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The Pali canon shows a largely negative view of visual art. In ancient Indian culture, beauty is associated with sexual attraction, and has an erotic overtone. Concern with beauty conflicts with the Buddhist ideal of detachment from worldly pleasures. On the other hand Buddhists have created wonderful works of art, and monks can be painters or dancers. Pictures and performances are made as expressions of devotion, and as means of acquiring merit, and most importantly to convey a Buddhist message.

Records of the Buddha's sermons in the Pali Canon often end with a statement that the monks delighted in the Buddha's words. However, the first sermon in one collection, the Majjhima Nikaya, says that they did not delight in them. though this reading is ancient, most modern editors have emended by removing the negative. this article argues that a careful study of the preceding text reveals why the negative is correct.

The contents of sacred texts are not simply reproduced in the doctrines of the religions which venerate them; there must be interpretation and selective emphasis. This is most obviously true when the corpus of sacred literature is large, as in Christianity and Buddhism. Historians of these religions may therefore ask why certain doctrines and certain scriptures have been emphasized at the expense of others.

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