Monks and Nuns

The Triple Jewel can be pursued at different levels. In the Template:Wiki, there is a long tradition of monastic orders, or monks (bikkhu) and nuns (bhikkunis). To become a monk or nun is to devote yourself to spiritual life. A child is old enough to become a monk when he can “scare the crows away,” which usually means about seven or eight years old.

The Buddha accepted his son Rahula into the sangha when he was only seven years old. Seeing the grief this caused Rahula's grandfather Sudhodhona, the Buddha made a subsequent Template:Wiki about the minimum age for bikkhus entering the sangha.

In the Buddha's time, monks upon joining the sangha were told the four things they could always use for the four basic necessities of life: the foot of a tree for accommodation, robes made of rags for clothing, food offered as alms, and fermented cow's Template:Wiki for medicine. If you become ordained in the Zen or Template:Wiki Buddhist traditions today, the basic necessities have been updated! But life would remain simple.

A monk in the Buddha's time was allowed eight Template:Wiki: three robes, a water strainer, a begging bowl, a needle, razor, and a belt. Monks and nuns are expected to shave their heads and live a life of Template:Wiki.

Why do Buddhist monks have to be Template:Wiki?

On the point of Template:Wiki, it is not clear whether the Buddha recommended this, as was the Template:Wiki of the day, or as means to limit the Template:Wiki resources the sangha would require (it takes more food to support families than Template:Wiki monks). It is not clear that the Buddha's teaching or the dharma require Template:Wiki. Householders (as lay practitioners are called in India) have been known to reach enlightenment too, although the demands of daily life will make this more challenging.

Monasteries can be quite elaborate and large Template:Wiki Template:Wiki. For example, the Abhayagiri monastery in fifth-century Sri Lanka had 5,000 monks. Prior to Template:Wiki's invasion of Template:Wiki in 1959, the Drepung monastery housed 10,000 monks. These monks need quarters, meals, and a place to Template:Wiki. Many Template:Wiki monasteries nurture a pipal tree (or the Bodhi Tree), the tree under which Siddhartha reached his great awakening. Template:R www.netplaces.com