monism
into the brotherhood. Thereafter, the new monk selects a spiritual guide
who must be a monk with ten years of experience.
The Buddha is opposed to the establishment of an order of nuns, but
he eventually relents, but not before predicting the quicker demise of the
monastic order if women are allowed to join. In addition to rules that
apply to males, nuns are subject to additional monastic rules: nuns must
treat every monk as a superior and pay homage and respect to all monks,
nuns cannot admonish a monk, they cannot live in a location during the
monsoon season where no monk is residing, nuns are administered a
lecture twice a month by a monk after the rainy season, nuns are investi-
gated for monistic violations, and guilty nuns are disciplined by both
monastic communities and also ordained by both. This subordination of
nuns reflects cultural attitudes about the roles of women and the danger-
ous nature of their sexuality.
The Buddhist monastic community is dependent upon the laity for its
survival. This arrangement gives the laity an opportunity to earn merit,
which improves their chances of obtaining a more favorable status in
their next life, and it enables the monks to reciprocate by giving lay
people the dharma (teachings). Thus both groups are mutually dependent
on the other. By supporting the monastic community in thought, word,
and deed, this scenario promotes the view that giving is beneficial to the
lay person and healthful for the social order. In China at a later period,
the spirit of giving enables monastic institutions to become very wealthy
and powerful.
Further reading: Dutt (1962); P. King (1999); Laurance (2001); Schopen
(1997)
MONISM
The belief that there is a single reality underlying the multiplicity char-
acteristic of the cosmos and human life. Monism is exactly contrary to a
position of pluralism. Monism is often referred to as a non-dualism. The
best examples of monism are found in the East with the Advaita Vedanta
philosophy of Śankara (788–820) and some forms of Buddhism, such as
the Zen thought of Dōgen.
The term advaita means non-dualistic because the lone reality is
Brahman, which possesses two aspects: without qualities (nirguÏa) and
with qualities (saguÏa). The former aspect is defined positively as being