The Erotics of Practice: Objects and Agency in Buddhist Avadaría Literature Andy Rotman The collection of Indian Buddhist narratives known as the Divyävadäna posits that there is a class of objects whose sight leads to the arising of prasäda in the viewer and that this mental state of prasäda leads the viewer to make an offering. In this article, Ifirstdescribe the mechan- ics of prasäda—why it arises, in whom it arises, and the consequences of it arousal—as well as the various "agents of prasäda" (präsädika) and the power they exert when seen. In discussing thefieldof effects of präsädika objects, I consider Catherine MacKinnon's work on pornography to help clarify the politics of this configuration of prasäda as well as its ethical im- plications. Last, I discuss the aesthetics of prasäda and what this suggests about the function of Buddhist narratives known as avadarías. IN CATHERINE LUTZ'S ETHNOGRAPHIC WORK on the rhetoric of emotional control in the United States, she contends that American women, much more than American men, are inclined to speak of their emotions as powerfully and potentially dangerous phenomena that need to be controlled; if they do not control their emotions, their emotions will control them. American women, Lutz concludes, tend to believe that they have less control than men over their emotions and as a result are some- how weaker, less rational, and more dangerous, for emotions are thought to prompt antisocial behavior. Emotions, in short, have great power be- cause they so frequently compel us to action, even against our will. Andy Rotman is an assistant professor of religion at Smith College, Northampton, MA 01060. I would like to thank the following people for their comments on earlier drafts of this article: Shrikant Bahulkar, Steven Collins, Laura Desmond, M. G. Dhadphale, John Dunne, William Elison, Jay Garfield, J. R. Joshi, Sara McClintock, Elizabeth Pérez, Andrea Pinkney, Christopher Pinney, Sheldon Pollock, and April Strickland. Journal of the American Academy of Religion September 2003, Vol. 71, No. 3, pp. 555-578 DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfg077 © 2003 The American Academy of Religion