A mendicant (from la, mendicans, "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many instances members have taken a

vow of poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

, in order that all their time and energy could be expended on practicing their respective faith, preaching and serving

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

. Mendicancy is a form of asceticism, especially in

Western Christianity Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity ( Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic ...

. In Eastern Christianity, some ascetics are referred to as

Fools for Christ Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting socie ...

, whereby they spurn the convention of society in pursuit of living a more wholly Christian life.

Religious practice

Many religious orders adhere to a mendicant way of life, including the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

mendicant orders,

Hindu ascetic ''Sadhu'' ( sa, साधु, IAST: ' (male), ''sādhvī'' or ''sādhvīne'' (female)), also spelled ''saddhu'', is a religious ascetic, mendicant or any holy person in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism who has renounced the worldly life. The ...

s, some Sufi

dervishes Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...

of Islam, and the

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

orders of

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

. While mendicants are the original type of monks in Buddhism and have a long history in Indian Hinduism and the countries which adapted Indian religious traditions, they did not become widespread in Christianity until the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 150 ...

. ''

The Way of a Pilgrim ''The Way of a Pilgrim'', or ''The Pilgrim's Tale'', is the English title of a 19th-century Russian work, recounting the narrator's journey as a mendicant pilgrim while practicing the Jesus Prayer. The pilgrim's travels take him through southern ...

'' depicts the life of an

Eastern Christian Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...

mendicant.

Christianity

Roman Catholicism

In the early

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

church, mendicants and itinerant preachers were looked down upon, and their preaching was suppressed. In the Rule of Saint Benedict, Benedict of Nursia referred to such traveling monks as

gyrovague Gyrovagues (sometimes Gyrovagi or Gyruvagi) were wandering or itinerant monks without fixed residence or leadership, who relied on charity and the hospitality of others. The term, coming from French, itself from Late Latin ''gyrovagus'' (''gyro-'' ...

s, and accused them of dangerously indulging their wills. This behavior was compared negatively with the stationary nature of

cenobite 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 prec ...

or anchorite monasticism. In the early 13th century, the Catholic Church would see a revival of mendicant activity, as followers of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic begged for food while they preached to the villages. These men came to found a Catholic form of monastic life referred to as mendicant orders. These orders were in stark contrast to more powerful, and more conservative, monastic orders such as the Benedictines and Cistercians. Itinerant preachers that belonged to mendicant orders traveled from town to town to preach the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

, consciously modeling themselves after

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

and the

Twelve Disciples In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and ministry ...

. Professor Giacomo Todeschini at the

University of Trieste The University of Trieste ( it, Università degli Studi di Trieste, or UniTS) is a public research university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. The university consists of 10 departments, boasts a wide and almos ...

has described these mendicants in the following way:

Other Christians

Unlike the Western Church, Eastern Christians never created a form of monasticism equivalent to mendicant orders. Rather, all Orthodox monks and nuns follow the more traditionally monastic Rule of Saint Basil. Mendicancy does, however, still find root through lay expressions of

Foolishness for Christ Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting socie ...

. Despite the abandoning of ascetic practice within

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, mendicant-style preaching has still come about independently of it. American Methodists were once known for sending out itinerant preachers known as circuit riders. Another example was

Johnny Appleseed John Chapman (September 26, 1774March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Ontario, as well as the northern cou ...

, a Swedenborgian itinerant preacher who would eventually rise to the status of American

folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore; a ...

Buddhism

Buddhism is one of several religious traditions of ancient India that has an established practice of mendicancy.

Monks A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

of the

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

traditions in Southeast Asia continue to practice alms round (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

: ''piṇḍapāta'') as laid down by the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

. Food is procured from the faithful and divided equally among all members of the

Sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

. A major difference between Buddhist and Christian mendicancy is the understanding of

manual labor Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual ...

as a means of support. While many Buddhist communities formulated limited forms of labor for monks, there also exists the understanding that a Buddhist monk must remain aloof from secular affairs. Many of these rules of decorum and acceptable livelihood are preserved in the Vinaya literature of several schools. The Sangha's immersion into the work of laymen and laywomen is also believed to be a sign of impending calamity.

Theravada

Buddhist literature details the code of behavior and livelihood for monks and nuns, including several details on how mendicancy is to be practiced. Traditionally, mendicants relied on what have been termed the "four requisites" for survival: food,

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

, lodging, and

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

. As stated in the Theravada Vinaya:

"Properly considering the robe, I use it: simply to ward off cold, to ward off heat, to ward off the touch of flies, mosquitoes, simply for the purpose of covering the parts of the body that cause shame. "Properly considering almsfood, I use it: not playfully, nor for intoxication, nor for putting on weight, nor for beautification; but simply for the survival and continuance of this body, for ending its afflictions, for the support of the chaste life, (thinking) I will destroy old feelings (of hunger) and not create new feelings (from overeating). Thus I will maintain myself, be blameless, and live in comfort. "Properly considering the lodging, I use it: simply to ward off cold, to ward off heat, to ward off the touch of flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun and reptiles; simply for protection from the inclemencies of weather and for the enjoyment of seclusion. "Properly considering medicinal requisites for curing the sick, I use them: simply to ward off any pains of illness that have arisen and for the maximum freedom from disease."

In addition, a monk's personal property was also limited. The Theravada tradition recognizes eight requisites (

: ''aññha parikkhàra''): # Uttarāsaṅga (outer robe) # Antarvāsa (inner robe) # Saṃghāti (double robe) #an alms bowl #a razor for shaving #a needle and thread #a belt #a water strainer Commentarial literature provides additional possessions based on circumstance.

Japanese Buddhism

Similar to the development of Buddhism in China, the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

did not frequently engage in alms round as was done in the Buddha's time. Monasteries would receive donations of land that were worked by peasant farmers which provided regular communal meals for residing monks. Nevertheless, piṇḍapāta is occasionally practiced in Japan, primarily within

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), an ...

. Monks who engage in alms round tend to wear a bamboo hat, white leggings and straw sandals as traditionally worn by itinerant monks (行脚僧, ''angyasō''). When going for alms in groups, the monks will form a line and wander through the town shouting the phrase ''hōu'' ( 法雨, lit. "rain of Dharma") to announce their presence.

Islam

Among Muslims, especially in Northern Nigeria, there are mendicants called

Almajiri ,Almajiranci () refers to a system of Islamic education practiced in northern Nigeria, the male gender seeking Islam knowledge is called Almajiri, female gender is Almajira, and the plural is Almajirai . The system encourages parents to leave pare ...

who are mostly children between the age of 5 to 18 years that are studying Qur'an in cities while begging to get sustenance. In addition to almajiri, Northern Nigeria, which is a predominantly Muslim region, has many beggars that may not necessarily be Almajiri. This includes people with physical disabilities such as cripples, blind and even aged destitutes.

References

External links

*
Dictionary definition from the Free Dictionary
{{Simple living Asceticism Itinerant living *