Mapping Buddhist law in Asia
Buddhist law influences many aspects of contemporary state law across Asia, but has not received the attention it deserves from scholars and legal experts, says Professor Ben Schonthal of the University of Otago.
Buddhist legal traditions are some of the oldest continuously practised forms of law in the world. They have shaped human societies across one-fifth of the globe and continue to influence many aspects of contemporary state law across different parts of Asia.
Despite this enormous influence, Buddhist law has not received the attention it deserves from scholars and legal experts, says Professor Ben Schonthal, Head of the Religion Programme at the University of Otago.
“There are decades of scholarship documenting the influences of Christian law on Western legal culture, yet scholars have ignored the major influences of Buddhist law on legal cultures in Asia,” says Professor Schonthal.
Professor Schonthal aims to address this significant gap in knowledge with his research project Mapping Buddhist Law in Asia, which has received a Marsden Grant of $660,000.
This project will produce the first comprehensive account of Buddhist law as a complex transhistorical, transregional legal tradition.
It will explore how Buddhist legal traditions developed, their diverse forms, ongoing impact, and distinctive features.
Professor Schonthal says there are historical and disciplinary reasons for this omission of the influence of Buddhist law in academic research.
These reasons include old-fashioned assumptions that Buddhism is an entirely ‘otherworldly’ religion that cares about self-realisation rather than institutional organisation.
Longstanding biases in the study of law treat European state law as the prototype and benchmark for legal traditions, often ignoring forms of law that look and work differently.
“There is a similar obstinance in the field of political studies that still gives short shrift to non-European ways of thinking about and organising the ideal society— even in a region, Asia, that is now home to more than half the earth’s population!” Professor Schonthal says.
“This project pushes against all of these things by engaging in methodical comparative textual and ethnographic research about the forms, histories, institutions and practices of laws that emerge from Buddhism.”
Professor Schonthal says this project would not have come together if it were not for the many colleagues, particularly in the Religion Programme, who shared their input, examined drafts, and indulged him in talking about Buddhist law.
The Otago Centre for Law and Society has been another community that’s helped him refine these ideas and hone this project as it developed. He also credits Divisional research advisor Natalie Harfoot with helping bring the project to life.
