Toward an Action-Oriented Pedagogy: Buddhist Texts and Monastic Education in Contemporary Sri Lanka

Abstract

By examining the role that texts play in the early training of Buddhist novices, this article supplements a growing collection of literature examining the role of “canon” in the Theravāda tradition. Drawing on fieldwork recently conducted in Sri Lanka, this article maintains that the majority of young newcomers to the monastic community or sangha learn about monastic behavior and practices less through learning the content of particular texts and more through doing, performing, and speaking. In the process of exploring the meaning and role of an action-oriented pedagogy in the monastic training of young novices, this article considers how engaging in such activities as eating, walking, chanting, and sweeping creates ritualized monastic agents who are imbued with an understanding of what it means to be a monk and how a monk should act.