Buddhist Monastic Life

1. THIS CD HAS BEEN PRODUCED FOR TEACHERS TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM. IT IS A CONDITION OF THE USE OF THIS CD THAT IT BE USED ONLY BY THE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THE CD ROM FROM DIALOGUE EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET). Buddhist Monastic Life Dialogue Education

2. Contents Page 3 Teacher Invader game on Buddhist monastic life Page 4 You Tube Video –Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World Page 5- 14 Buddhist Monk definition Page 15 Vows in Vajrayana Buddhism Page 16-18 Monks and Nuns Page 19-21 Robes Page 22-23 Tantric Vows Page 24 Other Vows Page 25 You Tube Video –The Dalai Lama Page 36 Bibliography

3. Teacher Invader • Click on the image above for a game of “Teacher Invader”. Try playing the game with your students at the start and the end of the unit. Make sure you have started the slide show and are connected to the internet.

4. YOUTUBE Video –Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World (1 hour 13 minutes) Click on the image to the right. You will need to be connected to the internet to view this presentation. Enlarge to full screen

5. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • A Bhikkhu (Pāli), Bhikṣu (Sanskrit) (Thai: ภิกษุ) is a fully ordained male Buddhist monastic.

6. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • Female monastics are called Bhikkhunis. Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha.

7. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • Their lifestyle is shaped so as to support their spiritual practice, to live a simple and meditative life, and attain Nirvana.

8. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • Bhiksu may be literally translated as "beggar" or more broadly as "one who lives by alms".

9. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) The Dhammapada states: • Not therefore is he a bhikkhuMerely because he begs from others.Not by adopting the outward formDoes one truly become a bhikkhu.He who wholly subdues evil,Both small and great,Is called a monk (bhikkhu)Because he has overcome all evil. (Dhp 266, 267)

10. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • A bhikkhu has taken a vow to enter the Sangha (Buddhist monastic community) and is expected to obey rules of conduct (typically around 227 for a male) as set out in the Vinaya, although there are considerable local variations in the interpretations of these rules.

11. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • In English literature prior to the mid-20th Century, Buddhist monks were often referred to by the term bonze, particularly when describing monks from East Asia and French Indochina.

12. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • In Tibet, usually small children from 6 onwards can take the rabjung ordination which is a child-specific approach to monastic life.

13. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • Ordination" in Buddhism is a cluster of methods of self-discipline according to the needs, possibilities and capabilities of individuals. According to the spiritual development of his followers, the Buddha gave different levels of vows.

14. Buddhist Monk (Bhikkhu) • Beside that, the Mahayanist approach requires bodhisattva vows, and the tantric method requires tantric vows.

15. Vows in Vajrayana Buddhism Although the European terms "monk" and "nun" are applied also on Buddhism, the situation of 'ordination' is more complicated.

16. Monks and nuns • In Buddhism, monkhood is part of the system of "vows of individual liberation". These vows are taken by monks and nuns from the ordinary sangha, in order to develop personal ethical discipline.

17. Monks and nuns • The vows of individual liberation are taken in four steps. A lay person may take the five vows called "approaching virtue" (in Tibetan genyen <dgesnyan>).

18. Monks and nuns • Monks and nuns take their vows for a lifetime, but they can "give them back" (up to three times in one life), a possibility which is actually used by many people.

19. Robes • The special dress of ordained people, the robes, comes from the idea of wearing cheap clothes just to protect the body from weather and climate.

20. Robes • The robes of getshül novices and gelong monks differ in various aspects, especially in the application of "holes" in the gelong dress.

21. Robes • In observance of the KathinaPuja, a special Kathina robe is made in 24 hours from donations by lay supporters of a temple.

22. Tantric vows • A lay person (or a monk/nun) engaging in high tantric practices and achieving a certain level of realization will be called a yogi (female "yogini", in Tibetan naljorpa/naljorma <rnalhbyor pa/ma>).

23. Tantric vows • Both ways, tantric and monastic are not mutually exclusive because they psychologically act in different ways; both are ascetic.

24. Other vows • There are still other methods of taking vows in Buddhism. Most importantly, "Bodhisattva vows" are to be taken by all followers of Mahayana Buddhism; these vows develop an altruistic attitude.

25. YOUTUBE Video –The Dalai Lama Click on the image to the right. You will need to be connected to the internet to view this presentation. Enlarge to full screen

26. Bibliography • E.W. Adikaram, Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon (Migoda, Sri Lanka, 1946) • Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Mediaeval Sinhalese Art (New York: Pantheon Books, 1956) • Buddhist Ceremonies and Rituals of Sri Lanka, A.G.S. Kariyawasam • Kotagama Vacissara Thera, Saranankara Sangharaja Samaya • C.W. Nicholas and S. Paranavitana, A Concise History of Ceylon (Ceylon University Press, Colombo, 1961), • Wikipedia/ Buddhist monks-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_monk