It has been claimed that Indian Buddhism, as opposed to East Asian Chan/Zen traditions, was somehow against humour. In this
paper I contend that humour is discernible in canonical Indian Buddhist texts, particularly in Indian Buddhist monastic law
codes (
Vinaya). I will attempt to establish that what we find in these texts sometimes is not only humourous but that it is intentionally
so. I approach this topic by comparing different versions of the same narratives preserved in Indian Buddhist monastic law
codes.
Keywords Humour - Indian Buddhism -
Vinaya
-
Sarvāstivāda-vinaya
-
Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya
This is a revised version of a paper presented at the XVth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 23-29, 2008. I wish to acknowledge financial assistance from the Arts Research Board, McMaster
University.