monastery construction was characteristic of the next
period of Japanese history, the Kamakura (1185–
1333). Austerities were suited to Zen, the dominant
form of Buddhism among the military rulers of Japan.
Five great Zen monasteries and countless small ones
covered the mountainous village of Kamakura; these
were modeled after the great Chan mountain monas-
teries of Southern Song China. The front gate of a Zen
monastery was two stories with a triple entry and ac-
cess to the second floor, where statues of the sixteen
arhats often were found. The main hall was known as
the butsuden,or Buddha hall. Public ceremonies were
held in the butsuden,whereas lectures and other as-
semblages of monks took place in the dharma hall, a
structure also found in Chinese monasteries of the
eleventh century. Both in Kamakura and in Kyoto, Zen
monasteries consisted of public reception space used
chiefly by the main abbot, abbot’s quarters, halls for
study and meditation, a hall for sutra recitation, a hall
dedicated to the monastery founder, and usually gar-
dens. The abbot’s quarters traced its origins to a hum-
ble single-bay square hut (hojo), the kind of dwelling
used by the earliest Indian Buddhists, but the structure
became increasingly important and lavish by the end
of the Kamakura period.
Yet another hall type in Zen monasteries was the
shariden,the relic hall. Examples of all these structures
remain in Kamakura and most survive at one of the
best examples of Zen architecture outside Kamakura—
Tofukuji in Kyoto. Whereas some Kamakura-period
monastery architecture originated in two areas of
China’s southeastern coast, and came to be known as
Indian style or Tang style, in contrast to native Japan-
ese style, monastery architecture of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries displayed a uniquely Japanese ar-
chitectural aesthetic. As represented by the monaster-
ies of the Silver and Golden pavilions, Ginkakuji and
Kinkakuji in Kyoto, the return of the Japanese capital
to Kyoto was coincident with a return to luxurious liv-
ing among the military lords of Japan’s Muromachi
period (1338–1573).
Buddhist monasteries continue to be built and re-
stored in China, Korea, and Japan at the beginning of
the twenty-first century, and are preserved as historic
relics in India and Central Asia.
See also:Central Asia, Buddhist Art in; China, Bud-
dhist Art in; Himalayas, Buddhist Art in; Horyuji and
Todaiji; Japan, Buddhist Art in; Korea, Buddhist Art
in; Monasticism; Southeast Asia, Buddhist Art in
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Sarkar, H. Studies in Early Buddhist Architecture of India.New
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Soper, Alexander. The Evolution of Buddhist Architecture in
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Chinese architecture), Vol. 12: Fojiao jianzhu(Buddhist ar-
chitecture). Part 2: The North.Beijing: China Building In-
dustry Press, 2002. Part 2: The South,Beijing: China Building
Industry Press, 1999.NANCYSHATZMANSTEINHARDTMONASTICISMThe term monasticismis derived from the Greek word
monos,which means “single” or “alone.” Despite the
etymology, the majority of Buddhist monastics are not
hermits or solitary wanderers. Monastics, even those
who may choose to take up a solitary life from time to
time, belong to the Buddhist SAN ̇GHAor community.
The range of Buddhist monastic communities is quite
extensive, including everything from extremely large
and wealthy urban monasteries, to mid-size and small
village monasteries, to forest, cave, and mountain
monasteries.
Buddhist monasticism has its origins in India and
dates back to the lifetime of S ́akyamuni Buddha. The
earliest members of the monastic order appear to have
led lives that alternated between wandering from place
to place in groups and residing in parks and groves do-
nated by kings and wealthy merchants. Some Buddhist
scholars, such as Sukumar Dutt, have argued that the
wandering lifestyle was gradually transformed into a
more permanently settled monastic existence as a result
of the Buddha’s requirement that MONKSand NUNS
cease wandering during the monsoon season. Other
Buddhist scholars, such as Mohan Wijayaratna, have ar-
gued that the first monastic complexes were the resultMONASTICISM