some detail, as derived from informants' statements.
SHARMA, Ursula (1973) Theodicy and the doctrine of karma. Man 73 (8) (No. 3) 347-364.
Sharma reported a study of the expressed beliefs of North Indian villagers on the origins and causes of suffering and misfortune in their lives. Ancient scriptures teach about karma, and it is widely believed to be a central doctrine among the variety of Hindu beliefs (in an era long before any text or teaching was differentiated as 'Hindu', 'Buddhist' or 'Jaina'). Karma did figure in the villagers' beliefs, and was mentioned in some cases of disability. With a youth having a leg deformity, who had problems finding a bride, "his father said that this trouble must have been due to bad karma of both father and son in past lives." An elderly Brahmin, living with a low caste widow, was disowned by fellow Brahmins for this misconduct. When he became blind later in life, other Brahmins explained the affliction as "a punishment for his breach of caste rules". Sharma compared this with the "widespread belief that lameness may be the result of having kicked either a cow or a Brahmin in some past life." Another villager was seriously disabled by rheumatism, attributed by neighbours to his having felled a sacred tree on his land. However, the villagers held a repertoire of explanatory models, among which karma was not the most prominent. Their karma concept had reached them as part of "a living folk tradition", rather than from textual authority. Nor did the repertoire constitute "a tidy and logically coherent system of metaphysics". Sharma gave a fluent account of karmic doctrine, among the theodicies offered by major religions. She noted possible tensions in everyday life, while being cautious about imposing any such structure on the villagers' thoughts, or imagining that there is a known 'orthodoxy' from which the rural folk might have 'deviated'.
SHIM, Jae-Ryong (2001) Evil and the overcoming of suffering in Buddhism. In: P. Koslowski (ed.) The Origin and the Overcoming of Evil and Suffering in the World Religions, 8-23. Dordrecht: Kluwer. [The book is also published in a German language version, by Wilhelm Fink verlag, Munich.]
Sensitised by his own life-long physical fragility (pp. 8-9) the Korean Buddhist philosopher Jae-Ryong Shim (1943-2004), runs through some Buddhist historical concepts of suffering, before turning to "the problem of suffering in the contemporary world, especially related to the sufferings of persons caught up in and created by the relentlessly mechanistic enterprise of capitalist-consumer society, the evil of which is intricately wrought into the very nerve and skein of its structure." (10) In a section describing "Buddhist ways of overcoming suffering a mental approach and its criticism by 'socially engaged' Buddhists in contemporary Asia" (16-22), Shim discovers more than one 'radical innovation' or 'paradigm shift' on the way toward formulation of a "Korean Minjung Buddhism" (22), a practice of Buddhism that would live with, serve and assist in the (self-) liberation of the poor, oppressed and tortured 'ordinary people' of Korea. He quotes a traditional 'moment of illumination', in which a poet-monk mentally 'turns away' from the tempting folly of a dancing girl; and contrasts it with the "poignant, yet defiant, poem written by Thich Nhat Hanh, a contemporary Vietnamese refugee-monk working for a peaceful world," the much-republished poem titled "Please Call Me By My True Names" (pp. 17-18). Hanh perceives his own participation in the identities of both oppressed and oppressor, and so cannot 'turn away', because "...I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, / my legs as thin as bamboo sticks, / and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda. / I am the 12 year-old girl, refugee / on a small boat, / who throws herself into the ocean / after being raped by a sea pirate, / and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable / of seeing and loving..."* Shim further recalls the "radical transformation of the Buddhist paradigm of salvation" in the "astounding rewriting of the Four Noble Truths" by Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956), leader of India's Shudras or Dalits, the vast lower castes of 'untouchable' millions. The latter "systematically studied the religious options available in India and finally adopted Buddhism..." (20). "Ambedkar's redefinition of Buddhist liberation - as the amelioration of material conditions and social relationships in this life - is so astounding and provocative that it is {not} easily acceptable even among Buddhist intellectuals in India." [It takes some nerve to insert "not" in a published assertion by a philosopher {!}; yet it is obvious from context and syntax that the missing 'not' is a printing error. In context, the sentence does not work without 'not'.] Fifty years later, the Korean philosopher saw the new challenge: "The world has changed. The causes of suffering have to be found, not in the individual, mental defilements, but in the intricate nexus of collective, structural or organizational evils." (p. 20)
* [The poem was quoted from: Thich Nhat Hanh (1987) Being Peace, ed. A. Kotler, Berkeley, Cal.: Parallax, cited in C.S. Queen & S.B. King (eds.) (1996) Engaged Buddhism, 338-339. Googling the title now shows Hanh's poem widely reprinted online, e.g. Dharma Writing Workshop, http://www.quietspaces.com/poemHanh.html]
SHUE, Vivienne (1998) State power and the philanthropic impulse in China today. In: W.F. Ilchman, S.N. Katz & E.L. Queen (eds.) Philanthropy in the World's Traditions, 332-354. Bloomingston: Indiana UP.
Between 1993 and 1995, Shue interviewed nearly 200 people, mainly in six Chinese coastal cities of large or moderate size, who were involved in charity and welfare work. One aim was to find the balance between earlier notions of comradely service, and "colourful reports confirming the postsocialist transfigurations of social values" (p. 332). Amid many kinds of work reviewed, some served disabled people. The 'deserving poor' or 'honest poor' (pp. 335, 337) clearly embrace various categories of needy people who lack family members able and willing to care for them, including "mentally and physically disabled people, many of whom may be expected never to succeed in finding a mate, and whose impaired earning abilities and afflictions place an unsustainable burden on their families" (337-38). Activities of the All-China Association of Handicapped People are noted (339). Other voices name "the elderly, orphaned children, sick children, the disabled..." (340), or "the poor, the disabled, and so on" (341), for whom China's new, competitive, market economy may find little room or compassion; or who might receive a handout merely to create a better image for a business company or kudos-seeking individual. Some sceptical views are described (346-348), but also a few exceptional people, with little access to funds, who take the difficult path of personally setting up a service, usually for "mentally handicapped children, orphans, or the elderly on a non-profit basis", and succeed against the odds (p. 349). Shue finds some continuities of concept, motivation and action, between China's historical heritage of philanthropy and the current reported activities, whether by the state, non-governmental organisations or individuals. [See also chapter by HANDLIN SMITH on 17th century Chinese philanthropy (listed above in section 2.0), from ILCHMAN et al., Philanthropy.]
SOMASUNDARAM, Daya J.; Van de Put, Willem A.C.M.; Eisenbruch, Maurice; De Jong, Joop T.V.M. (1999) Starting mental health services in Cambodia. Social Science and Medicine 48: 1029-1046.
With a base of earlier anthropological work by Eisenbruch (see above) and Van de Put, and preparation of materials in Khmer and English by Somasundaram et al., training in community mental health care was given to a core group of 12 Cambodians, who in turn trained 460 community workers (by September 1997). "The villagers were people such as monks, members of pagoda-committees, village chiefs, elders, leaders, monks, nuns, achaas (learned religious persons), village development committee (VDC) members, primary health care workers and school teachers" ['monks' are listed twice... the strong base of rural Buddhism seemed to have survived the series of catastrophic events through 25 years.] The programme "set out to interfere as little as possible with existing traditional healing networks", and instead to build on and supplement them with western biomedical approaches to "severe neuro-psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and major affective disorders as well as epilepsy", which the more experienced healers recognised as being mostly beyond the help of traditional methods (p. 1032). Instead, they would "help the family to understand why a person may have developed çkuet (literally 'mad') and in this way, open the door for re-integration of the patient into the community." A satisfactory balance between traditional and western approaches, and the expectations of patients for drug-based treatment for both severe and minor conditions, was not easily achieved. Among the 'milder' interventions were "Buddhist mindful breathing ... Puthoo was repeated, that is Puth while breathing in and thoo while breathing out"; a Yogic muscular relaxation exercise, Shanti or Sava Asana; verbal repetition: "Keatha, words (mantra, Angkam), idiom (Puthoo), or the phrase, Buddhang Saranang Gachchami"; and "Samadhi and Vipassana meditation" (pp. 1036-37). There were variable reports of success and failure in different parts of the country, and with gender and age divisions. "Most of the children who were brought [to the rural mental health clinics] had either epilepsy or mental handicap" (p. 1040), and results with the latter were (understandably) weak. However, the "Buddhist form of mindful breathing (Ana Pana Sati), body awareness, repetition of Keatha and meditation have been culturally acceptable and found effective for minor mental health disorders ... The benefits of these traditional practices are not confined to producing relaxation. When methods are culturally familiar, they tap into past childhood, community and religious roots and thus release a rich source of associations that can be helpful in therapy and the healing process" (p. 1042).
SPIRO, Melford E. (1971) Buddhism and Society. A great tradition and its Burmese vicissitudes. London: Allen & Unwin. xiv + 510 pp.
Spiro carried out fourteen months of anthropological fieldwork in a Burmese village in 1961-1962, observing and recording Buddhist behaviour and beliefs; but could not later return to check and correct his interpretations, due to the closing of Burma to foreign scholars. He noted that, while Buddhism "is the measure of all things: against Buddhism all values, ideas, and behavior are ultimately to be judged" (p. 20), the villagers were hardly Buddhist scholars: "except for a few sutta which they learn in the monastery school, most villagers are acquainted primarily with the Jataka. Still, the Jataka alone is constantly appealed to as a court of last resort whenever a moral is to be drawn, a point to be made, a position defended." (20) Disability is mentioned incidentally, e.g. becoming blind with age (85); sacrifice of a limb (110, footnote); albino boys believed to be reincarnation of Europeans (130). More pointedly, in a description of daily devotions, there is a prayer for protection from various woes, including the "Four Deficiencies [tyrannical kings, wrong views about life after death, physically deformed, dull-witted]" (p. 210). However, the fourth deficiency has some service provision: "only the duller boys are sent to the monastic school", while the brighter are more likely to move on to a Government school (360). Buddhist meditation was used with a view to curing "heart trouble, ulcers, hypertension, chronic migraines, mental illness, and even cancer" - testified to by the educated, urban clientele of one master. (273)
STATLER, Oliver (1984) Japanese Pilgrimage. London: Picador / Pan. 349 pp., with maps, illustrations.
Statler's book is about people in the changing rural environment of modern Japan, about the medieval saint Kobo Daishi or Kukai (774-835 CE, founder of the Shingon school or sect of Buddhism), about Japanese cultural micro-history, thoughts and practices with which ordinary people do their religious life, and everything else. On this two month pilgrimage, Statler walks nearly a thousand miles to visit 88 temples on a known but now little-used route around Shikoku island (most pilgrims, not having two months to spare, now 'do' much or all of the route by bus or car). He was accompanied by a young Japanese college graduate, Nobuo Morikawa, who was making the trip for the first time and usefully contributed different perspectives and questions, as well as native familiarity with the language (pp. 29-32, 192, 292, 327, 335), plus a mutually-confessed lightness of verbalised knowledge about either Buddhist or Christian doctrine. They journey as henro - pilgrim(s), entering a world in which the invisible travel companion is the Daishi himself; "Beyond that, doctrine is for priests" (171-172, 292). Sometimes the Daishi shows up in the person of a much-needed local child, who cheerfully guides the pilgrims where paths diverge and they have lost their way (263-264). Statler ranges widely across history, myth and legend, usually tied to recorded events in particular lives. As many of the Shingon temples and other revered sites visited along the way were associated with healing or shamanic practices, there is frequent mention of impairment, disability or chronic illness, experienced by ordinary Japanese people seeking some relief by healing ritual or prayers. Some of this may be found in the index, lumped together under 'faith healing', 'pilgrimage - cures effected by', or 'miracle-worker', also under 'Buddhism - service to the people'. The index might more usefully have added 'blind people' (pp. 156, 177, 194, 279, 282, 283); 'crippled, physically disabled' (67, 142, 156-158, 177, 194, 260, 306, 323); leper (121); malformed baby (94); 'mentally retarded' (29-30, 194 {someone prays for a neighbour who is 'mongoloid'}, 279); mental disorder (195-196, 206, 273, 283); mute (156); senility (269-270, 310). It is said that as a young monk Kobo Daishi was moved by disability and impoverishment: "Whenever I saw a cripple or a beggar, I lamented and wondered what had caused him to spend his days in such a miserable state" (67). Later, many cures or healings were attributed to him. [Statler, who has accumulated years of experience on previous pilgrimages, seems to keep a fairly open mind about such reports - the mental and psychological processes involved in 'having faith' and maintaining a positive attitude toward the possibility of 'getting better' often seem to enhance the chances, as physicians in many countries are aware; yet there are cancers and other serious conditions which may have some remission but usually end up killing people (195).] This fascinating account is much enhanced by more than 50 full- or part-page black-white graphics from different periods and many skilful hands (listed pp. 11-16).
TAMBIAH, S.J. (1970) Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-east Thailand. Cambridge UP. xii + 388 pp.
Tambiah spent three years in Thailand, 1960-1963, much of the time studying three villages in different regions. He discusses physicians and healers in pp. 130-136, and spirit healing (pp. 271-279). There are chapters on "Afflictions caused by malevolent spirits" (312-326), and "Exorcism as healing ritual" (327-336) -- whether and how far these activities might count as Buddhist responses to 'mental disorders' is not so easy to determine. Tambiah's descriptions and assertions seldom make clear what is the basis of factual information, opinion or evidence, and to what extent the reader must depend on the correctness of Tambiah's interpretation. After forty years during which there were growing reactions against 'occidental' impositions of alien theories and concepts on 'oriental' countries and peoples, Tambiah's approach looks rather dated and dubious. He reports a great deal of observation which may embody useful insight, and was praised by various academic reviewers in the early 1970s; yet a more cautious view might now be taken.
TATCHELL, W. Arthur (1909) Medical Missions in China, in connexion with the Wesleyan Methodist Church. London: Robert Culley. 351 pp. + illust.
pp. 42, 44-45 contain a photo and description of a Buddhist nun "who had charge until recently of a heathen temple at Hanyang dedicated to Hwa t'o, the god of Medicine and Surgery. She is eighty years of age. Twenty five years ago she chopped off her left hand in token of her devotion to her idol. After soaking this amputated member in cotton seed oil and drying it in the sun, she has since worn it around her neck" [suspended on a cord] "as a rather gruesome charm." [This book by a medical missionary also contains information about a blind man, Hu Yuan Hsi, who became an outstanding Christian evangelist at the mission hospital, Hankow (pp. 32, 135-139); and also an unnamed man who had been left to die at the hospital gate. The latter was picked up, his gangrenous legs were amputated, with food and care he made a good recovery, a carpenter fitted him with wooden stumps, and he was taught sewing skills and made himself useful repairing garments of patients. After a while, he desired to return home, so was given his boat fare. Months later, he reappeared in a wooden box on wheels "his clan had refused to receive him, but had made for him the wooden trolley in which he was huddled and {they} sent him off ... day after day he had prevailed upon different persons to earn a little merit by pushing his perambulator a trifle nearer" on the route toward the mission hospital (pp. 129-132). The author makes no mention of any positive stories of Buddhists offering care or treatment to people with disabilities -- perhaps he did not know of any, or was unwilling to do so, or it did not occur to him, or he did not think that his British readers (in 1909) would wish to know of any such examples.
The story of the amputee returning home only to be rejected as a person, while some men were willing to construct a mobility contraption to help him 'go away', and a succession of strangers willing to give him a push on the way, is an 'early classic' of 20th century treatment that would be recognised by hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities or parents of disabled children across the world. Interest can be aroused in making or buying a 'new gadget' (of ever-increasing technological complexity) that seems to take the disabled person away from posing any threat of making long-term demands on the limited 'caring capacity' of ordinary people. The less risky request for a short session of pushing the cart along the road, as a stroke of 'good karma', can elicit a positive response from some, though no doubt there were others who gave nothing, or abuse.]
TAYLOR, Irene (1997) Buddhas in Disguise, Deaf People in Nepal. San Diego: DawnSign. vi + 151 pp.
This work, profusely illustrated with black/white and colour photographs gives some unusual glimpses of the lives of deaf people, many of whom were born in Tibetan Buddhist families living in Nepal's northern high-altitude regions, or who migrated from there to towns of the lower levels. (The hearing author, whose parents are deaf, stayed three years in Nepal and learnt some Nepali Sign Language, "survival spoken Nepali" and some Tibetan, during her "romantic journey" {pp. 1, 7, 9}.) Details of deaf people's lives are accumulated through stories and pictures of those she met while trekking around - Taylor correctly acknowledges many difficulties in interpreting what she saw; and further confusion is introduced by voluntarily seeing 'buddhas' disguised as poor, wretched or deaf people, to evoke compassion within the population (pp. 3-4). There is no index, and much background data appears (tentatively) from cumulative casual mentions and shape-shifting metaphors in several places: thus, after reference to "age-old superstitions tormenting the lives of those born to a lesser God", (p. 9), Taylor wonders what she could say of "the families who have four, maybe five deaf children, all of whom have been deafened from disease thriving in a dirty water tap in their village" (9); then mentions (pp. 18-19) a place in the "Buddhist hinterland of the Himalaya" and a ceremony of penance requested by the mother of five born-deaf sons, in which a local shaman aims to "invoke and internalize the evil spirit afflicting [the latest of these deaf boys], digest its wrath" and then return it to the "dark spirit world" of its origin. "One in four of their village children becomes deaf" and this "hearing loss is accepted as the wrath of a lesser, more benevolent God". [?] Later, Taylor tells of reaching probably the same village, Jhankot (pp. 77f.), and learns, from a teacher (posted there from the south) that 10% of the villagers "are completely deaf" - but a local man corrects him, "More like twenty-five percent" (78). There Taylor meets what she calls "the 'Buddha' family; Mother, Father, four deaf sons and a new deaf daughter-in-law". "Quite naturally, they all talked with their hands", though not in the Nepali SL that Taylor picked up in Kathmandu. "The Buddha family speak their own language", one sign of which indicates 'father', and corresponds well with "the dimpled crease on Mr. Buddha's chin." (76-79) Of one mountain family, who realise that they are losing their deaf son by sending him to a privately run deaf school at Pokhara, but see that he will have more opportunities there than in a remote villages, Taylor remarks, "They are very flexible and patient, like the Buddhas they honor each morning after waking to the new day" (p. 118).
Tailoring is becoming a common profession for deaf adults, and one of the successful businesses is run by a deaf couple in Pokhara, the husband being Buddhist, the wife Hindu (pp. 101, 113, 130, 132-133, 141-143). pp. 131-148 concern the Kathmandu Association of the Deaf and the drive for modern education, opportunities, and Nepali Sign Language. It remains unclear whether the darker or fatalistic sides of public beliefs and responses, e.g. "deafness is considered a curse, an aggression of one's own karma, a telltale sign of negative spiritual worth" (p. 35, also 16-19, 35, 40-42, 60-62, 75), is undergoing any significant longer-term changes through the efforts of deaf adults and young people to become assertive actors in their own lives and develop a new image of capable deaf people.
THAN, A.M. (1970) Education of the deaf in Burma. A brief outline. Hearing (Royal National Institute for the Deaf) 25 (4) 108-111. "Prior to 1885, when Burma was a kingdom, the welfare of handicapped people was part of the monastic system of education. Buddhist monks looked after the handicapped children." Formal education for deaf children was begun at Rangoon [Yangon] in 1920 by Miss Mary Chapman and Miss Walden, from England. Their Burmese counterpart was an experienced teacher, Daw Sein Tha. [Miss Chapman had earlier worked with deaf children in Sri Lanka.]
TOBE, Keiko transl. 2002 - 2011): With the Light - Raising an Autistic Child, translated by Satsuki Yamashita. Yen Press, Hachette, New York. [7 double volumes in English, {no.s 1-14 in Japanese}. The 8th volume in English is a single volume {no. 15 in Japanese}.]
This remarkable manga series, with speech bubbles and incidental text translated to English, seems originally to have been published in Japanese in 16 volumes, but the translation appeared in 8 volumes averaging 500+ pages, with 4 to 6 cartoon frames per page. (The author/artist died while completing the eighth volume). The storyline mostly features the Azumas, an urban Japanese young family raising two children, the older being a boy, Hikaru, whom they slowly discover to be significantly 'different' in the development of his thinking, communication and other behaviour, and who is followed through infancy, childhood and school, into his teens. (Some other children and young people on the autism spectrum also appear in later volumes). The Azuma family members encounter and slowly learn to handle a wide range of prejudices, pitfalls and mistaken assumptions in themselves, their older relatives, the neighbours, school staff, shopkeepers, managers, care assistants, police, bus drivers, and many other strangers walking past them in parks, public places, hospitals, shrines and temples, as their son grows and encounters a tightly ordered world that is seldom configured with the same logic that he uses to try to understand it.
Keiko Tobe developed her work with the collaboration of parent organisations, and (as described in appended pages in several volumes, e.g. vol. 6, pp. 508-514) discussed how the material had been modelled on real-life children and families. Most of them faced the problem that each year their child had a new teacher, often in a new part of the school buildings, and the changes required a lot of adjustment and extra support, while the new teacher usually knew nothing about autism, and might be unwilling to learn anything from parents. Some of the parents became expert in understanding how their child would learn more readily, and wrote manuals of guidance. Where the schools operated a 'buddy' system, some of the other children soon understood how to befriend those on the autism spectrum, and how to help them relax and feel okay. The more observant teachers could learn from those 'buddies', and some were smart enough to learn from the children. Of course, there were also children who took part in teasing and bullying Hikaru; and some teachers were reluctant to recognise or accommodate any 'different' kind of logic. Tobe includes some 'rough' mothers of children with autism, who shout and swear at the school staff and who live in squalor, being beaten by drunken men; and other manifestation of non-middle-class life, as well as depicting emotional pain amidst affluence. Difficult topics such as Hikaru's inappropriate touching of women's hair on the bus, and the male teenage sex drive, are depicted frankly. He learns to stroke a specially pleasant piece of fur as a calming substitute, and to relieve his sexual tension at home, in private. Tobe also portrays a compassionate side in the young lad: when an elderly teacher, who had not been much use in teaching Hikaru, slumps down in a fit of depression, Hikaru manages to get the 'touching' right, coming up quietly and giving her the light massage of neck and shoulders that others had used to calm him, while communicating that the woman has value to him as a person.
[As in some of the other East Asian works annotated here, the 'Buddhist' context and background is seldom prominent, but is assumed to be part of the air that everyone breathes, whether or not they have any personal convictions about the existence of the 'supernatural' beings to whom respect or prayer is offered. The Azuma extended family organises social meetings partly around the Buddhist holidays, for example when they plan to meet while visiting the family grave at Obon, New Year's, and Higan (vol. 8: 22, 132, 139, with end-notes on the Japanese Buddhist terms, pp. 300-301; vol. 6: 258 and 518, on the Buddhist custom of ringing the temple bells a symbolic 108 times at New Year), and reminisce about earlier temple events in a period when they had not understood how to prepare Hikaru for the behavioural expectation that would avoid embarrassing or annoying other participants. In volume 5, both Hikaru's parents and his teacher Akamatsu-sensei find it remarkable that Hikaru is not only reading the "Ultramaran book and Encyclopedia", featuring a "superhero from outer space who fights alien monsters to save Earth", but that the Goddess of Mercy, Guan Yin (Kannon, or Avalokiteshvara) had also got into an Ultramaran video, and was fighting strongly on the side of the good guys (5: 276, 282, 288, 326, 517). The sci-fi Buddhism of the youngest generation is news to the adults in early middle age!]
TSU, Y.Y. (1934) Buddhism and modern social economic problems. The Journal of Religion 14: 35-43.
Tsu reviewed Buddhism in Japan and China in the 1930s. In Japan, efforts had been made to modernise and to replicate some successful Christian activities, so Buddhist agencies operated many educational and welfare agencies. Following a traditional Buddhist role with neglected children, there were also "20 schools for the blind and deaf". Nevertheless, while the indirect influence of Buddhism was pervasive in Japan, adherence to formal religious practice seemed to be weakening. In China, while reform was perceived as desirable, Buddhism had modernised less than in Japan. Conservative, liberal and scholastic schools of thought were in some conflict as to the best way forward. [HANDLIN SMITH, Chinese philanthropy (in Section 2.0), notes "one slim volume" in 1912 that "documented Chinese charitable traditions for English readers and then dropped nearly out of sight". This was Tsu Yu-Yue, The Spirit of Chinese Philanthropy: a study in mutual aid, reprinted New York, AMS, 1968; presumably an earlier work of the same author.]
WINFIELD, Pamela D. (2005) Curing with Kaji. Healing and esoteric empowerment in Japan. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 32 (1) 107-130. http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/ {navigate on JJRS site}
Reviews the history and practice of a healing technique that is claimed to apply the Buddha's universal energy, to "heal everything from nearsightedness to terminal cancer". A modern Shingon master is quoted, who includes epilepsy, and polio "in its early state", among conditions that he believes have been greatly benefited during his own practice. Winfield "makes no attempt to substantiate the medical validity of such claims", but intends to retrieve the neglected history of this hands-on technique.
WRIGLEY, Owen (1996) The Politics of Deafness. Washington DC: Gallaudet UP. xx + 292 pp.
In this idiosyncratic and argumentative book, Chapter 4, "Merit Accounting in a Karmic Economy" (pp. 117-164), is stated to be based on more than ten years' experience living in Thailand, where Wrigley worked professionally in the education and schools field. He describes some of his regular observation and participation in the lives of deaf adults and children, and gives a critical appraisal of ways in which the 'hearing' population interacts (or fails to do so) with deaf people, and "the popular Thai attitudes toward the traditional values inherent in the notions of merit and merit making" (p. 123). While Wrigley's focus on Theravada Buddhism (the official religion of Thailand) is brief and admittedly non-expert, his approach from 'merit' makes a change from the typical 'western' focus on the 'negatives' of karma; and 'deafness' is a less common focus than 'disability'. He states that "there is an overarching belief that good deeds will garner merit and thus ensure a better life in the next incarnation. All thoughts, actions or deeds that observe the noble truths [i.e. the 'Eightfold Noble Path'] produce merit, a sort of karmic capital, which is stockpiled toward the ultimate goal." (p. 123) Conversely, it is also believed that wrong actions produce negative effects; so any misfortune, such as sensory impairment, poverty or female gender is seen as "just rewards for insufficient merit gained in a prior life. The victim bears full blame" (124). The acquisition of 'merit', and transactions with this 'capital', often used as a disguise so as to be able to assist someone without the assisted person losing face, are discussed in contrast with a western 'rights' discourse (125-128).
WU HUNG (2001) Photographing deformity: Liu Zheng and his photo series "My Countrymen". Public Culture 13 (3) 339-427. {In the Special Issue: "The Critical Limits of Embodiment; reflections on disability criticism", guest edited by C.A. Breckenridge and C. Vogler.}
The article reproduces eleven of the "'Artistic' photographs of people living in China with deformity, illness, or disability - along with justifications for making and exhibiting these images", from among hundreds of pictures taken during the 1990s. The curious portraits appear with commentary by the young Chinese photographer Liu Zheng, who spent years getting to know the people and gaining their confidence to allow him to photograph them. The subjects range across the social margins of living and dead humanity, such as "two retarded men on the street" in Tongxian, on their enjoyable routine fantasy of 'directing traffic' in a central park dressed in oddments of warden or police kit; "four deformed fetuses" occupying large medical specimen bottles, which had been thrown out from a medical college and would shortly be buried in a pit; a sculpture from the "Gate of Ghosts" at Fengdu, Sichuan, depicting men and women under "tortures and punishments in hell"; a young man with a brain tumour producing a warm smile while awaiting death in a few weeks, at a Beijing hospice where "medical knowledge is now useless"; "three deaf-mute girls" living a financially precarious life as performers at Shenyang; some "wandering performers" at the Buddhist shrine on Mount Wutai, Shanxi; and so on. Wu Hung gives a framework of literature discussing the legitimacy of such 'exploitation', but it seems likely that Liu Zheng won permission from his mostly 'stigmatised' subjects by taking them seriously on a human level and producing technically high quality work; also because the subjects recognised the photographer himself as an obsessive belonging to the same borderlands of humanity as themselves. [Some fraction of the chosen examples have an overt 'Buddhist' connection; but the whole exercise seems to combine interesting features of orthodox and unorthodox Buddhist observation and practice.]
YOSHIDA, Shin'ichi [2007] A bridge from a soundless world. http://www.sgiquarterly.org/english/Features/quarterly/0507/people1.htm
Shin'ichi Yoshida tells his story of being born deaf in 1967 in Japan, and slowly learning to express himself, against some adverse reactions from neighbourhood children. His family, who practice Soka Gakkai Buddhism, encouraged the boy to persevere with his studies, and to persist in looking for work, eventually with success. Members of a SG group took some trouble to learn sign language, so that he should feel included. Now Shin'ichi sometimes meets "with other deaf members to discuss Buddhism together", and has become a volunteer member of a theatre group, and an advocate and counsellor for other deaf people, also giving talks in primary schools to help young children understand the variety of human capacities. "My source of energy for developing myself lies in Soka Gakkai activities." [See also annotation under item above by LUO Sheng-tang. It is unclear how much - if anything - these young deaf men understand about the history and doctrines of Buddhism; and the 'inspirational' nature of their stories might suggest that the discourse is one of Public Relations rather than religious research. Nevertheless, these tales convey a sense that some essential and 'engaged' features of the Buddhist heritage have been extended to the deaf men, and they themselves are willingly carrying the torch onward, in various Asian nations.]
YOUNGHAK, Hyun (1985) The cripple's dance and Minjung theology. Ching Feng 28 (1) 30-35.
The Korean theologian Younghak notes his changing perception of crippled beggars. He first saw them as a boy, and enjoyed watching their begging song and dance, which was also an event for mimicking and teasing. He tells the story of a talented dancer, Ms Kong Ok-Jin, who performed a 'cripple's dance'. She grew up in a very poor family, her brother was deaf, and she had learnt to communicate with gesture and mime. She worked as a maid for a Korean dancer, and later worked in a troupe of singers and dancers. Her speciality was to depict "both the pain and the joy of the poor, powerless, estranged and uneducated people as she experienced in her personal life and observed in others." Once, going home after a performance, she was beaten by a group of crippled beggars, who felt that her art made fun of their plight. Later she ran a small restaurant, and used to invite crippled beggars, give them food and drink, and "dance with them in order to learn the minutest details of their body movements." By close attention, entering into the beggars' world, Ok-Jin finally learnt how to make an audience feel the reality of pain and misery in the dance of the crippled beggars or lepers, but also the spark of joy with which they claimed their common humanity and challenged 'normal' people. Her performance finally became acceptable to the beggars. [As a Christian theologian, Younghak quite reasonably adds a few lines of interpretation from the Judaeo-Christian scriptures. Yet it is also clear that the story is part of the national suffering of Korea and of the downtrodden worldwide, and reflects the efforts of all who sincerely embrace and identify themselves with the sufferings of others.]
YU, Jimmy Y.F. (2012) Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500-1700. New York: Oxford. 286 pp. [Published in several print and electronic formats.]
Based on his doctoral dissertation at Princeton University, Professor Yu reviews scholarship in the field, and examines in detail the legends and apparent realities of violent body practices, including self-mutilation by cutting or burning one's own flesh, and similarly extreme ascetic practices, with their background in Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian thought and record. An extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources in Asian and European languages is given (pp. 219-256), as part of Yu's insistence on the need to tackle historical topics with more than one academic discipline, using many different genres of primary sources. His compilation and analysis of material opens useful windows on the scale and nature of scholarship in one curious corner of the 'Buddhism and disability' field, and indirectly suggests the limitations of any monoglot approach in these complex studies. He also illustrates the difficulties experienced by an Asian scholar plunged into an ocean of Western theories and 'dominant interpretations', who correctly learns whatever there is to learn from these alien efforts to read 'his' native literature, while knowing that much of those efforts is flawed, too limited, over-confident, insufficiently attuned to the subtleties and nuances of major Asian languages, and (even after some decades of critique of 'Orientalism') still unaware that its own fundamentally western assumptions have little traction or predictive power on the ground of China, Japan or Korea.
[In a bibliography of a serious nature, perhaps one should not try graphically to evoke 'echoes' with ~~ ~~ wavy lines; nor rely on smiley faces to charm away the serious reader's frown :) For doing so, I take momentary refuge in Karl Barth, the major 20th century Protestant theologian - he used no 'emoticons' but he did vary the spacing of words and letters on the page in printed volumes of his colossal work on Church Dogmatics. Apparently it was known practice in German theological books, when the author wished to give some graphical emphasis to alert the readers. If serious German theologians can do this, perhaps it's not an entirely frivolous activity! (Of course, plenty of poets have also done odd things with words on the printed page).]
[Shortly before completing the bibliography, I read Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (2012) The Scientific Buddha. His short and happy life, Yale UP, based on the Terry Foundation Lectures (2008). It was interesting and often entertaining to see this "Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies" sceptically tracing the historical pathways trodden by earlier Orientalist scholars constructing a western mythology of the Buddha Gotama as a (very early) modern scientist, and ironically suggesting that "As a science, Buddhism -- condemned as a primitive superstition by European and American missionaries and by Asian modernists -- was able to leap from the bottom of the evolutionary scale to the top, bypassing the troublesome category of religion altogether." (p. 11) I cannot agree with all Lopez's conclusions, e.g. "The 'mindfulness' that is now taught in hospitals and studied in neurology laboratories is thus a direct result of the British overthrow of the Burmese king." (pp. 99) [?! I doubt it. Surely climatologists have traced modern 'mindfulness' back to the sound of one butterfly wing flapping in the jungle of the Amazon basin!?] Yet it was encouraging to see this American scholar demolishing 150 years of western attempts to bend the Buddha into a convenient shape for domestic consumption. Lopez insists that humanity can learn more by serious and honest studies of the 'Asian' Buddha, recognising the strengths and the weaknesses in the transmission of his teaching while realising also that the learned and unlearned populations of the great Asian civilisations have addressed some similar and some different issues and questions to those that underlie the human and social griefs and troubles of the West now. Can there be compassion without compulsion? Can we learn to be human, and live in close proximity with other people who look different and think differently? Can the intellectually or financially powerful live peaceably with people who are economically poor and physically vulnerable yet who have some contributions and gifts to offer? Is there room for a butterfly to flutter by using both wings?]
"It must again be emphasised that the annotations are concerned only with Buddhism and Disability etc, or their background. In the works listed below, there are many interesting and admirable lessons of all kinds, but they do not appear in the following annotations because they are not the target of this bibliography." Nevertheless, in this 'Western Echoes' section I should admit that sometimes 'Buddhism and disability' gets extended to larger issues of whether 'we', the human race, will learn fast enough how to live together in rather closer harmony, justice and peace, to avoid tipping catastrophically into the final battle of everyone against everyone else.
BAIER, Janine (2005) Représentations du handicap mental au travers de trois religions le christianisme, l'islam, le bouddhisme. Mémoire professionel, enseignement specialisé. Lausanne: Haute Ecole Pedagogique. 73 pp.
[Not seen. No information on accessibility. However, this thesis seems to be evidence of Buddhism and "mental impairment" being addressed seriously in a francophone European university in the 2000s.]
BEJOIAN, Lynne M. (2006) Nondualistic paradigms in disability studies & Buddhism: creating bridges for theoretical practice. Disability Studies Quarterly 26 (3) [online, 16 pp.]
Bejoian, while not offering her views as "an authority on or spokesperson for persons with disabilities or Buddhists", is uneasy about the way Buddhism is misperceived and misrepresented within the (western) field of Disability Studies, and desires to "engage in this discourse as a white legally blind American Tibetan Buddhist female professor of disability studies in education" (p. 3). Studying Buddhism since 2000, the author found that this spiritual teaching "more fully addressed my personal concerns and interests", as compared with earlier experiences in the Christian tradition. While encountering some negative responses in Tibetan Buddhist communities, her Tibetan Buddhist teachers had "always treated me with respect and equanimity". (p.4) A widely misunderstood aspect of Buddhism is the idea that "if one has a disability in this life it is as a consequence of having been 'bad' or 'immoral' in one's last life (5). Several points are offered to rebut this simplistic reading of 'karma' and its effects. The conclusion is that "the commonly held belief about disability that there is an obvious and linear causality is extremely insufficient and inadequate" (p.6) [at least within Mahayana Buddhism.] A venerable Tibetan text on 'Transforming the Mind' is then expounded in a way that supports and strengthens the author's views about correct belief and practice with regard to disability and disabled persons, while touching base with some progressive views in recent Disability Studies literature. [See also "Acknowledgements" section.]
BUDDHISMUS aktuell (Zeitschrift der Deutschen Buddhistischen Union) [print and online] [ca. 1992-2009] http://www.buddhismus-aktuell.de/
[The present bibliography lists very few items in German, yet there are signals in this quarterly periodical that pertinent, informed discussion has been taking place in German during at least the past 20 years, particularly on ways in which Buddhist practices may engage with psychotherapy, healing and stress reduction -- matters of considerable interest to all industrialised nations. Germans have, of course, been involved in scholarly studies of Buddhist texts since the earliest days of European interest; but possible applications of Buddhism to address mental pressures and in psychotherapy may have surfaced only comparatively recently. Interest can be seen from the early 1990s, as in the following Buddhismus aktuell issues. The site is not 'full text', but shows authors, titles, and sometimes a few other indicators: 4/1992 {Otto Speck - "Geistige Behinderung - was ist das?", pp. 2-4; Ralf Adam - "Buddhismus und Psychotherapie".} 4/1995 {Wolfgang Hartl - "Das Leiden am 'Leiden'" pp. 45-46 (Leiden, Buddhismus, Behinderung).} From occasional brief articles, the interest developed during the next decade and resulted in whole thematic issues, for example: 4/2005 (Theme: "Heilung aus buddhistischer Sicht - eine andere Perpective"). 1/2007 (Theme: "Heilung von Körper und Geist"; example: Lama Lhündrup - "Was ist buddistische Psychotheraphie?", pp. 12-13). 2/2007 (Theme: "Stress"; examples: Jon Kabat-Zinn - "Die unaufmerksame Gesellschaft"; Anna Matzenauer - "Cool bleiben bei Stress. Jetzt üb ich Nichtstun"). 1/2009 (Theme: "Die Kunst des Heilens, Buddhistische Psychotherapie"; example: Ulli Olvedi - "Psychotherapie bereichert den Buddhismus im Western", pp. 6-9; {Titel, moderne buddhistiche Therapieansätze, ganzheitliche Therapie, Körper und Geist, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Tarab Tulku, Akong Rinpoche}.) These items and whole issues have not been read by the present compiler. Details are taken from the Buddhismus aktuell website, as they provide evidence of a growing interest in such topics among German-speaking Buddhists or people interested in Buddhism (or perhaps in non-religious meditation techniques).]
CASSIDY, Emma L. (2009) Chronic pain: ethno-cultural variation and the role of mindfulness. Doctoral thesis (DClinPsy), University of Leicester. [Full text accessible via British Library Electronic Theses Online Service, to subscribing institutions.]
One of the aims of the thesis is to explore "the concept of mindfulness which originates from Eastern traditions of Buddhist Vipassana philosophy and practice and involves moment-to-moment, non-judgemental and non-responsive attention and observation of thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations (Baer, 2003; Kabat-Zinn, 1982)." Data was collected with a questionnaire, from 116 adults beginning a pain management program, and 87 of the participants provided longitudinal data. The principal focus of discussing Mindfulness is in pp. 59-68. However, the basis for discussion seems to be confined to reports of western research studies - the technique(s) of Mindfulness have been entirely detached from their Buddhist origins and context.
CASSIDY, E.L., Atherton, R.J., Robertson, N., Walsh, D.A., Gillett, R. (2012) Mindfulness, functioning and catastrophizing after multidisciplinary pain management for chronic low back pain. Pain. Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain, 153 (3), pp. 644-650.
[Only Abstract seen. Appears to be based on the previous listed item, Cassidy's doctoral thesis.]
CHIESA, Alberto & Malinowski, Peter (2011) Mindfulness-based approaches: are they all the same? Journal of Clinical Psychology 67: 404-424.
This study directly tackles an issue that has been mentioned increasingly during the literature of the 2000s, and reviews a considerable body of evidence with 115 references ranging from scientific reports of neurological activity scanning and therapeutic usage, through to 22 items of classical Buddhist literature and modern exposition of Buddhism. Merely by examining meanings of some Sanskrit, Pali, and Latin-based words differences appear in the way anglophone journal literature of the past 30 years has treated 'mindfulness'. In the present article Vipassana and Zen meditation are referred to as "mindfulness meditations (MM)", while "mindfulness-based interventions (MBI)" is used to cover MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction), MBCT (mindfulness based cognitive therapy), DBT (dialectical behaviour therapy), and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy). These activities are "compared with respect to philosophical background, main techniques, aims, outcomes, neurobiology and psychological mechanisms" (405, 418). It is apparent that MMs are taught with some differences by different teachers, and that there are differences in the way 'meditation' and 'mindfulness' are inculcated in the MBIs, and in the intentions and other frames of mind that participants bring with them to such treatments, which may make some difference to outcomes, and confound measurements. Chiesa & Malinowski conclude that "Although at first glance it appears as if a large body of research converges on understanding the effects of mindfulness practice and the underlying psychological and neurophysiological processes, the closer inspection of the philosophical background, aims, and practices of different MMs and MBIs revealed a large diversity that may question the usefulness of using mindfulness as umbrella term for this rich diversity." [See also further work by Malinowski, who displays a talent for describing, in English comprehensible to non-specialists, psychological investigations of attention within fine networks of brain circuitry, e.g. Malinowski, P. (2013) Neural mechanisms of attentional control in mindfulness meditation. Frontiers in Neuroscience 7:8.]
CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA (1993) Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness, edited by Judith L. Lief, (various contributory translators). Boston, Mass.: Shambhala Publications. xxiii + 251 pp.
[This book claims to originate from the "seven points of mind training ... attributed to the great Indian Buddhist teacher Atisha Dipankara Shrijnana" (in the early 11th century CE), first written down by Lang-ri Thang-pa (1054-1123) and used by a 12th century teacher, Geshe Chekawa, "who encountered many lepers in the course of his teaching and instructed them in mind training. It is said that several of them were thereby cured of their disease. His teachings were thus sometimes referred to by the Tibetans as "the dharma for leprosy" (Editor's Introduction, pp. xiii-xiv). The present main teacher and translator, Chögyam Trungpa (1939-1987), after leaving Tibet, studying at Oxford, working for a few years in Scotland, then taking refuge in the United States, built up a reputation for communicating a modernised, 'crazy' or 'fun' kind of Buddhism for modern North Americans. He had suffered lasting partial paralysis in his left side, also affecting his voice, after crashing a car in Scotland in 1969. This was followed by a lengthy convalescence, during which he took up with his future wife, Diana Pybus, who was a schoolgirl at the time (SNELLING, below, p. 245; MUKPO, 2006, Dragon Thunder, below - the latter book records Chögyam suffering further damaging accidents, by car crash or by falls as a result of poor balance plus habitual use of alcohol and possibly other drugs). Chögyam and Diana had several sons, one of whom ("Taggie") suffered from a substantial neurological disorder with behavioural consequences, probably on the autism spectrum (discussed in Mukpo, 2006, below, and website http://taggiemukpo.org). Whereas the tome listed above by Pabongka Rinpoche, as a 'concise course' in the Atisha tradition, is heavy enough to strain a delicate wrist, the present 'pocket' volume (10 x 15 cm) is physically easy to handle.]
Very little of the teaching seems pertinent to disability. However, on pp. 173-174, "Don't talk about injured limbs", the young teacher suggested that, "'Injured limbs' refers very literally to people's psychological or physical state: being blind or dumb or slow. It refers to all kinds of physical defects that a person might possess. This seems to be the general ethic already set up by Christianity, that nobody should be condemned on account of his or her physical defects, but everybody is regarded as a person. We generally don't do that anyway, in any case." [Presumably the ambiguous final sentence is intended to suggest that {Tibetan} Buddhists generally do not condemn people on account of any physical defects they may have; or do not draw attention to such defects by talking about them. In fact, the latter polite conduct is enjoined in texts such as the Jaina Akaranga Sutra, from perhaps the 5th century CE or earlier, so the idea has a long Asian pedigree.]
GARCIA MARTINEZ, Florentino (1995) The Men of the Dead Sea. In: F. Garcia Martinez & J.T. Barrera (eds.) The People of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 31-48, & endnotes on pp. 237-238. Transl. by W.G.E. Watson. Leiden: Brill.
The author, who worked extensively on the Dead Sea Scrolls, describes men who fled to the desert of Palestine to live in a strictly observant religious community at Qumran, a little over 2000 years ago. They believed their fellow Jews had been corrupted by foreign practices and impurities, including "defilement brought into the holy city by animal skins, dogs, the blind, the deaf, lepers, corpses, unlawful unions, marriages of priests with the laity, tithes, etc." (p. 33) They intended to be a holy community obedient to God. To exclude men whose spiritual, behavioural or physical characteristics were imperfect, they developed stringent tests for candidates. These seem to have filtered out anyone who was "defiled in his flesh, paralysed in his feet or in his hands, lame, blind, deaf, dumb or defiled in his flesh with a blemish visible to the eyes, or the tottering old man who cannot keep upright in the midst of the assembly" (p. 39). Angry speaking, lies, insults, deception, animosity, inane giggling, would result in punishment and possibly expulsion from the community (39-40).
[What are these Qumran monks doing in a section about 'Western echoes' of Asian Buddhism?! Well... they were at one end of Western Asia, and some news, notes, or garbled accounts of the monks of North West India certainly reached cities of Syria, Palestine and Egypt via traders and travellers, between the third century BC and the early first century CE. King Asoka (d. 232 BC) sent out missionaries in all directions; and one of his edict-bearing pillars in Afghanistan was reportedly "written in Aramaic and Greek" (Dhammika, Edicts), so it is possible that a more joined-up account of early Buddhism travelled to the Greek and Roman world. Whether it did so or not, Judaism (and later Christianity) had break-away groups such as the Essenes and the Qumran monks, who wished to dedicate themselves more strictly and diligently and separately, somewhat in parallel with the Buddhist groups who separated themselves from the Brahmanical practice of religion. The monks in the Palestinian deserts, binding themselves with numerous rules and excluding disabled people, might well have had a greater understanding of what the Indian Buddhist monks thought they were doing, than anyone reading this bibliography two millennia later who had not experienced years of ascetic living in an isolated monastery...]
HARVEY, [B.] Peter (2001) Buddhist visions of the human predicament and its resolution. In P. Harvey (ed.) Buddhism, pp. 64-94. London: Continuum.
Peter Harvey, a prolific writer and academic teacher of Buddhist Studies in UK and "a Theravada Buddhist and a teacher of Samatha meditation" (p. xiv), gives a brief, uncluttered statement of a traditional position on disability, with a modern spin: "The karma doctrine, of course, has implications for how people with disabilities are thought of. A Buddhist would not tend to see disabilities, particularly those present from birth, as merely accidental - or as a 'gift' from God. They would be seen as a result of previous unwholesome action. This does not mean, though, that blaming people for their plight, or guilt on their part, is appropriate. It is more that their plight is seen as an unfortunate result of having acted unwholesomely in the past. There is, however, no reason to look down on the disabled now - the past is the past, and the important thing is how we all act now: both the disabled person him/herself, and those who have dealings with him or her. We all have the same human potential, so should act with generosity and compassion in trying to develop this in ourselves and others. As regards guilt, this is not encouraged in Buddhism. It is good to regret a past bad action, but not to feel heavily 'guilty' about it, for this is a clouded, agitated state of mind not conducive to wholesome action. The important thing is to resolve to act better in the future." (p.70)
HAWKINS, Peter W. (2004) The Buddhist insight of emptiness as an antidote for the model of deficient humanness contained within the label 'intellectually disabled'. Journal of Religion, Disability & Health 8 (1/2) 45-54.
During the 1990s, Peter Hawkins worked as an assistant and advocate for people called "intellectually disabled", and also left his candidacy for ordination as a Christian minister, becoming a Buddhist monk instead. He presents the key insights of 'emptiness' (in the well-known "Heart" sutra) and of 'inter-being', illustrated with a reflective account of his growing friendship and mutual learning, through 11 years, with a man, Stephen, who had been perceived in society as having weak intellect, little worth and some nuisance value. Stephen, who participated in the religious ceremonies of Greek Orthodox Christianity, understood, and was able to teach Peter through their friendship, something of the interdependence of all being in the universe. Peter also became aware of many ways in which society's categorisation and devaluation of Stephen rejected the realities of interdependence, and was complicit in Stephen's death, aged 44. [These are 'modern, western' reflections, yet they have some potential to shed light also on historical perceptions of people with intellectual disabilities in Buddhist communities.]
HUPPERTZ, M. (2003) Die Bedeutung des Zen-Buddhismus für die Dialektisch-behaviorale Therapie. Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, medizinische Psychologie 53 (9-10) 376-383.
This article on the "relevance of Zen Buddhism to Dialectical Behaviour Therapy" explains the use of DBT as a therapeutic approach for people with "Borderline Personality Disorder", with reference to historical practices of Zen Buddhism and its capacity to accommodate people with mental disorders or significant behavioural differences.
IWAMA, Michael K. (2005) Situated meaning. An issue of culture, inclusion, and occupational therapy. In: F. Kronenberg, S.S. Algado & N. Pollard (eds.) Occupational Therapy Without Borders. Learning from the spirit of survivors, pp. 127-139. Edinburgh: Elsevier, Churchill Livingstone.
The Asian author, now teaching health professionals in Canada, examines the "individualistic, autonomous, analytic, monotheistic, materialistic, and rationalistic tendencies" deeply embedded in Western assumptions, training, practice and measurement in Occupational Therapy, and notes a significant difference from the cultural and conceptual foundations of the East Asian societies, with Japan as a particular example. He shows diagrammatically the "East Asian version of the cosmological myth", in which the animal, vegetational, human and spiritual entities are a co-existent, inter-active unity. By contrast, the "Western variation of the cosmological myth", is portrayed as a hierarchy with one radically transcendent deity, separated from the individual human self, which is in turn set apart from the other humans, who collectively attempt to have dominion over the animals and natural environment. The Western version underpins a notion of 'occupation', as the activity of an independent self, busily doing, mastering, controlling, gaining victory (...over the others, the environment, the world). Such notions may appear meaningless, mad, or seriously destructive, when viewed by societies that traditionally value social dependence and interdependence, and are "oriented toward a harmonious existence with nature and its circumstances."
KABAT-ZINN, Jon (1982) An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of Mindfulness Meditation: theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry 4: 33-47. [Open online]
In this heavily cited pioneering article, Kabat-Zinn described a ten week "Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program", attended once per week for two hours, by a total of 51 patients, in three cycles, involving "mindfulness or awareness meditation as the major self-regulatory activity", which was taught to participants "independent of the religious and cultural beliefs associated with them in their countries of origin". However, the origins in Theravada Buddhism are briefly discussed in the report, with references to work by S. Suzuki; J. Krishnamurti; T. Nyanaponika; Vimila Thakar; Nisargadatta Maharaj; P. Kapleau; Seung Sahn. The author frankly states that "Meditation practice can be accompanied by intense pain in some ways resembling chronic pain. Dedicated western meditators practicing in the Zen and Vipassana traditions periodically engage in extended periods of meditation practice lasting weeks, and in some cases months, during which they may sit cross-legged on a cushion on the floor a total of 12 or more {hours} a day. The meditation periods are usually motionless and last from {half an hour} to {one and a half hours) with {one hour} being common. During such rigorous meditation practice, extreme forms of pain invariably arise. The body can ache and hurt day after day." [Perhaps these interesting points were not disclosed to prospective patients, who were already suffering chronic pain (many having Low Back Pain or Upper Back or Shoulder Pain), before they agreed to try the (much briefer and milder) treatment program.]
During 10 weeks, three mindfulness meditation practices were taught: "Sweeping: a gradual sweeping through the body from feet to head with the attentional faculty ... Mindfulness of breath and other perceptions ... Hatha Yoga postures." (The full description of how meditation was taught occupies about 600 words, pp. 36-37) A group format with mutual support was used to sustain motivation. It was emphasized that the various techniques offered were powerful if individuals made a determined effort to choose what would suit them and practise them diligently during the ten weeks, and other features were added to maximise the "positive placebo effect". A series of pain indices and non-pain measures were used in interviews before the meditation program, and again afterwards to monitor outcomes, which were mostly found beneficial, sometimes strikingly so. Follow-up was done three times, up to 11 months after completion of the program. Limitations were noted, i.e. lack of matched comparison controls; data from patients' self-report; changes in "Dermatome Pain Map" were not rated by independent judges.
KABAT-ZINN, J. (reprint, 1991) Full Catastrophe Living. Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. The program of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. New York: Bantam Dell. xxiii + 470 pp. [An original edition seems to have appeared ca. 1985 or 1986. From the 15th anniversary edition, 2001, the subtitle was: "How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation."]
This book is a substantial and mostly very readable compendium of practical experiences, anecdotal reports, and reflections that Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues had during a decade of work in the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre, teaching basic and more advanced meditation, self-healing and stress reduction, following the initial experiments and publication (see previous item). The somewhat puzzling title is explained with reference to the novel by N. Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek, in which the main character's response to the vicissitudes of life was to dance "in the gale of the full catastrophe, to celebrate life, to laugh with it and at himself, even in the face of personal failure and defeat" (p. 5) Note that "Catastrophe here does not mean disaster. Rather it means the poignant enormity of our life experience" (p. 6) [The meaning of the word might better be translated by the archaic English phrase, "whatever befalls us", or the more positive-sounding "whatever turns up". Yet it is less vague than the modern American "Whuddever..."]
While most of the book is 'upbeat', with the publishers adding three fly-leaves of hearty endorsements from reviewers, grateful patients, and well-qualified health professionals, and the contents bear some relation to hundreds of 'self-help manuals', there are some cautionary remarks, starting on p. viii: "The recommendations in this book are generic and are not meant to replace formal medical or psychiatric treatment." Considerable demands are made on people wanting to 'practice mindfulness' and to "regain control of their health and to attain at least some peace of mind" (p. 1). "..it can be stressful to take the Stress Reduction Program" (p. 2) "The spirit of engaged commitment we ask of our patients during their eight weeks in the stress clinic is similar to that required in athletic training...", and it might require "..a major life-style change just to make the time every day to practice the formal meditation techniques for forty-five minutes at a stretch" (pp. 41, 42). In the description of yoga exercises (pp. 103-113), participants are advised to "skip any of the postures that you know will exacerbate a problem you may have" (103), especially those with neck or back problems.
In view of later comments by Kabat-Zinn on Buddhism (see following items), it is interesting that he states, "Although at this time mindfulness meditation is most commonly taught and practised within the context of Buddhism, its essence is universal. Mindfulness is basically just a particular way of paying attention. It is a way of looking deeply into oneself in the spirit of self-enquiry and self-understanding. For this reason it can be learned and practiced, as we do in the stress clinic, without appealing to Oriental culture or Buddhist authority to enrich it or authenticate it. Mindfulness stands on its own as a powerful vehicle for self-understanding and healing. In fact one of its major strengths is that it is not dependent on any belief system or ideology, so that its benefits are therefore accessible for anyone to test for himself or herself. Yet it is no accident that mindfulness comes out of Buddhism, which has as its overriding concerns the relief of suffering and the dispelling of illusions." (pp. 12-13). Kabat-Zinn extends his remarks with a fine ecumenical recognition that, "...mindfulness practice comes primarily out of the Buddhist meditative tradition, although it is found in one form or another in all spiritual traditions and practices." (p. 364, emphasis added). He is also egalitarian in his paleological imagination: "Sitting around fires at night, their only sources of heat and light, had a way of slowing people down - it was calming as well as warming. Staring into the flames and embers, the mind could focus on the fire, always different, yet always the same. People could watch it moment by moment and night after night, month after month, year after year, through the seasons - and see time stand still in the fire. Perhaps the ritual of sitting around fires was mankind's first experience of meditation." (p. 356)
KABAT-ZINN, J. (2011) Some reflections on the origins of MBSR*, skillful means, and the trouble with maps. Contemporary Buddhism 12 (1) 281-306. *MBSR = Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. [Full text open online.]
[See previous items.] Looking back at the early experimental MBSR program from nearly 30 years later, Kabat-Zinn emphasizes two contrary faces that he had worn: the underlying purpose was "bringing the dharma into mainstream settings", while he also "bent over backward to structure it and find ways to speak about it that avoided as much as possible the risk of it being seen as Buddhist, 'New Age', 'Eastern Mysticism', or just plain 'flakey'." (pp. 281, 282) ... "The intention and approach behind MBSR were never meant to exploit, fragment or decontextualize the dharma, but rather to recontextualize it within the context of science, medicine (including psychiatry and psychology), and healthcare so that it would be maximally useful to people who could not hear it or enter into it through the more traditional dharma gates..." (p. 288). Yet he remains aware that, "The question is sometimes asked about the ethical foundation of MBSR. Are we ignoring that fundamental aspect of the Dharma in favour of just a few highly selected meditation techniques, again, decontextualizing elements of a coherent whole? My view is that we are not." Writing (in this open online Buddhist journal) of the preparation and ongoing training of those who will actually teach mindfulness, Kabat-Zinn is quite frank about what he considers necessary: "I personally consider the periodic sitting of relatively long (at least 7-10 days and occasionally much longer) teacher-led retreats to be an absolute necessity in the developing of one's own meditation practice, understanding, and effectiveness as a teacher. In terms of the 'curriculum' of mindfulness training, to become an MBSR teacher, it is a laboratory requirement. But while participating in periodic long retreats may be necessary and extremely important for one's own development and understanding, by itself it is not sufficient. Mindfulness in everyday life is the ultimate challenge and practice." (p. 296) Later, Kabat-Zinn emphasizes the need for a "strong personal grounding in the Buddhadharma and its teachings ... it is virtually essential and indispensible for teachers of MBSR and other mindfulness-based interventions. Yet little or none of it can be brought into the classroom except in essence. And if the essence is absent, then whatever one is doing or thinks one is doing, it is certainly not mindfulness-based in the way we understand the term." (299)
[While demand for MBSR (and other mindfulness-linked programs) has been rising, in recent years there does seem to be an increasing research literature in entirely secular neurology and psychology, that would be more comfortable detaching all the 'Buddhist' trappings, underpinnings, or 'essences' and finding out whether some fairly simple techniques of self-programming can be identified and widely disseminated at low cost, to solve or relieve some of the vast pressures within urban western cities, and reduce the burden of mental and physical disease in elderly populations and other age groups, and ever-growing populations in physical detention or the psychological jails of substance addiction (e.g. alcohol, smoked substances) or addictive activities (e.g. gambling on machines, cards, horses, or obsessive Internet use) without demanding too much from individuals. There is clearly an increasing {western} drive to examine more closely what is the 'mindfulness' that appears in so many studies with rather loose definition and measurement. Such questions are by no means confined to encounters between Buddhism and western secularism. All the major religious and spiritual traditions are in dialogue and mutual examination with scientific non-adherents, as well as being in defence against vigorous opponents of all 'religion', 'faith' and 'imaginary spiritual' experiences. In the present article, Kabat-Zinn mentions that the instructor may "reinforce the participants' motivation and understanding of the transformative potential" by referring to 'recent scientific research', e.g. Hölzel et al., 2011, "Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional gray matter density" in a journal called "Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging". This kind of science may not yet have its ultimate 'god particle' to find or refute; but give it time...]
[KABAT-ZINN, J.] (2013) {Interview with Kabat-Zinn by Madeleine Bunting, titled "Zen and the art of keeping the NHS bill under control." Published in The Guardian, 7 April 2013, online}.
[In the 30 years since the experiment with chronic pain patients recorded in 1982, (see above), Kabat-Zinn wrote many books and journal articles and (perhaps more usefully) has seen an increasing interest and adoption of his "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programme". In April 2013 he was in UK at the invitation of senior British politicians, to advise on applications of 'mindfulness' and its uses in staff training in the UK National Health Service, at a time of major reorganisation and cost cutting, which coincided with severely critical reports on hospital staff behaviour that seemed utterly lacking in compassion yet had been unchecked even when reported. "Mindfulness training inspires compassion, he [Kabat-Zinn] argues. Just the act of being in the moment and paying attention to that moment allows the innate compassion within us all to emerge ... It's not about cures, it's about over time developing a different relationship with one's experiences, whether that's anxiety, pain, stress or depression. ... Kabat-Zinn wanted to translate the Buddha's central insight, mindfulness, into a language that anyone could grasp. That's why he stopped calling himself a Buddhist; this is about being human, he says."]
KENG, Shian-Lien; Smoski, Moria J.; & Robins, C.J. (2011) Effects of mindfulness on psychological health. A review of empirical studies. Clinical Psychology Review 31: 1041-1056.
This article, with 205 references, discusses in some detail the differences between Buddhist and Western conceptualisations of mindfulness, suggesting that they differ "in at least three levels: contextual, process, and content", which are then further detailed (p. 1042). [E. Rosch, 2007, More than mindfulness: when you have a tiger by the tail, let it eat you. Psychological Enquiry 18: 258-264, is referenced for more extensive discussion.] Detailed tabulation, ordered by publication date, is shown of 54 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of four kinds of "mindfulness-oriented interventions", namely Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) {16 RCTs between 1997 and 2010}; Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) {14 RCTs, 2000-2010}; Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) {13 RCTs, 1991-2007}; Acceptance and Commitment Therapy {11 RCTs, 1986-2007}. The four tables show population and type of participant; mean age; % male; no. of treatment sessions; control groups; abbreviated notes on main outcome. After scrutinising this considerable body of data and its experimental contexts, Keng et al. suggest that "the efficacy of all four major forms of mindfulness-oriented interventions" is supported, but "several important research questions need to be addressed in future studies." (p. 1049). While there seems to be a useful "convergence of findings from correlational studies, clinical intervention studies, and laboratory-based, experimental studies of mindfulness" suggesting the positive association of mindfulness with psychological health, and the generation of mindfulness with positive psychological effect (1052), there remain considerable issues about the nature of 'mindfulness', what is going on, what it is that is having {reported} worthwhile effects, what are the mechanisms of change, how far reliance can be placed on individual participants' self-reports, what effects can be reliably measured and more closely specified, "for whom and under what conditions mindfulness training is most effective", and how the anticipated benefits may be more widely replicated.
KIM RUPNOW, Weol Soon (2005) An Introduction to Korean Culture for Rehabilitation Service Providers. In: J.H. Stone (ed.) Culture and Disability. Providing culturally competent services, pp. 115-138. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage.
Designed to inform North American service providers, this chapter includes brief, relevant notes on the "sophisticated mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, Shamanism and other religions" reflected in traditional Korean cultures and having some impact on beliefs about disability and attitudes toward disabled people.
KINZIG, Simone (1998) Geistige Behinderung aus Sicht des Buddhismus. Koblenz-Landau. 198 pp.
[Not seen. No information on accessibility.]
LEIGHTON, Taigen Dan (2003) Faces of Compassion. Classic Bodhisattva archetypes and their modern expression. Boston: Wisdom Publications. 349 pp.
This interesting and good-humoured book, with at least 43 illustrations, builds bridges between Asian and Western Buddhism, and also between earlier Buddhism and modern expressions, and between 'textual' and 'iconographic' communication, and between icons old and new. [For these reasons, it is one of very few items listed in more than one section of the bibliography. Two of the illustrations, "Manjushri goddess on bicycle" (p. 127), and "Samantabhadra goddess on bicycle" - the latter having a baby elephant balanced on her knees, steering the bike with its front legs, while the goddess pedals gracefully with her hands pressed together in perfect balance - defy any simple periodization, as indeed does the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi who appears as a living exemplar of the second compassionate cyclist. Those active goddesses are wittily portrayed by the Japanese artist-activist and "longtime Zen and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, Mayumi Oda" (pp. 165-166), who provides some further graphics in this book.] Leighton leaves the "scholarly, exhaustive survey" to others, but aims for "general surveys of the history and modes of the bodhisattvas as a reference for seasoned Buddhist practitioners and students" or an introduction for "spiritually interested newcomers". The book is pepped up with modern western examples, some of whom might be surprised to find themselves elevated among the compassionate saints of Buddhism; but Leighton, admitting that "any personal selection will be to some extent idiosyncratic" (p. 20), generously interprets them as following the various Bodhisattva archetypes identified in the text. Chapters 4 to 10 focus around Shakyamuni; Manjushri; Samantabhadra; Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin, Kannon); Kshitigarbha; Maitreya; and Vimalakirti. The classic Bodhisattvas' various Asian names, characteristics and "major elements of iconography" are conveniently tabulated (pp. 313-316), and the index (pp. 339-348) is sufficient to track down the good folk who are suggested as late exemplars of sanctity.
Some of these involve managing life with disability or chronic illness, appearing with the iconoclastic model of Vimalakirti (275-276, 280-282), or with undertones of Jizo as 'wounded healer' (pp. 224-225). Probably the best known would be Helen Keller (pp. 303-304, 310), within (and beyond) the archetype of Vimalakirti. Keller's teachers helped her to arise from a world having very little communication, to become one of the world's best-known spokeswomen for disabled people. Yet Keller went far beyond that role, in her determination to understand and do battle with social injustices and inhuman practices. Less obvious, but well chosen to alert millions of film-watching men who never heard of Helen Keller, is 'tough guy' Clint Eastwood (pp. 28-29, 301-303), whose later work has depicted "an older man trying to meet the infirmity of aging with integrity ... in the midst of ailments, fading capacities, and the effects of previous life choices ... much as Vimalakirti used his sickness to point out the fundamental sickness of all human beings to the bodhisattvas." Leighton also manages to pull the Japanese Zen monk Ryokan (1758-1831) out of his quaint image of pretended idiocy and faux-naiveté, to find him a place in the future with Maitreya, and as a subtle communicator with a 'difficult' teenager whom a relative had asked him to check over: "Ryokan visited the family and stayed the night without saying anything to the son. The next morning as he prepared to depart, Ryokan asked the boy's help in tying up his sandals. As the lad looked up from what he was doing, he saw a tear roll down Ryokan's cheek. Nothing was said, but from that time the boy completely reformed." (pp. 260-261)
LESCH, Birgit (2003) Menschen mit Behinderung im Buddhismus. Annäherung aus Sicht Theravada. Diplomarbeit, University of Wurzburg. (Item copied from a bibliography by Dr. Thomas Friedrich).
[Not seen. Title translates as "People with disability in Buddhism. An approach from the viewpoint of Theravada." (For some 25 years or more there has been a focus of interest at the University of Wurzburg on disability in oriental religious beliefs).]
MARTIN, Philip (2000) The Zen Path Through Depression. New York: HarperOne. xiii + 146 pp.
Martin, who is described on the jacket as having "practiced Buddhism for more than twenty-five years" and also having "worked as a psychiatric social worker and case manager for twenty years" in the US, wrote this book not as one of the 'professionals', but as someone who found himself in a severe depression in his late 30s, "lost in unfamiliar territory, in a frightening yet beautiful place ... Depression had stolen the life out of all I had found life-giving, and spiritual practice was no exception" (p. xi). Eventually, Martin learnt to make the journey forward and to deepen his understanding of himself and the world. He compiled this series of short (two to four page) epigraphs and discussions, each with a suggested 'Further Exploration', within Zen traditions, for people who may be taking a journey through depression and need to find new resources within themselves.
Note. In the opening pages, the author and publisher give a prudent caution: "While the techniques described in this book may alleviate symptoms of depression in some individuals, depression is a serious illness that may in some cases require medical treatment by a licensed health-care professional, and readers are encouraged to seek such advice." [Some day, perhaps medical professionals will also make it standard practice to reciprocate, by humbly suggesting to sufferers from mental disorders that they may need to seek guidance from a recognised spiritual guide or philosopher.]
MIKULAS, W.L. (1978) Four Noble Truths of Buddhism related to behavior therapy. Psychological Record 28: 59-67.
[See below, Clive Robins: "There are a number of interesting parallels between Buddhist philosophy and practice and behaviorism or cognitive-behavioral therapy, some which were articulated years ago by Mikulas (1978)."]
MILAM, Lorenzo W. (1993) CripZen: a Manual for Survival. San Diego, Cal.: Mho & Mho Works. xii + 255 pp.
Milam's 'Cripzen' is a curiously constructed book, in which the first 180 pages consist mostly of reprints of the author's earlier essays and reviews for various magazines during the previous 20-odd years. They give his thoughts on living with a substantial physical disability in California and other Western parts of the US, also Mexico, and reacting vigorously against social pressures to conform to stereotypes of the meek, helpless, grateful, dependent, sober, obedient, virtually encapsulated, and otherwise harmless 'disabled persons' who were an acceptable form of third-class citizen {hygenically castrated}, in those times and places. Much of his anger and ranting now sounds quite dated, though occasionally amusing. From p. 169 onward, "CripZen" unfolds, under various names and personalities. The actual authorship of the work has more (or maybe less) to it than at first appears. In the "Biographical Data" on pp. 253-254, "Pastor A.W. Allworthy" (said to be born in Diboll, Texas; studied in Bible School) has half a page of biography, and is credited with having written the appendix on "The Bible and Zen", pp. 219-227, supposedly excerpted from a forthcoming multi-volume work, "A Bible for the 21st Century". A much briefer note is given to "The late Carlos A. Amantea" (born in Savannah, Georgia) who was supposedly "educated in psychology at Harvard and the Sorbonne", and also appears on p. 177 concerning some imminent chapters on "specific steps for quieting the mind" -- "These chapters, written in collaboration with the noted neo-mystic Carlos Amantea, will give you techniques for how-to-do-it..." Finally, "L.W. Milam" (born in Jacksonville, Florida) has his turn, with details of studies at Yale University, Haverford College, and UCal, Berkeley, and activities in non-commercial community broadcasting, and print journalism. [Susan SQUIER (below), suggests that 'Allworthy' and 'Amantea' are Milam's pseudonyms, and that "Milam abandoned the play with alternate identities in Cripzen, however, which was published under his own name in 1993." {Maybe Milam intended to abandon the play, but the other two characters refused to be bumped off, and kept popping up on stage shouting their lines and claiming that they were the real actors while Milam was merely hired as stage manager!} Certainly Milam had a taste for zany humour, and the 'Allworthy' contribution seems more in the nature of parody than reality.]
The content of Cripzen is little more than another brief, journalistic swing through personal experiences grabbed here and there in the 1960s and 1970s, with snatches of meditation ("Stilling the noisy mind. In a quiet environment, once or twice a day, making the mind shut up for ten or fifteen minutes, so that you can gradually have revealed to you the diamond within. You are it." p. 176), a list of recommended reading ("especially those of {Timothy} Leary, Ram Dass, {Alan} Watts and {Peter} Stafford"), and some precautions to take when using {mostly illegal} drugs such as LSD, hashish, marijuana, etc (pp. 178-82). Milam seems to have come around to noticing the futility of much of his earlier anger at the polio which struck in his late teens, and his resentment of socially imposed roles. He also realised that the development of an alternative spirituality or 'internal being' was a task worth undertaking; one for which there was an opportunity but no 'entitlement'; and one which nobody else could do for him. Yet none of his various identities was well adapted to writing seriously about the process. [In Milam's defence it may be noted that SQUIER, below, as a connoisseur of the genre, finds and describes more merit in Milam's work. That is why it is listed here.]
MOON, Susan (ed.) (2004) Not Turning Away. The practice of Engaged Buddhism. Boston & London: Shambhala. xvii + 238 pp.
This anthology reproduces 32 items from a quarter century of Turning Wheel: the Journal of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, across a wide range of engagement in Buddhist social activism, often in difficult circumstances, mostly in North America, also Cambodia, France, Grenada, Japan, Poland, UK and Vietnam, or in alien space beyond geography. Several authors were writing from jail, or after release. Some describe personal experience with disability or chronic illness (see TOLLIFSON, below; Clay pp. 53-57), or in therapy, counselling or social work with people diagnosed with mental illness (Duerr, 108-114; Patchell, 115-123) and war sickness (Nhat Hanh, 147-153; Macy 162-167).
MUKPO, Diana J., with Carolyn Rose Gimian (2006) Dragon Thunder. My life with Chögyam Trungpa. Boston: Shambhala. xi + 420 pp.
This remarkably frank and often hilarious autobiography was compiled with assistance from the Shambhala archivist nearly 20 years after the death in 1987 of Chögyam Trungpa (one of whose own books is listed above, 1993). There is no index, but incidental insights appear on the physical impairments and ailments of the guru, and the neurological and communicational disabilities of his son 'Taggie' (legally "Tendzin Lhawang Tagtrug David Mukpo", p. 132), and how Chögyam and Diana responded. Diana first saw her future husband at a Buddhist Society meeting in London, where he appeared on stage but within minutes "collapsed and was carried offstage. We were told that Rinpoche had taken ill, but I imagine that alcohol may have been involved" (p. 3). Apparently alcohol was a regular part of the young guru's preparations for public speaking, or for facilitating socially difficult events, understandable perhaps as a means of bridging the cultural and linguistic gaps between the speaker and his demanding and sometimes learned or critical audience. However, the ongoing alcohol habit was not so easily digested by impartial witnesses: Chögyam's efforts to 'explain', 'rise above' or dismiss the biological realities were hardly convincing (pp. 4, 25-26, 73-74, 80, 88-89, 109, 118, 127-128, 145-146, 151-152, 313, 367, 377-382, 419). Diana herself, aged 15, was using banned drugs regularly when they first met (pp. 12-13; see also 99). Some months later Chögyam crashed a car through a shop window in Dumfries (reportedly under the influence of alcohol; but others suggest that he had a stroke) and sustained serious injuries, being paralyzed on his left side (p. 11); "walking slowly in a labored way with the aid of a walker"; also recovering from "pneumonia and pleurisy that he had developed as side-effects" (15-16); "wearing a special caliper on his leg" (30); "still using a walker" (80-81); "I learned to help him dress" (83); "he always had orthopaedic shoes specially made for him" (83); and later in Canada, "Rinpoche was still using a walking stick and it was difficult for him to get around" (p. 99). When being driven by John Baker in California in 1971, Baker was just asking Chögyam about mindfulness "as he drove through a red light, and we had a car accident. Rinpoche ended up with a few broken ribs, but fortunately no one was seriously hurt" (138). It appears that Chögyam never resumed driving, but Diana got a licence and drove the family. Chögyam gave some help with baby Taggie: "he figured out how to change diapers with one hand, but he got irritated that Taggie would squirm" (p. 142); "Due to his paralysis, Rinpoche could not do ballroom dancing." (322) However, "It was amazing that, in spite of his partial paralysis, Rinpoche was quite a good rider" [on a horse] (p. 335). Diana believed that a heavy fall down the stairs {ca. 1980 ?} "was the beginning of a physical decline that ended with his death in 1987" (pp. 338-339). In 1973, Chögyam had "pushed forward the Maitri Project, which involved starting a therapeutic community for people with mental problems" (p. 147); this seems to have been Chögyam Trungpa's main contribution to practical therapy for people with disabling conditions, while the physical and sensory impairments did not attract his interest, apart from the need to get through his own days without falling over.
Diana reports going to 'birthing classes' with Chögyam, and is frank about the delayed and difficult birth of Taggie, and her own cluelessness about the birth processes, early motherhood, and signs of neurological 'difference' that went unnoticed, or were disguised or confusing (pp. 130-134, 137, 149, 152), until Taggie began to have epileptic seizures (159). The alleged 'recognition' of Taggie by a senior Tibetan cleric, as a reincarnation of an earlier important teacher, and the consequent expectation that he would travel to Sikkim for his education, caused some conflicts (138-139, 180), and raised ongoing doubts in Diana's mind and later reflections (267, 353). In the Mukpo household, Taggie was joined by the depressed seven-year-old daughter of a student who was herself deeply troubled. There was also Chögyam's eldest son, Ösel (whom he had fathered one night with a nun, while still in Tibet, and collected some years later after the boy had been parked in various places), who also had "a learning disability that exacerbated his problems". With Taggie mobile enough to disappear around the neighbourhood, Diana - still a teenager herself - had her hands full, and was also pregnant again (154-157). Chögyam was mostly engaged with bringing 'Crazy Buddhism' to America, and on the domestic scene, not surprisingly, he was as useful as a chocolate teapot (156-158). At some risk to the future of the household (and of Crazy Buddhism in America), Chögyam "went parasailing in Acapulco" wrote Diana, and "With his paralysis, I thought it was an absolutely insane thing to do", and eventually "people had to swim out and save him from drowning" (162). [Such escapades suggest that Chögyam, like the crippled boy who got an unexpected ride on a wild ass {see above, PABONGKA, 1991, p. 802}, enjoyed occasionally 'dicing with death', as a reaction against his semi-concealed 'disabled' role.]
"At age three and a half, Taggie began having seizures" and also "became more agitated and out of control", while his speech was deteriorating, so his parents set off on a journey that millions of other families have taken, around "a whole slew of specialists, none of whom could tell us exactly what was wrong with him" (pp. 159, 188-189). Looking back, Diana would see classic symptoms of autism, "but nobody called it autism at that time". Chögyam finally decided to send the four-year-old Taggie away to Karme Chöling (originally 'Tail of the Tiger') in northern Vermont, one of the earliest of his meditation centres established in the US (p. 101), where he would ask some staff to look after the boy (pp. 192-194). The website http://www.taggiemukpo.org provides details of some two decades of difficult life, in the custody of carers who felt a need to "establish tight boundaries because of his propensity for violence". Finally Taggie (now known as Tagtrug) met a carer who understood how to approach him respectfully and listen in such a way that he could begin to communicate verbally. Other carers began to let go of the expectation that Taggie should blossom into a Tulku teaching in a conventional way (to fulfil the Tibetan guru's 'recognition' and prediction). After a long period during which Taggie had been out of the family picture (pp. 267, 385, 401, 406), his brothers reached adulthood and also began to take an interest in his life.
[It is hardly surprising that Taggie's parents found themselves unable to devote sufficient time to his multiple needs, once it became clear that he had several disabilities and no medical solution was available. They both had other priorities, Chögyam was himself living with a significant impairment plus some alcohol dependence, while Diana was struggling to care for several other children in situations that were stressful, ever-changing, and ill-suited to building a peaceful routine. Had some features of the parental situation been different, some interesting Buddhist insights, practices and teaching might have emerged from the hemiplegic and iconoclastic teacher with his autistic and epileptic son. In the actual circumstances, they seem to have been as hopeful initially as thousands of other families in the 1970s and 1980s who eventually gave up the struggle and handed over their 'special' child to the care of other people.]
[Chögyam Trungpa was a rare case of a well-known modern Buddhist teacher having significant involvement, both personally and as a father, with both physical disability and mental disorders; therefore, an independent, detailed biography has been consulted (but not closely scrutinised) which is also endorsed by Diana Mukpo: Fabrice Midal (2001) Chögyam Trungpa. His life and vision, transl. Ian Monk (2004), Boston & London: Shambala. xxv + 550 pp. with some illustrations. {Original title: Trungpa: biographie. Paris: Seuil, 2002.} This work is mentioned partly to counterbalance some extremely critical and damaging views of Chögyam's life that may readily be found online, highlighting the guru's deviations from convention morality. Midal, who never met the lama but interviewed people who knew him well, and used material in the Shambala archives, admits he was sometimes shocked by the evidence of Chögyam's crazy behaviour (p. 162); yet he tried to offer the bigger picture and reach a more generous understanding of his subject.]
OFFENBÄCHER, M.; Sauer, S.; Hieblinger, R.; Hufford, D.J.; Walach, H. & Kohls, N. (2011) Spirituality and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: content comparison of questionnaires measuring mindfulness based on the International Classification of Functioning. Disability and Rehabilitation 33 (25-26): 2434-2445.
This curious article, with cumbersome title, plethora of abbreviations, and daunting arrays of comparatively tabulated features, might at first seem impenetrable; yet behind the paraphernalia, an important and comprehensible puzzle is being studied. There is quite a widespread perception that something called 'spirituality' or 'spiritual involvement' has some place, or perhaps an important part, in 'health', 'wholeness', and restoration to health / wholeness for people who are ill; yet the development of 'western' science has often been pursued in ways that seem to exclude any admission, assessment or attempted measurement of 'spirituality', for which it is admittedly hard to find any broadly agreed definition, so that measurement and replicability seem to be impossible. Further, 'spirituality' seems to some scientists to be part of a 'mumbo-jumbo' world antithetical to the cool thinking and dispassionate observation that they identify with 'science'. However, the practice or activity of 'mindfulness' "has a clear link to spiritual traditions, most prominently to the Buddhist tradition .. where it encompasses the essence and goal of spiritual practice." Also a significant body of tolerably 'scientific' study has been reported on various features in the practice and health-related outcomes of 'mindfulness' in the past 20 or 30 years, and during this period a series of psychological instruments was developed for its assessment or measurement (such as the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory; the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale; Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills; Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire; Toronto Mindfulness Scale; Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale Revised; Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale; Developmental Mindfulness Survey; Southampton Mindfulness Scale; Effects of Meditation Scale - During Meditation; Effects of Meditation Scale - Everyday Life.) During the same period, the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) emerged (as a revision and development from the earlier International Classification of Impairment, Disability and Handicap), and has been adopted by the World Health Organisation, and is being widely tested, adapted and used as a standard. The present authors systematically reviewed the contents of the 11 'mindfulness' scales listed above (with 47 references cited), using the language, framework and concepts of the ICF. [For purposes of the present bibliography, the detailed outcomes of the study are not really the point. The outline indicates how the breadth and depth of 'mindfulness' scales, developed and revised experimentally with the idea of benefitting people having significant mental disorders, now provide a bridge or interface between scientific psychology and the enigmatic world of human 'spirituality'. The exercise does, however, also contribute to the discovery and possible repair of lacunae in the ICF, as it is admitted that the ICF has so far not extended to cover a number of 'Personal Factors'. Concepts linked to these 'PF' varied from zero to 50%, among the 11 instruments reviewed.]
OLENDZKI, Andrew (2000) Meditation, healing and stress reduction. In: C.S. Queen (ed.) Engaged Buddhism in the West, pp. 307-327. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Olendzki lists examples across a wide spectrum, in which "the Buddhist principles and practices of mindfulness (sati) and insight meditation (vipassana) are being applied to many of the complex aspects of contemporary life" (p. 308). He looks at examples in the Pali scriptures of the "metaphor of healing", a practice which he believes is "an intrinsic paradigm of the entire Buddhist enterprise", for the Buddha is "viewed as a great physician" who proffers a cure for "the basic illness of human existence ... the Buddha's teaching, or Dhamma, is the medicine that can effect this cure (309-310). However, examples in the Magandiya Sutta, of the physical treatment of men with leprosy and blindness, are used to indicate that 'health' is "not just the lack of physical affliction in the body at any particular time, but is rather a deeper experience of well-being that is accessed when the mind no longer clings in the presence of pleasure or pain" (311). Practices of the modern pioneer Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 'Stress Reduction Clinic' often approached from a different side, in "trying to help patients with irreversible physical problems, like the loss of a limb or a terminal prognosis, to discover in themselves the experience of wholeness that will enable them to be healthy of mind" (315). This too is compared with an incident (cited from Samyutta Nikaya, 22.1) where Nakulapitar told the Buddha Gotama that "I am a broken-down old man, aged, far gone in years, I have reached life's end, I am sick and always ailing"; yet the Buddha responded that the choice was still available, to achieve a healthy mind, by training the mind regardless of bodily breakdown (316-317). Olendzki looks at the state of scientific observation (up to the late 1990s), of meditation, stress reduction and healing, apparently taking place with or without reference to religious belief or practice; and discusses the inter-connectedness of body and mind (as against the view that the mind merely inhabits the body). [As very little is reliably known about any actual, practical application of psychological treatment in ancient India, or its efficacy, the leaps involved in making even the sketchiest comparison with modern North America are spectacular, and less than entirely convincing. Olendzki notes that the "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction movement is presently caught between two paradigms" (p. 325), and is at some risk of merely putting a bandage over a physical condition that needs urgent surgery, or teaching a technique that is the psychological equivalent of sucking one's thumb. However, some evidence is available of benefit to some modern patients, possibly at lower cost than other approaches. Further evidence has built up during the dozen years since this chapter was published.]
QUEEN, Christopher S. (ed.) (2000) Engaged Buddhism in the West. Boston: Wisdom Publications. xii + 544 pp.
Reviewing international Buddhist engagement with social issues as the new millennium dawned, the editor wrote: "As the twenty studies of the present volume reveal, the range of concerns that motivate Western Buddhists to public service and political activism encompass nearly every area of social experience, conflict, and suffering: war and violence, race, human rights, environmental destruction, gender relations, sexual orientation, ethnicity, health care, prisons, schools, and the workplace. Like informed and caring members in every religious culture, engaged Buddhists have seen, heard, and responded to the cries of fellow human beings - and of nonhuman living beings - who face abuse, injury, or violent death." (p. 5) [Some readers may wish to identify 'One Major Missing Field of Social Experience, Conflict and Suffering' in the editor's list!] It is hard to find Buddhist "engagement with disability" in 16 pages of index (529-544), but this might result merely from the extremely slow evolution of indexers' awareness of disability as anything other than a 'medical' issue. Amidst the 20 chapters illustrating a wide variety of active Western Buddhist engagement with contemporary issues and social activism, there is in fact some scattered mention of people with disabilities or with mental disorders. Though increasingly recognised as major 'health problems' across the world, mental disorders are hardly prominent here. With the euphemistic manoeuvre of "stress reduction", they are a focus in OLENDZKI's chapter (pp. 307-327, see above), and appear also on pp. 335-336 (engagement with providing better quality of care for elderly people, in a chapter on Naropa Institute); also on pp. 407-410 (developing psychotherapy within Buddhist parameters, in Sandra Bell's survey of Engaged Buddhism in Britain). Disability also appears on pp. 433-434 (support by Engaged Buddhists in Germany for the treatment of people with leprosy, or conditions such as landmine injuries, in Vietnam, Cambodia and India, in Franz-Johannes Litsch's chapter: 'Netzwerk engagierter Buddhisten' is mentioned). Finally, "800 frail, elderly, and handicapped people" climbed onto the editor's Cambridge desk in June 1999, and got a note added to a file somewhere (p. x).
ROBINS, Clive J. (2002) Zen principles and mindfulness practice in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice 9: 50-57.
Robins, whose "own background knowledge of Buddhism as a whole is relatively limited", and who therefore focuses on the Zen tradition with which he is acquainted, reflects on some similarities and some differences between "Dialectical Behavior Therapy" (DBT), which was "developed as a treatment for chronically suicidal and/or self-injurious women, many of whom had BPD {Borderline Personality Disorder}", and some principles and practice of Zen Buddhism. He attributes the introduction of the Zen approach to a colleague, M.M. Linehan, citing her work and noting that many of the practices taught to patients had appeared in Linehan (1993) Skills training manual for treating borderline personality disorder, New York: Guilford, which had been "adapted from the meditation manual written by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (1976)", {titled The miracle of mindfulness: a manual on meditation, Boston: Beacon}. Robins sees that Buddhism "can be viewed as a psychology", more so than some other religions. He discusses in some detail how Zen thinking has influenced DBT, and the ways in which patients or clients are addressed, how mindfulness skills have been taught and practised, and their value also to therapists who need to maintain their own balance while working with vulnerable people in a seriously distressed state.
SCHELLIN, {Mugan Sozan} Peter (2010) Rogue Monk. A memoir about Zen, disability, and work. Authorhouse. xvii + 304 pp. ISBN 978-1-4490-5596-7.
This idiosyncratic, self-published, autobiographical but highly readable and often hilarious work is one of very few book-length, insider accounts of living with serious disability in a 'western' Zen Buddhist environment yet with a significant length and depth of Asian experiences, as well as a breadth of mature reflection. It certainly merits inclusion in the present bibliography, yet for several reasons it is not easy to annotate. There is no index, and the 50 fairly short and anecdotal chapters or essays do not follow a linear chronology. They jump around between 1923 and 2009 according to their own logic, though they are differentiated by titles, some of which are informative; and all have end-notes giving a relevant year. For example, in pp. 161 and 165, Peter Schellin's life changed sharply through half a day in 1991, when his visual field slowly shifted through pink, purple, dark gray, then black. His job as an Art professor (Cal.-State LA) disappeared with his eyesight, as did his normal means of transport, driving a car. Many things suddenly slowed down. Schellin learnt that blind people spend a lot of time waiting -- often waiting for a chance to get quite ordinary things done which they had previously taken for granted. After several months, some pinholes of 'seeing' opened up, from which he could reconstruct as much as 14 degrees of vision (p. 90) if he stayed very still; but in the meantime Schellin had learnt some orientation and mobility skills, Braille, how to use his ears to inform himself of many surprising things, and how to cooperate with four-legged guides having a different conceptual grasp of the universe, so as to move safely around the city. These interesting events are told almost casually between a chapter on some people Schellin knew while working as a counsellor in an AIDS-related Vision Loss Support Group in 1993, and a chapter in 1995 when one of those men, aged 24, was about to die and his mother was angry about it. But two earlier chapters (pp. 129-135) have Schellin staying in a snow-bound Zen monastery in Japan in 1983, and then in California in 2006 listening to the daily routine seven minutes of crash and bang from the woman living on the floor above, as she leaps from her bed, toilets, dresses, slams doors, click-clacks across floors, clonks down stairs, starts her car, slams the gears, and roars off. This leads on to living "with dogs in a low-vision world" (p.135); yet Schellin's "greatest Teacher", who guided him between 1999 and 2007, had already appeared on the front cover of the book (where monk Schellin and dog Zeke dutifully bow to each other) and on pp. xvii and 19-23. The connections are not chronological but Zen-no-logical.
The mix-up is partly a deliberate teaching device, but mostly just how Schellin reads his life, looking back, as explained in the Preface (ix-xvii). Experiences as a youth reading about the Buddha from the 1950s onward, as a learner beginning meditation (1979), as a monk (1999), as head monk at a Zen Centre in Texas (2002), as a critical reviewer of 'Western Buddhism' (2009), and as "No Longer a Buddhist" (2008 - though the title does not mean quite what it might seem) -- such experiences brought insights that permeate other parts of the book. While travelling in various Asian countries "as a blind man", Schellin expected to meet the "popular distortion of Karma", thinking that people would "look upon me as one of those reaping the consequences of unspeakably evil acts"; but he had difficulty meeting such an assumption, partly because he was a westerner (pp. 289-291). Instead, he reflects on the false assumptions that sighted Americans have about blind people (292-293). Karma understood in a common, negative way shows up in the story of Sun Martel, from Hong Kong, whom Schellin met in California in 1992 as she was about to die: "Blind and deformed by fetal malnutrition, she was born during the Chinese Civil War. The family came to America, but they harboured old attitudes about disability. People said she had negative karma, and that reflected badly on her family, so Sun was kept at home, hidden..." Somehow, at the age of 20, Sun contacted the State Department of Rehabilitation, and began to collect a bag of living skills, and eventually "became independent and made enough money to live on her own. She married. Despite everything, she had an American life." (pp. 31-32) [The western yen to take possession of whatever 'the mysterious East' has got, trim off the awkward bits and suck the juice, can be seen in the expropriation of 'meditation', and in studies of its 'benefits'. Schellin has enough practitioner experience and sceptical reflection to be able to discuss plausibly some of the ways in which Zen techniques can work for people with serious addictions, griefs, guilts, and baggage -- and also to know that some people need the benefit of mainstream medical and psychiatric help, before taking to Zen. But he also knows that "from the white, middle-class Anglo-American point of view, Asians don't do Buddhism right anyway. Asians know that only monks and white people meditate. They, for the most part, do not." (p. 286)]
SNELLING, John, {with Russell Webb} (1998) The Buddhist Handbook. A complete guide to Buddhist teaching and practice, revised by Gill Farrer-Halls. London: Rider. x + 373 pp.
A handbook of this kind tends to date rapidly in some parts (the principal author died in 1992), yet most of this account, revised with contributions from many minds, stands up well as a readable historical background to Buddhism on the eve of the {Christian} 21st century. It concludes with a detailed "modern western perspective" of "Who's Who" (pp. 305-354), in sections -- Theravada, Tibetan, Zen, Pure Land, Nichiren, and Miscellaneous -- who wrote the books, who gave the lectures, who were the modern Teachers, including their personal and professional names and education, 'transmission', affiliations, career and dates. (The incidental occupations of some listed notables - ranging from itinerant toffee seller to racehorse owner, thriller writer to concert pianist, suggest a wider experience than the stereotypical range from cave-dwelling meditator to poly-lingual academic burrowing in the stacks of the Bodleian library!)
A chapter on Buddhism and Psychotherapy (pp. 291-304) traces ideas from William James through Freud, Jung, Erich Fromm, meeting ideas brought to the West by D.T. Suzuki and other Eastern teachers, and eventually some serious western psychologists and therapists joining the "hippie horde" that flowed East, to find illumination in its authentic setting and scenery, while some Asian teachers and meditation masters took the reverse journey, finding light in neon tubes and reliable electricity suppliers, imbibing coke and pepsi, gin and whiskey, from their 'authentic sources'. 'Transpersonal Psychology' emerged, with the work of Ken Wilber given as an example of weaving Eastern and Western strands with some notes of caution.
SQUIER, Susan (2004) Meditation, disability, and identity. Literature and Medicine 23 (1) 23-45. [also online]
Squier makes an extended and sympathetic literary tour through some of the autobiographical literature of Americans with impaired bodies or minds who engaged in Zen meditation during the 1990s, in particular Lorenzo Milam (CripZen: a manual for survival, 1993), Joan Tollifson (Bare-Bones Meditation: waking up from the story of my life, 1992), and Philip Martin (The Zen Path through Depression, 1999). [See TOLLIFSON, below; MILAM, and MARTIN, above.] Paradoxical features recur, such as the search for identity, and the putting away of such an illusion; the invisibility to the professional psychotherapist of his own clear symptoms of severe depression, and the clear-eyed three-year-old who finally penetrated the fog by asking: "Daddy, are you not happy?"; the hazards to therapy professionals or disability researchers of acquiring a 'disabled' label, or of allowing some 'weirdness' to penetrate their buttoned-up scientific front. Squier makes no pretence of being a disinterested observer; she had been meditating for some years, to find ways through an intermittent wilderness of depression, "when my ability to work has vanished into the sludge of fatigue and uncertainty, or when my passion for adventure and play has fizzled out in a drab calm. But at other times, that label has seemed not only incomplete but actually unhelpful because it truncates the sense of spacious possibility that I experience in meditation" (p.40). [Squier's work is an attractive advertisement for the possibilities of well-informed 'literary' approaches, in fleshing out the thin and scratchy medical descriptions of disabling conditions.]
TOKARSKA-BAKIR, Joanna [S.] (2000) Naive sensualism, docta ignorantia. Tibetan liberation through the senses. Numen 47: 69-112.
Professor Tokarska-Bakir, Polish cultural anthropologist, historian of popular religiosity across Europe and South Asia, and critical analyst of ways in which post-Enlightenment European Man might sometimes be less enlightened than he likes to imagine, produced this article of considerable erudition, while recognising that the intellectual heritage to which it belongs has a strong tendency to misunderstand or entirely overlook the truths that are open to the non-reflective spontaneity of children and the naively-believing majority of adults in many parts of Europe and Asia. [Incidentally, it provides a further critique of the overwhelmingly print-confined 'textual' orientation of the present bibliography, when the historical South Asian preference has been to revere the living, meticulously memorised, and carefully spoken Word from ancient authorities, and to regard the dead, fixed, and easily corrupted scroll or book as an inferior medium!] The initial focus is on the range of supposedly naive, 'superficial' Tibetan Buddhist practices, giving an idle whirl to the prayer wheel, repeating mantras a hundred thousand times, plodding stupidly round stupas, kissing or stroking the feet of religious statues, tasting or smelling special foods, herbs or dedicated substances. Such practices (and their equivalents across the human world), beginning with the physical and pointing toward the spiritual, are more readily accessible to 'the masses', the great majority of humankind who make up the average, below average, and substantially limited, on the 'intelligence spectrum' (as devised and measured by the 'above average'). Modern writers believing themselves to be part of a 'Great Tradition' or 'High Culture' smile pityingly at the local traditions and 'folk cultures'; yet a turn of a different wheel may bring down the foolishly proud. Perhaps there is a spectrum of wisdom hidden behind the 'stupidly innocent', unselfconscious surface of folk belief. The philosopher-activist Simone Weil "unexpectedly lends her support to the idea of the religiosity of liberation through the senses", and Tokarska-Bakir rides with Thomas Merton, and with Weil's analysis, through some difficulties of modern European religious philosophy, finding parallels between crazy Tibetan teachers and earlier Jewish and Christian hermits, heretics, and halfwits. (Fortunately, T-B is kind enough to lighten the Grand Tour with a series of hilarious tales about holy simpletons, some of whom managed to see the universe in a blade of grass, while others at least knew what to do with a plate of food for which the temple statue showed no appetite. Further, she generously allows that even intellectuals may find grace, if not completely deluded by their own cleverness).
TOLLIFSON, Joan (2004) Imperfection is a beautiful thing. In: S. Moon (ed.) (2004) Not Turning Away. The practice of Engaged Buddhism, 28-37. Boston & London: Shambhala.
Tollifson writes about ordinary life "missing my right hand and half of my arm", encounters with organised Buddhism in California, the slow movement toward making "Buddhist practice accessible to the disabled community", her discovery of 'community' among other disabled people, and the difficult progress toward achieving personal equanimity while campaigning against a disabling environment. [See also Tollifson's Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life, New York: Bell Tower, 1992.]
WOLFSON, Harry A (1935) The internal senses in Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew philosophic texts. Harvard Theological Review 28 (2) 69-133.
Detailed, scholarly account of the highly variable understanding and subdivision of terms in Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, (and also Greek) for the 'internal senses' as used by thinkers in the classical and medieval Mediterranean and Middle East, ranging from Aristotle through the Church Fathers, the major Arab philosophers and later Medieval Christian theologians. Various systems of classification were used for cognitive faculties, activities or processes, such as 'imagination', 'cogitation' and 'memory' with some mutual influence, sometimes hampered by shifts or slippage of meaning in translation. [This paper has importance, and a cautionary function, for studies of the meaning of some impairments and disabilities primarily across the Middle East. However, the difficulties that it reveals in tracking the meaning of words, across several languages, that are concerned with the absence or diminution of internal processing by the 'cognitive faculties', exhibiting as weaknesses in the development, maturing and practice of thinking, awareness, common sense, intellect, focus, memory, imagination, planning, communication, (and other related terms), seem also to be important in considering issues and meanings of 'meditation' and 'contemplation'. Wolfson's article shows how the 'internal senses' have been, and still are, considerably less than transparent in their meaning, as there is a wide range in both the popular, the educated, and the scientific conceptualisation of these processes. Several articles in the 'Western Buddhism' section are concerned with the question whether the 'meditation' that is currently being taught and applied in the US as a therapy or therapeutic technique is the same or sufficiently similar to the 'meditation' taught and learnt by monks, and also used by psychotherapists, in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Japan, and so on. Linguists proficient in several of these languages, and interested in the semantic range of their vocabularies of inner reflection, may be challenged by Wolfson's work to investigate what people in those countries think is going on {and how they articulate it} in their heads, hearts, souls or whatever, when they are 'mindful' or 'meditating'.]
(This collects references cited incidentally in the Introduction or annotations, not being in the main Bibliography. Some further items appear below that were not cited, but were in a pile of material that was found useful and / or interesting and might have got into the Bibliography, or might yet be included in a revision (if any). Such items are marked with a hash # before the first author's name).
Arntzen, Sonja (1986) Ikkyu and the Crazy Cloud Anthology. Tokyo: Tokyo UP.
# Baer, Ruth A. (2011) Measuring mindfulness. Contemporary Buddhism: an Interdisciplinary Journal 12 (1) 241-261.
Basham, Arthur L. (3rd edition 1966 / 1981) The Wonder that was India. A survey of the history and culture of the Indian sub-continent before the coming of the Muslims. New Delhi: Rupa.
Bechert, Heinz (ed.) (1991, 1992, 1997) Die Datierung des Historischen Buddha. Vols 1-3. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Bell, Sandra (2000) A survey of Engaged Buddhism in Britain. In: C.S. Queen (ed.) Engaged Buddhism in the West, 397-422. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Bissell, Jeffrey (1996) Literary studies of historical texts: early narrative accounts of Chong'er, Duke Wen of Jin. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin.
# Bodiford, William (1996) Zen and the Art of Religious Prejudice. Efforts to reform a tradition of social discrimination. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 23 (1-2) 1-27.
# Brannigan, Michael C. (2010) Presence in suffering: lessons from the Buddhist Four Noble Truths. Eubios: Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 20 (November 2010) 173-180. [open online]
# Bruno, Richard [1999] Buddhism plus disability. One 'step' closer to Nirvana. http://newmobility.com/articleView.cfm?id=202
Bühler, George transl.) (1886) The Laws of Manu, translated with extracts from seven commentaries. Sacred Books of the East vol. 25. Oxford: Clarendon.
Burnell, A.C. (ed. E.W. Hopkins, 1884) The Ordinances of Manu translated from the Sanskrit, reprinted (1995), New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Butler, K.D. (1966) The textual evolution of the Heike Monogatari. Harvard Journal of Asian Studies 26: 5-51.]
# Cable, Mildred & French, Francesca (1952/1957) The Story of Topsy. Little Lonely of Central Asia. London: Hodder & Stoughton. 127 pp. with map an illustrations.
Chuang-tzu. The Seven Inner Chapters and other writings from the book Chuang-tzu, translated by A.C. Graham (1981). London: George Allen & Unwin. ix + 293 pp.
Clayton, B. (2009) Book review {Mrozik}. H-Buddism, http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=23879
Conze, E. (ed. & transl., 1960) Buddhist Scriptures. Penguin Classics.
Dawson, Raymond (ed. & transl., 1993) Confucius. The Analects. Oxford: Oxford UP.
De Bary, W.T.; Hay, S.N.; Weiler R.; Yarrow, A. (compilers) (1958) Sources of Indian Tradition. New York: Columbia University.
Deitrick, J. (2011) Can American Buddhism accommodate karma? http://blogs.dickenson.edu/buddhistethics/files/2011/01/deitrick01.pdf
Denwood, P. (1974) Book review {Rechung}. Bulletin of SOAS (1974) 37 (2) 488-489.
# Dessi, Ugo (2010) Social behavior and religious consciousness among Shin Buddhist practitioners. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 27 (2) 335-366.
# Devido, Elise A. [2001 (latest reference shown) or later] La lèpre et la tradition boudhiste. http://sfdermato.actu.com/allf/plus17.pdf
Dhammika, Ven. S. (1993) The Edicts of King Ashoka. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. [Also Open online: DharmaNet]
# Dikötter, Frank (1998) Imperfect Conceptions. Medical knowledge, birth defects and eugenics in China. London: Hurst. ix + 226 pp. + illustrations.
Dillon, Michael (ed.) (1998) China. A cultural and historical dictionary. London: Curzon
Doniger, W. with Smith, B.K. (1991) The Laws of Manu with an introduction and notes. London: Penguin.
# Florida, Robert E. [2001] The Lotus Sutra and Health Care Ethics. http://www.quangduc.com/English/Ethics/13lotus.html
# Fritsch, I. (1992) Blind female musicians on the road. The social organisation of 'Goze' in Japan. CHIME No.5, 58-64.
Fujimoto, Hiroko & Iwama, Michael (2005) Chronicling families' struggles to raise children with special needs. In: F. Kronenberg, S.S. Algado & N. Pollard (eds.) Occupational Therapy Without Borders. Learning from the spirit of survivors, 351-360. Edinburgh: Elsevier, Churchill Livingstone.
# Geertz, Clifford (2005) Shifting aims, moving targets: on the anthropology of religion. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 11: 1-15.
Goldin, Paul R. (2000) Personal names in Early China: a research note. Journal of the American Oriental Society 120 (1) 77-81.
# Goldman, Robert P. (1985) Karma, guilt, and buried memories: public fantasy amd private reality in traditional India. Journal of the American Oriental Society 105 (3) 413-425.
Griffiths, Paul (1982) Notes towards a critique of Buddhist karmic theory. Religious Studies 18: 277-291.
Groemer, G. (1996) Book review {I. Fritsch}. British Journal of Ethnomusicology 5: 161-163.
Guignard, S. (2000) Book review {I. Fritsch}. Monumenta Nipponica 55: 142-144.
Hallisey, Charles & Hansen, Anne (1996) Narrative, sub-ethics, and the moral life. Some evidence from Theravada Buddhism. Journal of Religious Ethics, 24 (2) 305-327.
Hanaka, Syuncho (2006) {Iwakura}. Stories from the Ebisu Mandara. Encyclopedia of Disability (ed. G. Albrecht), Vol. 5: 160-168, (ed. S.L. Snyder & D.T. Mitchell). London: Sage.
Hanh, Thich Nhat (1976) The miracle of mindfulness: a manual on meditation. Boston: Beacon.
Hanh, T.H. (1987) Being Peace, ed. A. Kotler, Berkeley, Cal.: Parallax, 63-64.
# Hansson, Anders (1996) Chinese Outcases. Discrimination and emancipation in Late Imperial China. Leiden: Brill.
Henry, Eric (1987) The motif of recognition in Early China. Harvard Journal of Asian Studies 47 (1) 5-30.
Hinsch, Bret (1990) Passions of the Cut Sleeve. The male homosexual tradition in China. Berkeley: University of California Press
Hölzel, B.K.; Carmody, J,; Vangel, C. et al. (2011) Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional gray matter density. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging 191 (1) 36-43.
Inagaki, H. (translator) (1994 Larger Sutra of Amitayus, Kyoto.
International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation. http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/en/article/1/
Janes, C.R. (1995) The transformations of Tibetan medicine. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9 (1) 6-39.
# Jayatunge, Ruwan M. (2011) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the Buddhist Jathaka Stories. http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2011/06/28/
Jory, Patrick (2002) Thai and Western Buddhist scholarship in the Age of Colonialism: King Chulalongkorn redefines the Jatakas. Journal of Asian Studies 61 (3): 891-918.
Khayutina, Mariya (2006) Die Geschichte der Irrfahrt des Prinzen Chong'er und ihre Botschaft. In: H. Roetz (ed.) Kritik im Alten und modernen China, pp. 20-47. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Kieschnick, John (2007) The Eminent Monk. Buddhist ideals in Medieval Chinese hagiography. Honolulu, Hawai'i: University of Hawai'i Press.
King, Richard (1999) Orientalism and Religion: postcolonial theory, India and 'the mystic East'. London: Routledge.
Kloppenborg, R. (1973) The Sutra on the Foundation of the Buddhist Order. Leiden: Brill.
Knecht, P. (1999) Book review {I. Fritsch}. Asian Folklore Studies 58: 444-445.
Lamotte, E. (1962) L'enseignement de Vimalakiirti. Louvain, Institut Orientaliste.
Latourette, Kenneth S. (1964, 4th edition) The Chinese. Their history and culture. London: Collier-MacMillan.
Legge, James {1872} The Chinese Classics. Vol. 5, The Chun tsew, with the Tso chuen, 2 vols. London.
# Levine, Nancy E. (1987) Differential child care in three Tibetan communities: beyond son preference. Population and Development Review 13 (2) 281-304.
Linehan, M.M. (1993) Skills training manual for treating borderline personality disorder. New York: Guilford.
Ling, Trevor (1986) Indian sociological perspectives on suffering. In: K.N. TIWARI (ed.) Suffering: Indian Perspectives, 270-287. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
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Lo Bue, Erberto (1984) Book review {Meyer}. Arts asiatiques 39 (1) 116-117.
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