fasting, sleep deprivation, self-mutilation, and various
other sorts of physical trials. Reasons for a man to pur-
sue such a life are various, including an attempt to pu-
rify the body, to experiment with states and insights
achieved through mortification of the body, a desire
for the prestige that society renders ascetic virtuosi, and
even, in some cases, dementia and masochism. One or
more of these factors coalesce in the ascetic, one type
of Buddhist exemplar.
The Buddha himself is an ambivalent model for the
ascetic monk. In one of the most memorable episodes
in accounts of the Buddha’s life, he rejects extreme aus-
terities after nearly starving himself to death, and,
much to the dismay of his disciples, begins to take food
after realizing that enlightenment cannot be achieved
on an empty stomach. In the context of ancient India,
with its strong traditions of severe asceticism, the Bud-
dha cannot be said to have promoted an extreme va-
riety of self-mortification. Nevertheless, the stories of
the Buddha’s ascetic feats before this realization, in-
cluding acts he committed in previous lives, have in-
spired many to follow his earlier example. Another
important early exemplar of the ascetic path was the
Buddha’s disciple MAHAKAS ́YAPA, known as “the fore-
most of those who observe the austere discipline.” Ma-
hakas ́yapa engaged in long bouts of uninterrupted
meditation, isolated in a cave, and wearing only robes
made of coarse rags, cast off by others. So immune was
he to sensual concerns that, according to one account,
he once accepted and ate an offering from a leprous
woman into which a piece of her rotted finger had ac-
cidentally fallen.
For monks outside of India, more proximate mod-
els for ASCETIC PRACTICESare readily found in accounts
of local monks in Tibet, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and
elsewhere. Supernormal powers are one of the by-
products of ascetic practice. Mahakas ́yapa, for in-
stance, was said to be able to fly. Stories of strange and
wondrous abilities are often attached to such figures
and are among the reasons monks have chosen to pur-
sue ascetic training. In modern times, Buddhists
throughout the world have, following a general trend,
become increasingly uncomfortable with extreme
forms of asceticism, but the ascetic impulse at some
level continues to provide a key motivation for men to
become monks and for the laity to follow them.
Scholars
If the ascetic lifestyle appeals to those attracted to phys-
ical and at times even anti-intellectual practice, the
model of the scholar monk provides inspiration for
men drawn to the study and explanation of Buddhist
doctrine, ritual, and history. For much of the history
of Buddhism, monasteries were centers of learning,
equipped with excellent libraries and staffed with eru-
dite monks. Indeed, in premodern Sri Lanka and
Burma (Myanmar), monasteries served as schools for
neighboring children, providing basic EDUCATIONin
reading and writing as well as Buddhist knowledge.
Even in China, with its strong tradition of secular
learning, candidates preparing for the imperial civil
service examinations would often study in monaster-
ies for the discipline and tranquility, not to mention
books, to be found there. As in the case of asceticism,
a model for the scholar-monk could readily be found
among the Buddha’s most prominent disciples in the
person of S ́ARIPUTRA, known among the Buddha’s dis-
ciples as “foremost in wisdom.” Praised for his prodi-
gious memory, astute questioning, and ability to refute
false doctrines in pointed debate, S ́ariputra was also
the paradigmatic saint of the most abstruse, formal
branch of Buddhist knowledge, ABHIDHARMA. All cul-
tures where Buddhism is practiced have produced
monks known for their erudition, primarily in Bud-
dhist learning, but also in fields not directly related to
Buddhism, such as painting, poetry, calligraphy, engi-
neering, and medicine. The Japanese monk KUKAI
(774–835), for instance, in addition to his considerable
contributions to the development of Buddhist thought
in Japan, is also known as one of Japan’s greatest cal-
ligraphers, poets, and lexicographers, credited with
compiling the oldest extant dictionary in Japan and
even, some claim, with inventing the kanasyllabary—
the foundation of modern written Japanese. In mod-
ern times it is not uncommon for scholastically
inclined monks to pursue academic degrees at home
and abroad, and to teach in secular institutions.Administrators
While not, at first glance, as glamorous as the other-
worldly ascetic or the brilliant scholar, the institu-
tional leader, responsible for monastic administration
and the performance of ceremony is essential to the
survival of the san ̇gha. On a mundane level, monas-
tic administrators are charged with soliciting funds
and overseeing the performance of ritual for lay pa-
trons. They also set standards for the monastery, in
some cases earning a monastery a reputation for rigor,
intellectual activity, or splendor of ceremony. Institu-
tional leaders may be either conservative monks,
determined to maintain traditional standards, or re-
formers, intent on introducing change to the Buddhist
order or to society in general. In the twentieth-MONKS