The generic term for the Buddhist monastic order is the sangha; the terms denoting the order in all Buddhist countries are literal translations of the Indian word. Buddhism, far more than in other monastic traditions of the world—with the possible exception of Jainism—attaches central importance to the order, in part because the Buddha began every one of his sermons with the address bhikkhave (“O ye begging monks”). The recitation of the “threefold refuge” formula that makes a person a Buddhist, either lay or monastic, enacts a pledge of “taking refuge” in the Buddha, the dharma (“teaching”), and the sangha; most commentaries imply that the three elements are equally important. In later northern Buddhism (i.e., Mahayana), the role of the historical Buddha was reduced, and the order (sangha) acquired an even more exalted position.

The monastic discipline of the Buddhist clergy varies widely in the different parts of the Buddhist world. In principle, the rules are laid down in the vinaya (monastic rules) portion of the Buddha’s sermons, but monastic traditions and regulations have also been shaped by environmental and cultural conditions. Rules concerning distance from lay settlements, for example, had to be interpreted and implemented differently depending on whether tropical, moderate, or (as in the case of Tibet and Mongolia) subarctic climatic conditions prevailed. Although celibacy is postulated for the Buddhist clergy everywhere, there have always been notable exceptions. The married monks of pre-20th-century Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and those of some of the Japanese Buddhist orders are conspicuous examples. Since the vows of the Buddhist monk in principle are not permanent, the theoretical emphasis on celibacy became academic in many parts of Asia. In South and Southeast Asia, Buddhist monks were and still are teachers to the people—not only in religious matters but also in the realm of basic education—particularly in Myanmar. There appears to be a high degree of monastic involvement with lay society, and the provision of special amenities for monks who prefer a strictly contemplative life, as in Sri Lanka and Thailand, has been well defined in practice. Differences in living style between the northern (Mahayana, or “Greater Vehicle”) and the southern (Theravada, called Hinayana, or “Lesser Vehicle,” in derogation) monastic institutions are quite radical. The fundamental activity, however, remains meditation (Sanskrit dhyana, Pali jhana, from which is derived the schools of Buddhism known as Chan in China and Zen in Japan). The path of meditation leads positively toward the intuitive understanding of momentariness, the condition of existence—or, to state it negatively, toward the total rejection of all notions of permanence.

Although Chan or Zen remains by far the best-known branch of Mahayana Buddhism, China evolved other major schools, many of which spread to Japan. Tiantai Buddhism, originating with Zhiyi (538–597) at Mount Tiantai in China, aspired to incorporate other schools within a comprehensive vision. A Japanese pilgrim, Saichō (767–822), brought Tendai monasticism to Mount Hiei near Kyōto, Japan, where it has flourished ever since. Even more elaborate in its ceremonies is Vajrayana (Tantric or Esoteric) Buddhism, which under the name Zhenyan (“True Word”) thrived in 8th-century Tang-dynasty China and under the name Shingon (the Japanese pronunciation of Zhenyan) was taken to Mount Kōya in Japan by Kūkai (c. 774–835). As early as the 4th century ce, China produced Pure Land Buddhism, whose worship of the buddha Amitabha (Amida in Japanese) appealed above all to laypeople. Particularly in Japan, through the leadership of Hōnen, Shinran, and Ippen in the late 12th and 13th centuries, Pure Land Buddhism eventually dispensed with monastic obligations altogether. Moreover, since the late 19th century, monks in many Japanese traditions have been permitted to marry, and major Japanese temples now house married monastics.

Sikhism

Sikhism, founded by the Punjabi reformer Nanak, was the least sympathetic of all indigenous Indian religions to monastic inspirations. The Sikh monastic Nirmal-akhada and the quasi-monastic Nihang Sahibs came to terms with the overall Indian tendency to establish monastic traditions that express full-time involvement in redemptive practice. Since the 19th century the monastic Udasi order (founded by Nanak’s elder son Siri Chand) has achieved a most successful rapprochement with Hindu elements. Its disciplinary, sartorial, and cenobitic settings are identical with those of the Hindu sannyasi. They refer to the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs, as their basic text, in spite of the fact that their intramonastic and intermonastic discourse proceeds along lines similar to those of the orthodox Hindu orders. This accounts for the fact that the Udasi is now respected as equal to the most prestigious and ancient Hindu orders.

Daoism

Daoism, an ancient Chinese religion (with later Buddhist influences) that inspired some emulation in Japan and Korea, holds a middling position with respect to monastic ventures, lying somewhere between the powerfully antimonastic Confucian schools that always represented the official culture and mainstream of sophisticated Chinese opinion and the radically monastic Buddhists. Some scholars believe that Daoism may have come under Indian influences, because it originated in the southwestern parts of China. The chief object of Daoism, however, is not redemption or salvation, at least as those goals are interpreted in other scripturally based religions. Rather, the ultimate aim of the Daoist practitioner is longevity or ultimate physical immortality. The Daoist quest after the elixir of life, and its expression in cryptic and enigmatic poetry that is well known to, and generally misunderstood by, modern European and American readers, are in no way comparable to the supererogatory search of the monastics thus far discussed. The Daoist settlements of sages, in forests and mountain glades as well as in the cities, are, at best, analogous to the eremitic type of proto-monasticism. When Daoist settlements were cenobitic or celibate, these features were indeed incidental to Daoism, which defies and rejects rules of any corporate kind.

Other Asian varieties

Of the slightly less than 100 monastic and quasi-monastic orders in South Asia, well over half developed locally or regionally. They usually lack a body of rules and conventions that would be recognized or accepted by a wider Hindu-Buddhist-Jain consensus. About a dozen orders are repudiated as heretical and are accused of using religious pretexts to indulge in antisocial behaviour. The Hindu and Buddhist Tantric groups (practicing occult, sometimes sexual, meditative techniques) represent esoteric countermonasticism in India, though these practices have been accepted fully in certain Tibetan Buddhist hierarchies.

Of the not numerous but clearly monastic or quasi-monastic organizations of recent origin in other parts of Asia, the Vietnamese Cao Dai achieved some impact. Founded in 1926 in opposition to French colonial rule, they maintained a military organization and their own army “regulars” from 1943 to the mid-1950s. Cao Dai propounded an eclectic theology, with a pope and such heterogeneous patron saints as the 19th-century French novelist Victor Hugo, the World War II British prime minister Winston Churchill, and the Buddha. Members were bound by vows that did not include celibacy or poverty but stressed obedience to the hierarchy. Cao Dai survives at its monastery-fortress headquarters at Tay Ninh northwest of Ho Chi Minh City.