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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). History and development 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 lif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring to Buddhist traditions associated with Tantra and "Secret Mantra", which developed in the medieval Indian subcontinent and spread to Tibet, Nepal, other Himalayan states, East Asia, and Mongolia. Vajrayāna practices are connected to specific lineages in Buddhism, through the teachings of lineage holders. Others might generally refer to texts as the Buddhist Tantras. It includes practices that make use of mantras, dharanis, mudras, mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas. Traditional Vajrayāna sources say that the tantras and the lineage of Vajrayāna were taught by Śākyamuni Buddha and other figures such as the bodhisattva Vajrapani and Padmasambhava. Contemporary historians of Buddhist studies meanwhile argue that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahaprajapati
Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī (Pali; Sanskrit: महाप्रजापती गौतमी, ''Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī'') or Pajapati was the foster-mother, step-mother and maternal aunt (mother's sister) of the Buddha. In Buddhist tradition, she was the first woman to seek ordination for women, which she did from Gautama Buddha directly, and she became the first bhikkhuni (Buddhist nun). Biography Tradition says Maya and Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī were Koliyan princess and sisters of Suppabuddha. Mahāpajāpatī was both the Buddha's maternal aunt and adoptive mother, raising him after her sister Maya, the Buddha's birth mother, died. She raised Siddhartha as if he were her own child. Mahāpajāpatī died at the age of 120.DhammadhariniGoing Forth & Going Out ~ the Parinibbana of Mahapajapati Gotami - Dhammadharini "The story of the parinirvāṇa of Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī and her five hundred bhikṣuṇī companions was popular and widely transmitted and existed in multip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to betwee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dasa Sil Mata
A dasa sil mata (Sinhala: දස සිල් මාතා ) is an Eight- or Ten Precepts-holding anagārikā (lay renunciant) in Buddhism in Sri Lanka, where the newly reestablished bhikkhuni (nun's) lineage is not officially recognized yet. The status of dasa sil matas is in between an ordinary upāsikā (laywoman) and a fully ordained bhikkhuni. They are usually expected to work in viharas, essentially as maids to ordained bhikkhus, rather than receiving training and the opportunity to practice. However, some dasa sil matas have struggled and managed to establish monasteries of their own, where women have the opportunity devote themselves to spiritual training and practice. In Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, they have established monasteries for anagārikās. Similar orders exist in Thailand, Cambodia and in Myanmar. In Thailand, where it is illegal for a woman to take a bhikkhuni ordination, they are called maechi. In Cambodia, they are called donchees. In Burma, an eig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mae Ji
Maechi or Mae chee ( th, แม่ชี; ) are Buddhist laywomen in Thailand who have dedicated their life to religion, vowing celibacy, living an ascetic life and taking the Eight or Ten Precepts (i.e., more than the Five Precepts taken by laypersons). They occupy a position somewhere between that of an ordinary lay follower and an ordained monastic and similar to that of the sāmaṇerī. It is still illegal for women to take full ordination as a bhikkhuni (nun) in Thailand because of a 1928 law created by the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand. He based this on the fact that Gautama Buddha allowed senior bhikkhunis to initiate new women into the order. Citing the belief that the Theravada bhikkhuni sangha had died out centuries earlier and the Buddha's rules regarding bhikkhunī ordinations according to the Vinaya, the patriarch commanded that any Thai bhikkhu who ordained a female "is said to conduct what the Buddha has not prescribed, to revoke what the Buddha has laid d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajagriha
Rajgir, meaning "The City of Kings," is a historic town in the district of Nalanda in Bihar, India. As the ancient seat and capital of the Haryanka dynasty, the Pradyota dynasty, the Brihadratha dynasty and the Mauryan Empire, as well as the dwelling ground of such historical figures as The Buddha and The Mahavira, the city holds a place of prominence in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain scriptures. As of 2011, the population of the town was reported to be 71,459 while the population in the community development block was about 88,500. Rajgir was the first capital of the ancient kingdom of Magadha, a state that would eventually evolve into the Mauryan Empire. It finds mention in India's renowned literary epic, the Mahabharata, through its king Jarasandha. The town's date of origin is unknown, although ceramics dating to about 1000 BC have been found in the city. The 2,500-year-old cyclopean wall is also located in the region. The town is also notable in Jainism and Buddhism. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pratimokṣa
The Pratimokṣa ( sa, wikt:प्रातिमोक्ष#Sanskrit, प्रातिमोक्ष, prātimokṣa) is a list of rules (contained within the ''vinaya'') governing the behaviour of Buddhist monastics (monks or ''bhikkhu, bhikṣus'' and nuns or ''bhikkhuni, bhikṣuṇīs''). ''Prati'' means "towards" and ''moksha, mokṣa'' means "liberation" from cyclic existence (saṃsāra). It became customary to recite these rules once a fortnight at a meeting of the Sangha (Buddhism), sangha during which Confession (religion), confession would traditionally take place. A number of prātimokṣa codes are extant, including those contained in the Theravada, Theravāda, Mahāsāṃghika, Mahīśāsaka, Dharmaguptaka, Sarvastivada, Sarvāstivāda and Mulasarvastivada, Mūlasarvāstivāda vinayas. Pratimokṣa texts may also circulate in separate ''pratimokṣa sūtras'', which are extracts from their respective vinayas. Overview The Pratimokṣa belongs to the Vinaya of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vassa
The ''Vassa'' ( pi, vassa-, script=Latn, sa, varṣa-, script=Latn, both "rain") is the three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners. Taking place during the wet season, Vassa lasts for three lunar months, usually from July (the Burmese month of Waso, ) to October (the Burmese month of Thadingyut ).Vassa at About.com In English, Vassa is often glossed as Rains Retreat or Buddhist Lent, the latter by analogy to the Christian Lent (which Vassa predates by at least five centuries). For the duration of Vassa, monastics remain in one place, typically a |
Cenobitic
Cenobitic (or coenobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts. The older style of monasticism, to live as a hermit, is called eremitic. A third form of monasticism, found primarily in Eastern Christianity, is the skete. The English words "cenobite" and "cenobitic" are derived, via Latin, from the Greek words ''koinos'' (κοινός), "common", and ''bios'' (βίος), "life". The adjective can also be cenobiac (κοινοβιακός, ''koinobiakos'') or cœnobitic (obsolete). A group of monks living in community is often referred to as a cenobium. Cenobitic monasticism appears in several religious traditions, though most commonly in Buddhism and Christianity. Origins The word ''cenobites'' was initially applied to the followers of Pythagoras in Crotona, Italy, who founded a commune n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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