Detaching of Corporeal and Personal in the Traditions of Chan and Zen. A Historical Perspective and Contemporary Gender Discourse

This research aims to study the phenomenological theories and practices of detaching of corporeal and personal in schools of Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen Buddhism, as well as their significance in the historical perspective and the modern world, and to analyze these concepts from modern gender studies perspective. One of the essential concepts in Buddhism is a detachment of corporeal and personal aspects that form an individual’s self-identification, a particular case of which is attachment to one’s own gender identity, which correlates with the contemporary gender agenda. Nevertheless, only a few studies to date have been conducted which examined not only philosophical positions correlating with gender studies but compared them with practices in Buddhist monasteries for the actual implementation of theoretical positions. This is especially related to the Chan and Zen schools, which are represented in the Western community as iconoclastic and unbiased. Thus, the goal of this study is to examine the relevance of detaching of corporeal, personal and gender identities in Chan and Zen Buddhism to identify possible discrimination in the monasteries, as well as the possibility of applying gender discourse in the philosophy of Buddhism. To achieve the goal, a number of tasks were set to study the concepts of overcoming attachments to the body and gender in Mahayana schools, which influenced the formation of Zen thought, to compare this philosophy with modern gender theories, to examine the cultural background in China and Japan, to determine the opinions of Buddhist monks and nuns regarding blurring gender and body boundaries, as well as to study precepts, monastic rules, rituals and practices. For this purpose, comparative, documentary, and narrative analyzes were used to study Buddhist literature, such as sutras, treatises, poetry, monastic rules. Scientific literature was also involved, including monographs and articles.