images and inaugurations of both sacred and secular
buildings. Worship involves offerings of flowers, rice,
and lamps to the Buddha image and circumambula-
tion of the stupa. While the Buddha in human form
may have died, his powers are thought to remain ac-
cessible through his relics and images. A legend known
throughout the Theravada world states that the Bud-
dha himself commissioned his own first image, and
imbued it with all his own qualities so that it might
remain to protect the dhamma.Some relics and stat-
ues are associated with the security of the nation, as
is the case with the tooth relic enshrined in Kandy, Sri
Lanka, or the Emerald Buddha in Thailand. Vamsas
record visits the Buddha made during his lifetime to
the later strongholds of Theravada Buddhism, in
which he predicts the future glory of the religion and
the monarchs who protect it in the region, and some-
times leaves behind relics. The predicted continuation
of the dhammain a particular region or in association
with a particular royal lineage has been used to au-
thorize the san ̇gha-state interaction that dominates
Theravada history. Pilgrimages to sites associated with
Gotama or previous buddhas—both in different Ther-
avada countries and the area of north India in which
the historical Buddha lived—continue to be a popu-
lar form of merit-making.
The monk represents the ideal of enlightenment,
even if this is nowadays thought by most to be unat-
tainable, and in some traditions the ordinand ritually
reenacts the life of the Buddha at ORDINATION. Ordi-
nation of men is mainstream. In Sri Lanka, lifelong or-
dination remains the dominant intention, although
monks often secede from the order, sometimes after
becoming established in a career, and there is an in-
creasing tendency toward ordination as a form of re-
tirement. In mainland Southeast Asian traditions that
have not been undermined by communism, most Bud-
dhist men will ordain at some point in their lives, even
if only for a short period. In these societies, ordination
fulfills the function of a coming-of-age ceremony and
is also seen as a way of providing one’s parents, in par-
ticular one’s mother, with merit to ensure a heavenly
REBIRTH, thus repaying her for the agony of childbirth.
The earliest age for novice ordination (the lower of the
two levels of ordination) varies from very young boys
in Myanmar, to eight-year-olds and above in Sri Lanka,
and teenagers and upward in Thailand. The availabil-
ity of education through non-monastic state and pri-
vate educational institutions has altered ordination
patterns, as has the need to fit temporary ordination
into the schedule of compulsory education. While tem-
porary ordinations used to last for the three months
of the annual rains-retreat, some are now designed to
fit into the long university vacation. In communist
countries, the loss of prestige and the lack of continu-
ity in ordination traditions have reduced the domi-
nance of ordination, especially in urban areas.
Full ordination for WOMENdied out in the medieval
period and some Theravada traditions have only re-
cently attempted to revive it through reimportation of
a Buddhist ordination lineage from East Asia (in 1996
in Sri Lanka, in 2002 in Thailand). For this reason, man-
ifestations of female renunciation in the Theravada
school are quite diverse. Many women have pursued a
life of celibate renunciation by undertaking either in-
dividually or in an institutionalized group most or all
of the ten PRECEPTStraditionally undertaken by a novice
monk. Sometimes nunneries are attached to monas-
teries, and NUNSmay essentially serve the domestic
needs of MONKS. Sometimes nuns have separate insti-
tutions and are independent of monks, a situation only
fully possible in the absence of full ordination, since full
ordination for women requires the participation of
monks. The prestige and opportunities accorded Ther-
avada nuns have greatly increased over the past few
decades. Nevertheless, it is the exception rather than the
rule for nuns to form a significant focal point in the re-
ligious life of a Theravada layperson.
By contrast, monks are the focus of lay religious
practice at a whole range of ceremonies, from large an-
nual celebrations to incidental homage paid when a
layperson meets a monk. Perhaps the most significant
of the annual ceremonies is the kathinaceremony, at
which robes (kathina) and other gifts are offered to
monks at the end of the rains-retreat.
In addition to representing and pursuing the ideal
of nibbana (Sanskrit, NIRVANA), monks fulfill a num-
ber of other roles. They are the preservers and com-
municators of the dhamma.They are the formalized
recipients of the generosity and esteem of laypeople
and thereby serve as a source of merit for the laity.
They act as spiritual teachers, particularly through pro-
viding sermons on holy days and on special occasions.
They may act as advisers to rulers and governments.
Some monks have even become members of parlia-
ment, trade union heads, and directors of charities.
They have traditionally been educators, especially be-
fore the introduction of state education. Finally,
monks fulfill the function of priests and ritual special-
ists, and sometimes even serve as astrologists. As rit-
ual specialists monks have a role in administering theTHERAVADA