Buddhist monastery

“ As indicated elsewhere, the essential part of the Buddhist Church is the monkhood and it is often hard to say if a Chinese layman is a Buddhist or not. It will therefore be best to describe briefly the organization and life of a monastery, then the services performed there and to some extent attended by the laity, and thirdly the rites performed by monks on behalf of the laity, especially funeral ceremonies. ”

“ How little could the Buddha have foreseen such a development of his brotherhood of monks, whose chief duties were meditation and itineration!
And what is to be said of the present condition of the Buddhist monkhood? Do we see anywhere evidences of that enlightenment of mind which Buddhism claims as its chief characteristic?
When I was travelling in Ceylon, I met a few learned 92 monks, but the majority seemed to me idle, ignorant, and indifferent.
In Burma the monks are called Pungīs (Phongies) , and are a little more active. Every youth in Burma is supposed for a time to inhabit a monastery. ”

“ It should be noted that every male throughout Burma is required to enter a monastery and become a novice for a portion of his life, if only for a single Vassa. This is because the Buddha taught that every true Buddhist 260 ought to conform to his example and become a monk, although he wisely abstained from imposing any irrevocable vows. ”

“ The Buddhist monasteries not only hold services in time of drought, but also in time of flood and at times when plagues of grasshoppers afflict the land, or when diseases afflict human beings. Their adoption of Chinese customs led them to have special ceremonies at the eclipse of the sun and moon, although they knew the cause of the eclipse. Peasants and officials support the monastery because of these services regulating the wind and water influences and through them bringing the people into harmonious relation with the great world of spirits. ”

“ The young shin or novice, who chooses to stay in a monastery, may in due course be admitted to ordination. At that time, dressed in princely robes, he celebrates the sacrifice of the founder of Buddhism, Sākyamuni, in leaving his royal state to become a mendicant. His head is shaved, his gorgeous clothes are taken away, and henceforward he is clad only in the yellow robe of the Buddhist monks, an order older, more widespread, and more picturesque than any other religious order in the world. ”

“ In that monastery might be seen several thousand novices and monks of the eighteen Buddhist schools—all of them supported by royal grants, and thus enabled both to perform their religious duties, and to prosecute the study of philosophy, law, and science in literary ease. It is probable that if disputes and disagreements upon burning questions occurred, they rarely led to serious conflicts, and were not general throughout India, but confined to particular localities; and I think it may be safely affirmed that if Buddhism was ever anywhere persecuted, it never anywhere persecuted in return. ”

“ There are usually far more of them in the monastery than are required for that purpose, so that they spend a vast amount of idle time, and it is thought by many that the indolent, easy-going habits, and the lack of discipline and enterprise the Burmans display as a nation, is largely owing to the idle life of the monastery, which is continually before their eyes, for there they receive their teaching when young.
The Buddhist monk is not a minister of religion in our sense. ”

“ A young priest draped his long yellow robe around one of the gentlemen, in veritable Roman toga style, the right arm and shoulder being exposed. Then one of the party took a photograph, promising to send a copy to the monastery.
The support of the Buddhist monasteries depends on charity, and a procession of priests from each monastery goes about with mendicant bowls or baskets, each morning soliciting food and fruit, everything being placed in one receptacle. Rice, however, is the principal contribution. ”

“ Large Buddhist temples almost always form part of a monastery, but smaller shrines, especially in towns, are often served by a single priest. The many-storeyed towers called pagodas which are a characteristic beauty of Chinese landscapes, are in their origin stupas erected over relics but at the present day can hardly be called temples or religious buildings, for they are not places of worship and generally owe their construction to the dictates of Fêng-shui or geomancy. ”

“ Thus we see, that notwithstanding the condition of poverty, ignorance and unimportance to which the Buddhist monks had sunk there were still among them teachers of great learning with crowds of students, who were ready to serve their king in his hour of trial.
In 1660 a curious condition had arisen. With these mountain monasteries open to all who came, they had become a refuge for the disaffected. Suppose a man had trouble with his family, he would become religious and retire to a monastery as a monk; if a man failed in business, he might find refuge there ”

“ Other people drift in for many reasons. Men who have lost their friends and relatives by death often go to the monasteries. So do those who fail in business, or who have been disappointed in life enterprises. The head-priest of one small, but very famous, ancient monastery, only recently became religious; he had been employed as a janitor or helper in a Buddhist temple of Japanese in a Korean city and became interested and attracted. ”

“ Later, at Nikko and in the Nijo castle in Kyoto, we see structural beauty sacrificed to a wealth of ornamentation which in colour and exquisite detail equals the utmost gorgeousness of Arabian or Moorish effort.
The simplicity and purism of the tea-room resulted from emulation of the Zen monastery. A Zen monastery differs from those of other Buddhist sects inasmuch as it is meant only to be a dwelling place for the monks. Its chapel is not a place of worship or pilgrimage, but a college room where the students congregate for discussion and the practice of meditation. ”

“ Buddhist monasteries are well known to contain usually several hundreds of monks, and such a monastery as that at Sârnâth was least likely to have the fewest number of occupants. To attack and burn it successfully would need a large force well armed, and it would be no easy task for a mob, suddenly roused as in popular tumults, to attack and sack the great monastery. ”

“ They exercise no sacerdotal functions; there is no such person as a Buddhist priest. They spend their lives in meditation, in the study and exposition of the scriptures, and in teaching young boys. Buddhist nuns are equally respectable but less numerous and conspicuous. They dwell apart in isolation, not in convents. While ordinary Burmans are buried, monks of special sanctity are cremated with much ceremony.
Every small Burman boy passes some time in a monastery even if he has no intention of becoming a monk. ”

“ The religion of Buddha is very popular in China and was introduced into the country from India early in the first century of the Christian era.
The Monks living in this monastery appear to lead quiet and harmless lives, and judging from the appearance of neglect of even their finest temples they are also very lazy. 碧雲寺內在三門觀上五指塔 No. 893, PI-YUEN-TSZU TEMPLE.
碧雪寺內在三門觀上五指塔
No. 893, PI-YUEN-TSZU TEMPLE.
As we enter the first gateway of this Buddhist temple, a fine long avenue stretches out before us leading to flights of steps and the grand central pagoda. ”

“ And in the time of the Blessed Buddha Sikhin, a merchant named Sirivaḍḍha bought that very spot by standing golden ploughshares over it, and built there a monastery three-quarters of a league in length. And in the time of the Blessed Buddha Vessabhū, a merchant named Sotthiya bought that very spot by laying golden elephant feet along it, and built a monastery there half a league in length. And in the133 time of the Blessed Buddha Kakusandha, a merchant named Accuta also bought that very spot by laying golden bricks over it, and built there a monastery a quarter of a league in length. ”

“ Behind the tope there has been built a Hall of Buddha, of the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars, venetianed doors and windows, being all overlaid with gold-leaf. Besides this, the apartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly decorated, beyond the power of words to express. Of whatever things of highest value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the east of the Ts'ung range of mountains are possessed, they contribute the greater portion to this monastery, using but a small portion of them themselves. ”

“ And, in spite of isolated instances, the monks accepted the new order with resignation, if not with enthusiasm. The tolerant spirit of Buddhism pervades all classes. Strangers wander unmolested and without meeting scowling looks in the precincts of pagodas and holy places; they are welcome to explore the recesses of monasteries, observing only common politeness and decorum. You are not expected to take off your shoes on reaching the sacred limits of a pagoda or monastery. Ordinary courtesy doubtless impels you to remove your hat in a sacred building. ”

“ The visit to the Queen's Golden Monastery was peculiarly interesting. It is a fine specimen of native architecture, made of elaborately carved teakwood, finely gilded, but showing the marks of age. In the large central room, from which leads a smaller room separated only by columns, the so-called golden image of Buddha (also bejewelled) rests on a raised dais, and in front is a long table containing a great variety of votive offerings to the deity from a widely scattered circle of believers. ”

“ In all the romance of religion, nothing equals the vicissitudes and alternating fortunes of this sacred place; for, soon after Hiouen Thsang's visit, Buddhism degenerated, the Brahmans again took over the sanctuary, and the monastery became a fort. ”

“ This theory not only recognizes the separate existence of an immaterial essence or soul, but also teaches that the Head Lāma of certain monasteries is the living, visible embodiment, for the time being, of the continuous descent (avatāra) on earth of a portion of the essence of the canonized Founder of a monastery or of a celestial Bodhi-sattva or Buddha, who will perpetually continue to descend from heaven and re-appear in human forms for the welfare of the world (see p. 109) [129] . ”

“ On one side of the monasteries there will be many pagodas, tombs of the Buddha. They are usually solid cones, topped with a gilded 'tee,' and there are many of them. Each man will build one [Pg 140] in his lifetime if he can. They are always white or gold.
So there is much colour about a monastery—the brown of the wood and the white of the pagoda, and tender green of the trees. The ground is always kept clean-swept and beaten and neat. ”

“ Another example of a monastery in a remote situation is that of Kurun or Kuren (see p. 295) , situated on the slope of a mountain in Mongolia. In this celebrated monastery of the Grand Lāma Tāranātha 30,000 Lāmas (according to M. Huc) are lodged and supported.
The plain at the foot of the mountain is constantly covered with tents of various sizes for the convenience of pilgrims. Hither throng the worshippers of Buddha from the most remote countries. ”

“ Besides the Abbot, there were in the monastery some twenty other men, monks, priests and neophytes, and ten nuns of various ages, ranging from girlhood to wrinkled wisdom.
The establishment derives its revenues from the rent and proceeds of the Church lands, donations from pilgrims and guests, occasional benefactions from the wealthy, and the collections made by the mendicant monks. These latter chant the litanies of Buddha from house to house, and travel throughout the Empire, finding food and lodging by the wayside, to collect the scanty contributions which their solicitations evoke. ”

“ In the sixteenth century of Buddhism, about 1000 a.d., there was a revival and a reformation of the faith; the temple was restored, and priests gathered in numbers. Again it fell away, and at the time of the Mohammedan conquest the Buddhists were persecuted like other infidels, and the ruins of their temples and monasteries tell how hundreds of priests met death by fire and sword in such asylums. In the fourteenth century the King of Burma sent an embassy to restore the temple, when a few Buddhist priests were found in the lonely place. ”

“ Among the people of the country there is a saying current that "the thousand Buddhas must all leave their shadows here."
Rather more than four hundred paces west from the shadow, when Buddha was at the spot, he shaved off his hair and clipped his nails, and proceeded, along with his disciples, to build a tope seventy or eighty cubits high, to be a model for all future topes; and it is still existing. By the side of it there is a monastery, with more than seven hundred monks in it. At this place there are as many as a thousand topes of Arhans and Pratyeka Buddhas. ”

“ The monasteries are built of teak, or, sometimes in Mandalay and Lower Burma, of brick. The shape is always oblong, and the inhabited portion is raised on posts and pillars, eight or ten feet above the ground. They are, like all the other houses in the country, only one story high; for if it is an indignity to a layman to have anyone’s feet over his head [225] , it is much more so to a member of the brotherhood. The space between the ground and the floor is always kept open, and is never used except by the monastery school-boys. ”

“ They have been allowed, after the strange custom of the Buddhists, to fall to rack and ruin without an attempt being made to save them; because, one would think, by some strange mistake, the repairing of a monastery makes no merit, though building a brand-new one, however third-rate in style or bad in finish, is one of the highest of merit-making acts. ”