|
Buddhist Temples Monastery – Inside a Monastery
Buddhist temples are often also home to Buddhist monasteries. Predating Christian monasteries by more than 700 years, a good many of them are rich testimonies to the history of the faith, the belief systems of individual temple communities, as well as the art and architecture that developed alongside the burgeoning faith in various portions of the countryside. Buddhist monasteries are open to men or women, as there are Buddhist monks as well as nuns.
Originally the Buddhist temples that also opened monasteries did so in order to welcome monks and nuns who were on the road during the rainy season. Annual retreats are common amongst Buddhists, and it was for this very reason that monasteries opened their hospitable doors. During other times, the monks and nuns would live by the kindness of strangers as they visited towns and villages along the roads. After a while, monks or nuns banded together to remain in the monasteries year round, and soon they became the ones to give kindness to other strangers and even inhabitants of nearby villages.
As Buddhist temples and monasteries grew in size and number, the latter frequently became a magnet for young faithful who wanted to enter the order as well. While it was hard to determine how to become a monk or nun without the faithful instruction of an elder in the faith, many monasteries now also took in those young novices and taught them about the faith, about the sacred sayings, as well as how to participate in the many sacred rituals.
|
