I think these are two different issues, and the prohibition on crossing the ocean is distinct from the practical one for Buddhist monks against walking in the rainy season and stepping on small animals in puddles. The prohibition on ocean travel primarily affected Brahmins, who lost their ritual purity by leaving the sacred land of India where their rites could be carried out. In Buddhist and Jain texts, unlike Hindu ones, sea-going merchants are treated as heroic figures - no doubt in part because the merchant classes were powerful early supporters of these religions.

Valerie J Roebuck
Manchester, UK


On 13 Oct 2016, at 14:49, Rolf Heinrich Koch <rolfheiner.koch@gmail.com> wrote:

I think the origin of that idea is the ahiṃsā-precept: Conquering water may kill animals (by accident). 

I remember while working on my Ph. D. (Edition of Prakrit-manuscripts):
For a monk it is forbidden to step across water (e. g. during the rainy season) because he might step into the water and kill small animals.
...aṇṇayā so sādhū vivarayaṃ uttarai. tattha ya pāda-vikkhaṃbhaṃ pāṇiyaṃ. teṇa pādo pasārio gai-bhedeṇaṃ. tattha ya devayāe chiddaṃ labhiūṇaṃ [ūruo] chiṇṇo. so bhaṇai: »micchā-dukkaḍaṃ mā āukkāe paḍio bhojja«tti. aṇṇāe sammaddiṭṭhiyāe diṭṭhā. sā ghā-ḍiyā. tah’eva sappadeso laio rūḍho ya devayā-pabhāveṇaṃ...(āvaśyaka-cūrṇi 514sq.)


This idea is also connected with the buddhist precept for monks not to travel during the rain season (vassa).

Best

Heiner

Rolf Heinrich Koch

Am 13.10.2016 um 14:51 schrieb Matthew Kapstein:
Dear Dominik,

When does the ban on ocean travel first appear? And when and how did it become the norm?
Ocean travel is often mentioned in Buddhist texts (e.g. BaverujAtaka) and the extension of
Indian civilization throughout SE Asia during the first millennium required Brahmans to journey
as well. 

The theme of "India and the Sea" perhaps requires further inquiry -- or am I merely ignorant
of a great mass of research laying, so to speak, submerged?

best,
Matthew

Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études, 
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago


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