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Durkheim, Religion, and BuddhismAuthor(s): Marco Orrù and Amy WangSource: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Mar., 1992), pp. 47-61Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Society for the Scientific Study of ReligionStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1386831
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Durkheim,Religion,and Buddhism*
MARCOORRUt
AMYWANGt
Since its publication n 1912,Durkheim'sElementaryForms has been scrutinized n greatdetail,but researchershave mostly neglected or accepted uncritically Durkheim's brief discussion of
Buddhism at the beginningof BookOne. Suchdisregard s remarkable ince Durkheimrelied on his
interpretationof Buddhism to supporttwo crucial claimsin his definition of religiousphenomena:that gods or spirits are not essential to religion,for Buddhismhas no meaningfulgods or spirits;and that the sacred-profane ichotomyis characteristicof all religions,since it is found even in an
atheisticreligion ike Buddhism.We examine Durkheim'sdiscussion to showthat, despite qualifica-tions andcaveats, his claimsregardingBuddhismare flawed on both counts. On the one hand,we
show that Buddhism admits the existence of supra-mundanebeings not as a secondary,but as a
primarycomponentof its religion;on the other hand,we demonstrate that the distinction between
sacred and profaneis marginalto Buddhist thought.
INTRODUCTION
The study of religious phenomena was a lifelong, abiding interest of Durkheim's
sociology, from his 1887 review of Jean Marie Guyau's L'Irreligion de l'avenir, to his
1912 masterwork, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. The interest of other
social scientists in Durkheim's writings on religion has equaled, and perhaps surpassed,
Durkheim's own preoccupation with the topic, from Gustave Belot's "La Religion commeprincipe sociologique," published in 1900, to W. S. F. Pickering's definitive study,
Durkheim's Sociology of Religion, published in 1984. In his bibliography, "On Durkheim
and Religion," Pickering (1975:313-21; 1984:544-62) listed about 400 publications which
had appeared on the topic prior to 1982.
Durkheim's most articulate discussion of religious phenomena is found in Elementary
Forms, and most studies of Durkheim's sociology of religion have centered on the ideas
he presented in that book, including his concept of the sacred and the sacred-profane
dichotomy, and his discussions of totemic beliefs and of rituals. (For an analysis of the
literature on these topics, see Pickering 1984:parts II-IV.) This article does not provide
an overall assessment of Durkheim's sociology of religion, nor does it deal withDurkheim's Elementary Forms in its entirety. Instead, our specific concern is with
Durkheim's analysis of Buddhism in Elementary Forms and its relation to Durkheim's
general definition of religious phenomena in that same book.
*An earlier version of this paper was presented at the meetings of the AmericanSociologicalAssociation,
Cincinnati,Ohio,August 1991.Theauthorsaregratefulto the editorand theanonymousreviewersof thisjournal
for theirhelpfulcommentsand suggestions.
tMarcoOrru s associateprofessor n theDepartmentof Sociology, Universityof SouthFlorida,Tampa,Florida
336208100.Amy Wangis a doctoralstudent in the Departmentof Sociology, University of Illinois, Chicago,Ilinois 60680.
? Journalfor the Scientific Study of Religion, 1992,31 (1):47-61 47
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Despite the detailed scrutiny of Elementary Forms, researchers have mostly
neglectedDurkheim'sbriefdiscussion of Buddhism(inBookOne,ChapterOne,Sections
2 and 3), or acceptedit uncritically (e.g., Ling 1973:16-19).Such neglect is remarkable
since Durkheimrelied on his interpretationof Buddhism to support two crucialclaimsin his definitionof religious phenomena: hat gods or spirits are not essential to religion,for early Buddhism had no meaningful gods or spirits; and that the sacred-profane
dichotomyis characteristicof allreligions,since it is central even to an atheistic religionlike Buddhism. In this articlewe examineclosely Durkheim's short discussion to show
that his claims regarding Buddhism are ambiguous, if not altogether misleading, on
both counts. On the one hand, we show that Buddhism clearly posits the existence of
supra-mundanebeings, not as an afterthought but as a centralcomponentof its belief
system; on the otherhand,we demonstratethat the distinction betweenthe sacred and
profane,althougharguable, s innoway a crucialcharacteristicof Buddhism.In a cursory
fashion, Melford E. Spiro (1966:91-96)has alreadyraised similar objections regardingDurkheim's theses on Buddhism. However, in this article we go beyond Spiro's
preliminaryformulationand provide a detailed analysis of Buddhist doctrines as they
developedhistorically, to show Durkheim'sambiguousunderstandingof key features
of Buddhism in particular and of the central characteristics of religious phenomenain general.
Ourarticleproceeds n foursteps. First,we presentDurkheim'sdefinitionof religionand its philosophicalpresuppositions, to evince some of the backgroundfactors which
led to Durkheim'sowndefinition of religion.Second,we counterDurkheim's claimthat
Buddhism is atheistic at heartby showingthat Buddhismposits the existence of supra-
humanbeings, and that such beings are essential to Buddhism as a religion.Third,weshow that the sacred-profanedichotomy is not a central characteristic of Buddhism;
rather, in Buddhism the dharma of both the physical and the transcendental worlds
is similarlycharacterizedby emptiness,the signless, and the wishless. Fourth,we assess
the implicationsof ourfindingsforanimprovedunderstandingof Buddhism n particular,and for a better sociologicalcharacterizationof religiousphenomena n general.On the
basis of the evidence found in Buddhism we conclude, in a preliminaryfashion, that
the belief in supernaturalbeings is a better markerforreligious phenomenathan is the
concept of the sacred.
DURKHETM'SDEFINITION OF RELIGION
As is typical in much of his sociologicalwork,Durkheimbegins ElementaryForms
by addressing conceptual issues in the study of religions. ChapterOne of Book One is
titled "Definition of Religious Phenomenaand of Religion."There we find, italicized,
Durkheim's conceptualizationof religion as follows:
A religion s a unifiedsystem of beliefs andpracticesrelative to sacredthings, that is to say, thingsset apartand forbidden beliefs andpracticeswhich unite into one single moralcommunitycalled
a Church,all those who adhere to them (Durkheim 1912]1965:62).
For Durkheim,religioncombines four elements: beliefs, practices, the sacred, anda Church.Beliefs are sets of collective representationsin a society;practices are rituals
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DURKHEIMAND BUDDHISM
enacted in a society to celebrate and reinforcebeliefs;the sacred is the referent matter
of religious beliefs and practices;and the Church s the organizationwhich structures
religionsocially. Of these fourelements, the sacred is undoubtedly the most important
component in Durkheim's definition of religion. Pickering (1984:115)has said it best:"For Durkheim, at the heart of every religion stands the sacred ... Durkheimgivesa priorplace to the sacredeven overreligionitself." The other threeelements of religion
(beliefs,practices, and a Church)are functional to the sacred and dependon it for their
existence. Beliefs and rituals are religious insofar as they refer to the sacred, and the
churchprovidesthe organizational ramework orcelebrating dentifiablysacred beliefs
and rituals.
Scholars have often objected to Durkheim's definition of religion in ElementaryForms,arguingthat it is not a scientificbut a metaphysicaldefinition; t is not a nominal,but an essential definition (Pickering 1984:163-192).Instead of providing operational
markersforempiricallyobservablereligiousphenomena,Durkheimincorporated n hisdefinition of religion his own theory of religion:He included what he consideredto be
an essential requirementof all religions (andthus what he thought constituted religion
itself), namely, the "sacred." Pickering has identified Durkheim's essentialist defini-
tion as resultingfrom several factors.For the purposeof ourdiscussionhere,two factors
are particularly significant:
First, during the periodfrom approximately1900 to 1906, the concept of the sacredrose to such
prominence n Durkheim'sthought [that]. . . There could thereforebe no alternativebut to define
religion in terms of that concept.... [Second,]Durkheimopenly denied that God or the godsexisted.... By contrast, as he was firmly convinced,the sacred had a reality which could not be
denied(Pickering1984:187-188).
The concept of the sacred, we can argue, became central to Durkheim's definition
of religionbecauseit providedhim with a substantive criterionforreligiousphenomena;the inclusion of such a criterion allowedhim to characterizethe belief in supernatural
beings as non-essential to religious phenomena.The sacred easily replacedthe super-natural. To be sure, Durkheimwas not, and has not been, the only social scientist to
define religionin terms of the sacred (Marett 1914;Malinowski 1925;Radcliffe-Brown
1952;Eliade 1959);but just as numeroushave been those social scientists who diddefine
religion in terms of beliefs in superhumanbeings (Spencer 1864; Tylor 1874; Evans-
Pritchard 1956; Firth 1959).Durkheim's problematic definition of religion was partly a result of the realist
philosophicalassumptionswhichled himto treat sociologicalconceptscommedes choses
(as if they were things). On the one hand, he thought of social concepts and beliefs as
partaking of the same facticity which characterizesnatural objects. To admit that all
religions display some form of belief in supernaturalbeings was, for Durkheim,equalto admitting that supernaturalbeings have a factual existence. To include the belief
in gods as a criterionfor identifying religious phenomenacould be construed, from a
realist stance, as saying that gods do exist. On the other hand, Durkheim still thoughtit necessary that religions everywhere should display some real and universal
characteristic, and he identified this universal characteristic with the sacred.Durkheim'spreliminarydefinitionof religion nElementaryForms was not a working
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hypothesis or a tentative point of departure for empiricalanalysis. Rather, it was a
definitive statement about religion which was not open to later discussion or re-
elaboration (no new, revised definition is found at the end of Elementary Forms).
Durkheim'scharacterization f religionwas not an operationalconstructfor the purposeof setting out to study religious phenomena;rather, it was a theory which he soughtto support with relevant empirical evidence. For this reason, Book One, titled
"PreliminaryQuestions,"turns to the discussion of Buddhismin orderto demonstrate
that the definition of religion Durkheimprovides is a sound one.
Within the limited framework of this article we cannot address the complex
epistemology underlyingDurkheim's work on religion in particularor his sociology in
general,nor do we claim that we can provide definitive empiricalevidence to disproveDurkheim'stheory of religion. Such an endeavor would likely fail if it chose to ignoreDurkheim'sunderlyingepistemology and sought to disprove his theory of the sacred-
profane dichotomy simply on the basis of the empiricalevidence marshalledby con-temporary ethnographers.As Mestrovic has argued in his reappraisalof Durkheim's
ElementaryForms,the criticalapproachadoptedby several scholars(Jones1986;Lukes
1973;Pickering 1984)"entirelymisses Durkheim'spoint: namely, that the conceptualdistinction between the sacred and profane is all around us at all times" (Mektrovic
1989:267).However, for the purposeof ourlimited discussion, the crucial fact remains
that Durkheim endeavored to demonstrate the validity of his definition of religion by
citing the empiricalevidence found in Buddhism.
In Durkheim'sdefinition,empiricalgeneralizations regarding religiousphenomenabecome the buildingblocks of his essentialist conceptualizationof religion.His assump-
tion is that if a trait can be shown to characterizeall observed religions, then we canclaim that it constitutes the essence of all religions. Conversely,Durkheimassumes that
if a trait cannot be observed in every religion, then it cannot be said to constitute a
valid characteristicof any religion.Durkheim'sdefinitionof religionbecomesproblematicbecause the distinction between empirical generalizations and conceptual constructs
becomes very thin or disappears altogether; for Durkheim,empiricalgeneralizations
regarding religious phenomenabecome the real essence of religion. However, more to
the point for our purpose,the empiricalevidence on which Durkheim builds his essen-
tialist definition of religion s itself highly questionable.Durkheimrejectedsupernatural
beings as a feature of religious phenomenaandinstead proposedthe sacred as central
to allreligions, by referring o the evidence found n Buddhism.In the next two sections,we analyzein detail the evidence regardingthese two issues, and evaluate Durkheim's
claims concerning Buddhism.
THE SUPRA-HUMAN IN BUDDHISM
In Elementary Forms, the section on "Definition of Religious Phenomena and of
Religion"begins, in a typically Durkheimian ashion,with a methodical demonstration
of how the criteriaused by other scholars to identify and define religious phenomenaare unsatisfactory. This is Durkheim's standard procedureof "argumentby elimina-
tion"(Lukes1973:31-33). n the specificinstanceofElementaryForms,Durkheimshowsthat not all religions concern themselves with the supernatural or with divinity;
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accordingly, neither feature can be essential to religious phenomena. Criticizingthe
emphasis on the supernaturalby scholars like SpencerandMuller,Durkheim(1965:43)
argues that the idea of mystery "has a place only in a very small number of advanced
religions. It is impossible to make it the characteristic mark of religious phenomenawithout excluding from the definition the majority of the facts to be defined." Con-
currently,he reproachesRevilleandTylorforemphasizingthe belief in gods or spiritual
beings: "Religionis more than the idea of gods or spirits, and consequently cannot be
defined exclusively in relation to these latter" (50).The specific evidence Durkheim marshals from Buddhism to demonstrate that it
is a religion without gods or spiritual beings is ambiguous from the onset. He cites
Burnouf(1844),Barth (1879),andOldenberg 1881),to show that Buddhismis, at heart,an atheistic religion.(Fora morerecent defense of this thesis, see von Glasenapp1966.)He begins his argument by stating: "In the first place, there are great religions from
which the idea of gods and spirits is absent, or at least, whereit plays only a secondaryand minorrole. This is the case withBuddhism" Durkheim1965:45).He carefullyadmits
that the evidence from Buddhism might not be univocal: To say that gods and spirits
play a secondaryand minor rolein Buddhism is one thing;to claim that gods andspiritsare absentis quite another.Yet Durkheim'swholeargumentregardingBuddhismtreads
on equivocal evidence. For instance, he argues:
Instead of praying,in the ordinarysense of the term .. he [the Buddhist]reliesupon himself andmeditates. This is not saying "that he absolutely denies the existence of the beings called Indra,
Agni and Varuna;but 'he believes that he owes them nothing and that he has nothing to do with
them".... Then he is an atheist, in the sense that he does not concern himself with the question
whethergods exist or not (Durkheim1965:46;emphasis added).
Later he comments:
It is true that Buddha, at least in some divisions of the Buddhist Church,has sometimes beenconsidered as a sort of god ... [but]this divinizationof Buddha,granting that the term is exact,is peculiarto ... NorthernBuddhism.... We may well ask if he [Buddha]has ever reallydivestedhimselfcompletelyof allhumancharacter,andif we have a right to makehiminto a god completely;in any case, it wouldhave to be a god of a very particularcharacter.... Finally,whateverone maythink of the divinityof Buddha, t remains that this is a conceptionwhollyoutside the essentialpartof Buddhism(46-47;emphasis added).
The evidence Durkheimpresents regardingthe atheistic qualities of Buddhism isambiguous, and to remedy such shortcomings he has to qualify his claims repeatedly;thus, he strengthens his evidence fromBuddhismby elaboratingrestrictive criteriaon
prayer, atheism, divinity, and Buddhism itself. He resorts to narrow definitions of
divinity to downplay its role in Buddhism, or to dimiss it altogether. However, an
examinationof the availableevidenceconcerning he role of divinity in Buddhismreveals
a different picture from the one Durkheimprovided.To be sure,the ambiguityapparent n Durkheim'sdescriptionof Buddhism's beliefs
vis-a-vis divinity is not simply the productof his overzealousattempt to prove a point;it is mostly due to the ambiguity created by a multiplicity of doctrines which accom-
panied the development of Buddhism starting with the life of Buddha (560-580B.C.),through the archaicperiod of Buddhism (the first 140 years after the Nirvana of the
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Buddha),to the schism which saw the developmentof 18 orthodox schools (around140
B.E.): with the Sthaviras schools in Ceylon and Southeast Asia on one side, and the
Mahasinghikasin NorthernIndia on the other side (forhistorical overviews, see Conze
1980 and Kitagawa and Cummings 1989). The orthodox schools together are knownas Theravada(orHinayana)Buddhism;the other schools, which later spreadto China,
Japan, and Korea, are collectively labeled Mahayana Buddhism.A carefulexamination of Buddhist thought in these threephases reveals that some
idea of divinity and of supernaturalbeings is present throughout Buddhist thought,although t is stronger n MahayanaBuddhism than in archaicand scholasticBuddhism.
However, let us consider the available evidence.
Archaic Buddhism
In his Buddhist Thought n India,Conze 1967:56)has described he archaicBuddhistthought as follows:
Theprogressivedetachment from the world s accompaniedand facilitatedby the constant applica-tion of the threemarks[impermanent,ll, andnot-self] o allworldlyevents, and it furtherpromotesin its turn the five cardinal virtues [faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration,and wisdom].
Conzealso argues:"Once he has achievedperfect indifferenceto all worldlythings,the Yogin can automatically make Nirvana into an object" (56).The Visuddhimaggaof Buddhaghosa (VM xxi 128) proclaims:"Now at last the supramundanePath will
arise!" (cited in Conze 1967:77).This reference to entering the supramundanePath is
crucial in its implications:
At this point the Buddhists [distinguish]between two qualitativelydifferent kinds of persons, the
"holyperson"andthe ordinarypeople.... Holymen andordinarypeople occupytwo distinct planesof existence,the "worldly" nd the "supramnndene." personbecomes"supramundane"n "enteringthe Path".... The "saint," as distinguished fromworldlypeople,at the moment of entering thefirst Path is said to "realize"Nirvana in the sense of "seeing"it (57;emphasis added).
Nirvanais reachedthroughthe supramundanedoors to deliverance[emptiness,the
signless, and the wishless]: "They are quite near to the true reality of Nirvana, at its
very threshold" (69-70).Nirvana itself is Deathless, and the Buddha entered Nirvana
by conqueringDeath
(Mara),"a
deity,who tries to cause difficultiesto
anyonewho wants
to transcend death, and who was defeated by the Buddha immediately before his
enlightenment" (72).This evidenceshows that concepts of divinity and transcendenceareclearlypresent
in earlyBuddhism.Concludinghis descriptionof archaicBuddhistthought, Conzeclaims
that "Nirvana is obviously transcendental" and can be reached only through the
supramundanedoors to deliverance 76).He quotes fromthe Suttanipata (1069):"Alone,without support,0 Shakyan, I amunable to cross the great flood. Tell me the objective
support, 0 All-seeing One, leaning on which I could cross that flood" (cited in Conze,
1967:77).
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Scholastic Buddhism
The schism between the Mahasanghikasand the Sthaviras led to the development
of 18 schools of Buddhism. The Sthaviras (literally,the Elders) stood for tradition andorthodoxyin Buddhism.The significantdoctrinalpoint of the Sthavirasforourpurposeis the classification of those who have attained Nirvana;such a point is related, more
broadly,to Buddhism's envisioning of the Absolute. Conze(1967:159)has outlined the
issue: "The Absolute occursin an impersonalform as the 'Unconditioned'or 'Nirvana,'and in an apparently personal form as the 'Buddha' or 'Tathagata.' "
Attempts to characterizeNirvana aresporadicandequivocal n Sthavirasdoctrines,but these same doctrinesare detailed n theirclassificationof those whoachieve Nirvana.
Scholastic Buddhism identifies three classes of increasinglyenlightened ndividuals: he
Arhat, the Pratyekabuddha,and the Buddha The Arhat, at the lowest level, is "one
who has eliminated all ill." At the next higher level is the Pratyekabuddha,of whomConze (1967:167)writes:
He is a Buddhaforhimselfalone, who,unlike the Arhat,has ... won his enlightenmentby his owneffort without instruction from others, but who, unlike the Buddhas,does not proclaimthe truth
to others.... The first two "adepts" represent the ideals of the individualists.
The Buddha's enlightenment, at the highest level, is vastly superiorto that of the
Arhats or of the Pratyekabuddhas. The Buddha surpasses individually experienced
enlightenmentand is able to proclaim he truth to the world.In the Sthaviras doctrines,the Buddha s not simplyone who has achievedenlightenment,but one who canproclaim
the truth. Conze has elaborated:
The Abhidharmadefinesthe differenceof the Buddhafrom the othertwo adepts.... As forepithets,he is called "the Lord"(Bhagavan), he "Conqueror f Mara,"the "Kingof Dharma." he "super-man,"the "Tathagata,"the "victorunvanquished,"and so on (168-69).
The Buddha also has power over the cosmos and is its sovereign:
Possessing to a superiordegree the miraculouspowers attributed to all saints, the Buddha can
at will create, transform and conserve external objects, shorten or extend his life-span, move
throughsolid bodies, travel rapidlyfor long distances throughthe air, reduce the size of material
bodies.... (170).
Thus, one can conclude that, "It is, of course, a fallacy to regard the Buddha as
a 'person' in the ordinary sense of the term.... Far more than a person he is (1) an
impersonal metaphysical principle, (2) a supernatural potency, and (3) a type" (171;
emphasisadded).Scholastic Buddhism'stheoriesof supernaturalorcesandmetaphysicalentities strengthens the earlier evidence from archaic Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism
If the Sthaviras schools were unclear about the ontology of the Absolute (the
Unconditioned),MahayanaBuddhismresolutelyclarified his centralissue. (MaxWeber[(1923) 1958:244-56]detailed the sociological factors leading to the development of
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Mahayana doctrines.) The Buddha, in Mahayana doctrines, is characterized as a
metaphysical principle, identified with the absolute Dharma: "The true Buddha is
transmundane ... the historical Buddha is a mere apparitionof him" (Robinsonand
Johnson 1982:65).The Mahayanabroadenedthe access to enlightenment to include allindividuals, whereas the Sthaviras schools had a more selective interpretationof who
could achieve Buddhahood.Robinson and Johnson (1982:65-66)have argued:
The Mahayana nnovation was to proclaim hat the bodhisattva [futureBuddha]courseis opento
all, to lay out a path for aspiringbodhisattvas to follow,and to create a new pantheonandcult of
superhumanbodhisattvas and cosmic Buddhaswho respondto the pleas of devotees.
There is no doubt that supernaturalbeings exist in MahayanaBuddhismand that
these beings are instrumental in the individual's path to Nirvana;cults of the greatbodhisattvas (like Maitreya, Manjusri, Avalotikesvara, and Mahasthamaprapta)flourished n MahayanaBuddhism.Robinson andJohnsonhave described he Maitreyacult:
Maitreya,unlike the Buddhas beforehim, is alive so he can respondto the prayersof worshippers.Being compassionate .. he willinglygrants help;andbeing a high god in his presentbirth,he hasthe power to do so. His cult thus offers its devotees the advantage of theism and Buddhismcombined(79-80).
Therecouldbe no strongerevidence hat supernatural eingsdoin factexist in MahayanaBuddhism, and that their help is actively sought by those who seek to achieve
enlightenment.
The evidencepresented throughout this section has shown clearlythat MahayanaBuddhismqualifiesas a theistic religion; t also shows that significant theistic elements
arepresentas well in archaicandin scholastic Buddhism.In archaicBuddhism,"apersonbecomessupramundane n enteringthe Path,"andenteringNirvanarequires ranscend-
ing the god of death, Mara. In scholastic Buddhism, the Buddha is clearly described
as a supernaturalbeing and a supernatural orce with supernaturalpowers;the Buddha
is also the only one who can proclaimthe truth of Buddhism to others.While one could
identify a variationin the centralityof beliefs in supra-humanbeings in the threephasesof Buddhism,it is nevertheless evident that the belief in supra-humanbeings is present
throughoutBuddhist religion.We will elaborateon the implicationsof this findinglater,
but next we must turn our attention to another issue: whether the sacred-profane
dichotomy is a central feature of Buddhism.
SACRED AND PROFANE IN BUDDHISM
In Book One, Chapter One, Section Three of The Elementary Forms, Durkheim
(1965:52)provides a sweeping definition concerning religions:
All known religiousbeliefs, whethersimple or complex, present one common characteristic: hey
presupposea classification of all the things, real andideal,of which men think, into two classes or
opposedgroups, generally designated by two distinct terms which are translatedwell enough bythe wordsprofaneand sacred. This division of the world into two domains,the one containingallthat is sacred, the other all that is profane,is the distinctive trait of religious thought.
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He also clarifies that "by sacred things one must not understand simply those
personalbeings which are called gods or spirits" (52),and in support of such clarifica-
tion he resorts to the evidence obtained from Buddhism: "That is how Buddhism is a
religion:in default of gods, it admits the existence of sacred things, namely, the fournoble truths and the practices derived from them" (52).
We must emphasize here, that it is not our aim to prove the absence of a conceptof the sacred in Buddhism. Supernaturalbeings in Buddhism are clearly sacred in
religiouspractice, as they areenshrined and worshippedby the believers. Phenomeno-
logically speaking, the sacred is found in all societies and religions, and its identifica-
tion cannot be settled through doctrinal religious disputes (for a phenomenological
appreciationof the sacred andprofane,see Elisde 1959).Ouraim in this article s instead
to show that while Durkheim claimed that supernatural beings are marginal to
Buddhism, and the sacred-profanedichotomy is central to it, we wish to demonstrate
the opposite thesis: that supernatural beings are central, and the sacred-profanedichotomy is marginal, to Buddhism as a religion.
We saw in the previous section that Durkheim's evidence for claiming that spiritsand supra-mundanebeings are not central to Buddhismwas most ambiguous.We now
wish to show that the sacred-profanedichotomy Durkheim claims to be central to all
religions is in fact at least marginal,if not altogether rejectedor denied,in Buddhism.
Before presenting our evidence, however, let us consider Durkheim's only example
regarding the sacred in Buddhism: "the four noble truths and the practices derived
from them."
The Four Noble Truths
Theearlyscripturesof Buddhismshow that Buddhaproclaimedhe four noble truths
in his sermonat Benares,where "the enlightenedLord"addressedthe five monks. The
four noble truths concernpain, the cause of pain, the cessation of pain, and the waythat leads to the cessation of pain (Burtt 1982:30).Describing his path to enlighten-
ment, Buddha stated:
As long as in these four noble truths my knowledgeandinsight with the three sections and twelve
divisions was not wellpurified,even so long, monks,in the worldwith its gods, Mara,Brahma, ts
beingwith ascetics, brahmins,
gods,and men, I had not attained the highest completeenlighten-
ment (cited in Burtt 1982:31).
In his sermon,Buddhaannounced hat the highestcompleteenlightenment Nirvana)
cannot be achieved unless one has a "wellpurified"insight into, andknowledgeof the
four nobletruths. The Buddhahimself is able to proclaimthe four nobletruths because
he has achieved enlightenment, and he is now the Lord (Bhagavan).It appears, then,
that what gives the four noble truths a central position in Buddhism is that, havingattained complete enlightenment, the Buddha can proclaimthese truths as noble. For
those whohave not achievedNirvana,these fourtruths areincomprehensible:They are
philosophical statements about suffering in this world, and how to eliminate such
suffering,but they cannot be fully understoodunless enlightenmentis achieved.Whatdoes it matter to proclaim that "existence is unhappiness" unless one has obtained
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Nirvana's purified knowledge?The four noble truths of Buddhism are not sacred in themselves; rather,they derive
their significance from the fact that the Buddha, having achieved enlightenment and
having becomethe Lord,proclaimsthem as such. Thus, at the center of Buddhismwefind not the four noble truths, but the enlightenment of the Buddha. Conze (1967:30)has explicitly arguedsuch a point: "Buddhism bases itself first of all on the revelation
of the Truth by an omniscient being, known as 'the Buddha.' " This shows that
supramundanebeings (andmost importantly the Buddha)are central to Buddhism as
a religion,directly underminingDurkheim's(1965:45)claim that "all that is essential
to Buddhism is found in the four propositions which the faithful call the four noble
truths." We admit, to be sure, that the four noble truths display some degree of
sacredness(onecouldarguethat the transition from the first truth to the second,third,and fourth represents the shift from most profaneto most sacred). However, the fact
remains that whatever sacredness these four noble truths display is not an intrinsicquality of the truths themselves, but a quality the Buddha has given them.
The Conditionedand the Unconditioned
The four noble truths are not a fitting example of the centrality of the sacred in
Buddhism,but are there any other elements in Buddhism which would fit Durkheim's
sacred-profanedichotomy?His central notion is that all religions divide the worldinto
two distinct domains: he sacredand the profane.Stanner(1967:217-240)ought to refute
Durkheim's dichotomy based on its logical inconsistencies and on contrary evidence
found in aboriginalreligions. He argued "not only that 'the profane' is the weaker ofthe two categories,but that the dichotomyitself is unusableexcept at the cost of undue
interference with the facts of observation" (229).Here we will limit our observations
to the evidence about the sacred and the profane found in Buddhism.
Durkheim did not provide any illustration of the sacred-profanedichotomy in
Buddhism,but if anything comes close, it is Buddhism's treatment of the Conditioned
(Pratitya-samutpadaor Samsara)and the Unconditioned (Nirvana),the two oppositerealms of the physical world(past, present, andfuture)and of the transcendental world
(enlightenment).This is an important ssue in Buddhism,as well as in othermajorworld
religions,since it displays the tension betweenthe profane"this-worldly" nd the sacred
"other-worldly," which is at the root of much religious thought (Weber [1922]
1978:518-634).Buddhism partakes of this tension (Lopez 1988).We do not seek here to dismiss sacred-profanedistinctions altogether, but rather
to makea morespecificpoint:namely, that a close scrutiny of the Conditionedand the
Unconditionedn Buddhismshows that they donot partakeof the sacred-profane ualitywhich Durkheim considered central to religious phenomena. Let us be clear that
Durkheimhimself did not discuss the Conditionedand Unconditioned n Buddhism;we
have chosen these as the best examples, if any, of a possible sacred-profanedichotomyin Buddhism.
DurkheimwritesinElementaryForms that "the sacredandthe profanehavealways
andeverywherebeen conceivedby the humanmind as two distinct classes, as two worldsbetween which there is nothing in common"(Durkheim1965:54;emphasis added).Yet
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Buddhism's Conditioned and Unconditioned are two classes of dharmas, that is, two
classes of "truly existing objects," and they share a number of similarities.
In Buddhism, Conditionedand Unconditioned dharmas are both characterizedas
Emptiness, the Signless, and the Wishless. Conze(1967:60-70)has described how thesethree concepts apply to each of the two classes of dharmas:
In one sense 'emptiness' designates deprivation,in another fulfillment.... Objects ... have no
relevanceto anythingthat is worthknowingordoing [they aresignless] ... Theyogin... forsakes
the 'sign,'... andaspiresin resolute faith towards that whichis without a 'sign.'... The Wishless
[is]... withoutpredilectionor desires for the objectsofperception.... Nirvana s anobjectof craving
only in so far as one forms a mistaken idea of it.
In Buddhist religion, since its inception, the Conditioned and the Unconditioned
appearto have significant commonalities which prevent us from considering them as
amutually
exclusivedichotomy
in the sense Durkheim envisioned. With thedevelop-ment of Mahayana Buddhism, the blurring of the two realms becomes even greater.
Conze(1967:160)has commented hat the Mahayanadeveloped he methodof "proclaim-
ing the truth by boldly self-contradictorypronouncements."The relationshipbetween
the Conditionedand the Unconditionedwas one such topic of contradictoryarguments:
The most startling innovationof the Mahayana s ... the identification of the Unconditionedwith
the conditioned.... The Mahayanapoints out that once someonehas given up everythingfor the
Absolute,he simply s the Absolute,andnothing nhim s anylongerdifferent rom t.... Theidentityof the contemplatorwith the Absolute seems to have a value of a self-evident mmediatefact of ex-
perience(Conze1967:227-28).
Thus, in MahayanaBuddhism, the conditioned individual becomesunconditioned;as one achieves enlightenment,one is the Absolute. Yet the identity of Conditionedand
Unconditioned is also proclaimed at the level of non-individual entities. Both the
Conditionedand the Unconditionedare dharmas.TheMahayanaclaimthat if alldharmas
are non-different,they are by that very fact all the same (Conze1967:228;Robinson
1978:184-90).They argue: "Nothing in Samsara is different from Nirvana;nothing in
Nirvana is different from Samsara. The limit of Nirvana is the limit of Samsara;there
is not even the subtlest something separating the two" (Madhyamakakarika 5, 19-29;cited in Conze 1967:228).
The Absolute in this system is definedas ... the supremelyreal Element, Dharma-element r theBuddha-element.This pure and eternal factor is the basis of the entireworldof appearance,andin
the absenceof any limitationsit is the omnipresentgerm of Buddhahoodwhich indwellsall beings(Conze 1967:229).
In the Mahayana doctrine of sameness (or "suchness"), the Conditionedand the
Unconditioned thoroughly merge and become indistinguishable. They are central to
Buddhist doctrine, but they most clearly do not meet Durkheim's requirementof a
sacred and profane dichotomy which he considered to be the universal characteristic
of all religions.Thus far, we have shown that Durkheim's arguments regarding Buddhism were
defective on two counts: He arguedambiguously that Buddhism does not really admitof suprahumanbeings or spirits, and he claimed inaccurately to have identified and
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characterizedthe sacred in Buddhism. What are the implications of our findings for
characterizingBuddhism in particular and religious phenomenain general? We turn
next to these questions.
LESSONS FROM BUDDHISM
In his definition of religious phenomena and in his presentation of supportingevidencefrom Buddhism,Durkheim used two strategies: He opted for a narrow defini-
tion of the super-humanwhichallowedhimto show Buddhism to be essentially atheistic,and he chose a broad characterization of the sacred which, in Buddhism, could be
identified with the four noble truths. On the one hand,Durkheimarguedthat only those
beings which directly intervene in human affairs and are actively instrumental in
achieving salvation meet his definition of what gods are.This is the thrust of his argu-
ment, since he claims that the gods Indra,Agni, and Varuna do exist, but the Buddhist"believesthat he owes them nothing and that he has nothing to do with them.... Then
[the Buddhist]is an atheist" (Durkheim1965:46).On the other hand,Durkheimpositedthe sacred as anything a collectivity deems sacred, regardless of its pertinence to
transcendental matters. He claims that "a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of
wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred" (52), thus constructing the sacred
as an undeterminedcategory whose only criterion is its opposition to the profane.Yet
the profane s, in Durkheim'stheory, a residualcategory for what is not sacred(Stanner
1967:230). Given the shortcomings of Durkheim's two-pronged approach, we must
conclude that it simply does not do justice to Buddhism as a religion, or to most
sociologically observed religious phenomena.
Arguing against Durkheim's criterionregardingsuperhumanbeings in Buddhism,
Spiro (1966:92)has contended:
Withrespect to supermundane oals, the Buddha s certainlya superhumanbeing.Unlikeordinary
humans,he himselfacquired he powerto attain Enlightenmentand henceBuddhahood.Moreover,he showed others the means for its attainment. Without his teachings, natural man could not,
unassisted, have discovered the way to Enlightenmentand to final release.
Plainly, Buddha is central to Buddhism as an observed religious phenomenon;neither
the four noble truths, nor the Dharma,nor the Samgha, nor the Unconditioned would
have any meaning without the Buddha. We believe the evidence we provided fromBuddhism warrants such a claim.
Spiro (1966:95)has also criticized Durkheimfor his unwarrantedconclusion "that
religionuniquelyrefers to the 'sacred'while secularconcernsarenecessarily 'profane.'"
Instead, Spiro has claimed that "religiousand secularbeliefs alike may have reference
either to sacredorto profane phenomena" 96).As an example,civic values we consider
sacred like liberty, or patriotism, or the pursuit of happiness are not commonlyunderstood to be attributes of a religion (but see Bellah 1970; Bellah and Hammond
1980); heirendorsementor acceptancedoes not rest on a beliefin transcendentalspirits.
Conversely,any kind of everydayprofaneactivity (singing, bathing, eating)can assume
a religiouscharacterif it relates to beliefs in transcendentalpowers. Again, Buddhismprovides exemplaryevidencein this respect. The four noble truths of Buddhism,taken
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by themselves, have no sacredquality. Stoic philosphers n classical Greece and ancient
Rome,forinstance, claimed as much as the fournoble truths claimconcerningsuffering
in this world and how to become indifferentto it (Polhlenzet al. 1987;Capes 1909),butwe do not commonly consider stoicism's pronouncementsto be religious truths. The
differencebetweenBuddhism andstoicism, then, is that the formerrests on the teachingsof the Buddha, the Lord, and it is geared toward achieving transcendental Enlighten-
ment; stoicism, instead, proposes itself as a philosophy of life in this world, without
any referenceto supernaturalbeings.
We have shown throughoutthis article that Durkheimwas exceedingly ambiguousin describing he corebeliefs of Buddhismconcerning he existenceof suprahumanbeingsand concerning the sacred and profane, and their relationship. To conclude, we want
to explore the broaderconsequences of Durkheim's misreadings and propose ways to
overcome hem. Religious phenomena,as observedempiricallyn socialgroups, postulatethe belief in supra-mundanebeings as their distinguishing characteristic. Eliminatingthis requirement, as Durkheim did in his Elementary Forms, makes religion and
philosophy, and even science and technology, essentially undistinguishable social
phenomena.Strong collective sentiments can accompanyDarwin's theory of evolution
as much as they can accompany Buddhism's Eightfold Path to Enlightenment. The
singing of a national anthem can elicit the same strong collective emotions as does the
singing of religioushymns. Thereligiouscharacterof a phenomenon,however,is clearlylocated not in the sacrednessof the phenomenon tself (as Durkheimclaimed)but rather
in the phenomenon'srelation to the suprahumanand the transcendental.
Rejecting Durkheim's definition of religion, Spiro (1966:96)has provided his ownworkingdefinitionof religionas "aninstitution consisting of culturally patternedinter-
actionwith culturallypostulatedsuperhumanbeings."We also subscribe o sucha defini-
tion. All social institutions, of course, are characterizedby culturally patterned inter-
action (Berger and Luckmann 1966), but the distinguishing element of religion as an
institution is its collective belief in transcendental spirits (Goody 1961;Horton 1960).
Spiro(1966:98)has concluded hat "viewedsystematically,religioncanbe differentiated
from other culturally constituted institutions by virtue only of its reference to
superhumanbeings."It is outside the scope of this article to engage in an extensive demonstration of
how Spiro's definition of religion does better justice than Durkheim's definition to
religious phenomena; t is also outside its scope to discuss the desirability of identify-
ing some modernideologies as "varities of civil religion"(Bellahand Hammond 1980).
All we claim to have shown here is that Durkheim'sanalysis of Buddhism is seriouslydefective. The evidencewe foundin Buddhismgreatly underminesDurkheim'sbroader
definitionof religionbut it does not, by itself, provide finalproof that such a definition
is wrong.Moreextensive,cross-cultural esearchon religiousphenomenawould be needed
to make such a conclusive claim. However, we hope our analysis of Buddhism has
achieved broadersignificanceby raising seriousquestions about past characterizations
of religionand by providing some preliminaryhypotheses toward a better social scien-
tific definition of religious phenomena.
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