Buddhist monasticism

Buddhist monasticism is one of the earliest surviving forms of organized monasticism and one of the fundamental institutions of Buddhism. Monks and nuns, called bhikkhu (Pali, Skt. bhikshu) and bhikkhuni (Skt. bhikshuni), are responsible for the preservation and dissemination of the Buddha's teaching and the guidance of Buddhist lay people. Three surviving traditions of monastic discipline (Vinaya), govern modern monastic life in different regional traditions: Theravada (Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia), Dharmaguptaka (East Asia), and Mulasarvastivada (Tibet and the Himalayan region).

Buddhism originated as a renunciant tradition, practiced by ascetics who had departed from lay life. According to Buddhist tradition, the order of monks and nuns was founded by Gautama Buddha during his lifetime between the fifth and fourth centuries BCE when he accepted a group of fellow renunciants as his followers. The Buddhist monastic lifestyle grew out of the lifestyle of earlier sects of wandering ascetics, some of whom the Buddha had studied under. This lifestyle was not necessarily isolationist or eremitic: the sangha was dependent on the lay community for basic provisions of food and clothing, and in return sangha members helped guide lay followers on the path of Dharma. Individuals or small groups of monks – a teacher and his students, or several monks who were friends – traveled together, living on the outskirts of local communities and practicing meditation in the forests. Monks and nuns were expected to live with a minimum of possessions, which were to be voluntarily provided by the lay community. Lay followers also provided the daily food that monks required, and provided shelter for monks when they were needed. According to the sutras, during the Buddha's time, retreats and gardens were donated by wealthy citizens for monks and nuns to stay in during the rainy season (although there is as yet no archaeological evidence to support this claim – evidence only exists for such monastic enclosures at a much later date). Out of this tradition grew two kinds of living arrangements for monastics, as detailed in the Mahavagga section of the Vinaya and Varsavastu texts:

One of the more famous Arama is Anathapindika's, known as Anathapindikassa arame, built on Prince Jeta's grove. It had buildings worth 1.8 million gold pieces built in a beautiful grove, with the total gift worth 5.4 million gold pieces.

After the parinirvana of the Buddha, the Buddhist monastic order developed into a primarily cenobitic movement. The practice of living communally during the rainy vassa season, prescribed by the Buddha, gradually grew to encompass a settled monastic life centered on life in a community of practitioners. Most of the modern disciplinary rules followed by monks and nuns —the Pratimokṣa— relate to such an existing, prescribing in great detail proper methods for living and relating in a community of monks or nuns.

Monasteries grew considerably after the Buddha's death. Textual and archaeological evidence point to the existence of numerous monasteries in the area around Rajagriha, and the eventual development of large monastic universities in northern India that housed thousands of resident monks.

During the medieval era, the Theravada lineage of bhikkhunis died out. They were eventually replaced by traditions of women ordained as novices, such as the mae ji of Thailand and Dasa sil matavas of Sri Lanka. The medieval era also saw the decline and collapse of organized Buddhist monasticism inside India.

By the time of its disappearance in India, Buddhist monasticism had spread to become a pan-Asian phenomenon, with substantial monastic communities in East and Southeast Asia, and surviving South Asian communities in the Himalayan regions and Tibet. During the 20th Century, Buddhist monasticism expanded abroad in the wake of Western interest in the Buddhist tradition and Asian emigration, resulting in the establishment of Buddhist monasteries in Europe, Australia, Africa, and North and South America.

Buddhism has no central authority, and many different varieties of practice and philosophy have developed over its history. Three surviving Vinaya traditions today govern monastic life in different regions and lineages- the Theravada in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, the Dharmaguptaka in East Asia, and the Mulasarvastivada in Tibet and the Himalayan region.