Can Monks Practice Astrology? Astrology and the Vinaya in China

Kotyk examines the introduction and reception of occidental astrology in the first millennium of Chinese Buddhist history. Kotyk argues that despite initial Buddhist condemnation of occidental astrology in Sūtra and Vinaya literature, observing the movements of celestial bodies and interpreting their significance came to be widely accepted Buddhist practice in eighth century in China. Such acceptance, Kotyk argues, was first “spearheaded by the tantric community,” and later sustained due to non-Buddhist intellectuals' understanding of astrological concepts and Buddhist figures’loose interpretation of or disregard for the Vinaya in the early Tang. A fascinating case study of the ways that Buddhism has developed in new geographical and temporal contexts, Kotyk’s work helps us to understand how and why it may be that ostensibly prohibited activities emerge as key practices within religious communities.