Buddhist Blood Taboo: Mary Douglas, Female Impurity, and Classical Indian Buddhism

Abstract

Mary Douglas is a prominent figure in the pantheon of religious studies, but the relevance of Douglas's influential theories about ritual pollution for Classical Indian Buddhism, a literate tradition that is sometimes critical of ritual and often explicitly distances itself from physicalized interpretations of bodily impurity, is not obvious. In fact, students of Classical Indian Buddhism have often argued that ideas about ritual impurity, including blood taboos, hold no place of importance in that tradition. This article brings together materials from the Indian Buddhist tradition and Douglas's theories of pollution in society to fulfill the dual purpose of testing Douglas's theory in a new arena and better articulating and explaining Indian Buddhist notions of female impurity.