The Heart Unbound: Chastity in Theravada Buddhism and Franciscan Religious Life

abstract: This essay compares the practice of the virtue of chastity, as found in the monastic traditions of Theravada Buddhism and Franciscan Christianity. Although strictly speaking chastity is the wider term, signifying faithfulness in any committed relationship, it is used here in its popular meaning as a near synonym for the term “celibacy,” which technically refers to sexual abstinence whether in a lay or monastic situation. The multivalent term “desire” is then delineated, pointing out the positive aspects of this elemental energy when subsumed in the religious quest. This is followed by some archetypal accounts of the experience of battling with the demons of temptation, both in the life of the Buddha and St. Francis. Then, as regulations to maintain the aspirant securely on the path, some aspects of the monastic rules of both traditions are briefly surveyed, and possible countermeasures outlined. It is acknowledged that such accounts of overcoming temptation are largely narratives from a man’s point of view and are on occasion denigrating to women, seeing them as objects of male desire or revulsion rather than as subjects in their own right. Finally, the transformation of chastity into love is presented as a goal of this virtue so central to the monastic life.