Social and institutional purposes

Conquest of the spiritual forces of evil

In most monastic traditions, social goals interact with spiritual ones, and emphasis alternates between one or the other depending on the founders’ interpretation of the theological framework. The earliest Christian hermits of the Egyptian desert (c. 250–500 ce), known as the “Desert Fathers”—Anthony of Egypt, Paul of Thebes, Pachomius of the Thebaid, and others—presaged later monastic institutions. Although the early hermits, mostly native Egyptian peasants, were inspired by the example of famous recluses and by biblical exemplars such as Elijah and Jesus (during his 40 days in the wilderness), their rigorous asceticism generated an impulse (first formalized by Pachomius) toward cenobitism (literally “lying [i.e., eating, sleeping, living] together”) and a life based on military models, which appear in virtually all monastic traditions. The community was viewed as composed of soldiers of the spirit, who were combatting the forces of evil by facing the temptations of the Devil in the desert. Early Christian monasticism spread beyond Egypt and assumed different forms, most famously in the example of the Syrian ascetic Simeon Stylites (c. 390–459), who dwelt nearly 40 years atop a pillar one metre across.

Much of the zeal of early Christian monastics may have been anticipated by the Jewish Qumrān community, made famous in the 20th century by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The community is usually identified with the Essenes, a religious group that flourished in the Judaean desert between 150 bce and 70 ce and was the chief exemplar of Jewish monasticism. The Qumrān ascetics considered themselves to be the true, unpolluted carriers of orthodox Judaism and denounced the Jerusalem priesthood, which they characterized as defiled, spurious, and unclean, sullied by Hellenism, and potentially heretical (contrary to orthodoxy). This may have been the first conflict between a proto-monastic elite and an urban sacerdotal establishment in which the interpretation of the canonical teachings was under dispute. Rigorous asceticism, communal prayer, and common work were the rule, though celibacy may not as yet have been expected of members of the community.

Improvement of society

By and large, monastic institutions may have aided the progress of civilization, even though they often have been blamed for obstructing and retarding it. As an instrument for the creation, preservation, and transmission of secular and religious traditions, monasticism played an important role in society, especially in those cultures that favoured cenobite institutions. Monasticism’s function as a propagating or proselytizing agent of the religious tradition, however, is by no means universal nor even regionally uniform. The role of monks and mendicant friars and their orders in the arts, sciences, and letters, as well as in the pedagogical and the therapeutic social services, is thus discussed under the headings of the diverse monastic systems (see below Varieties of monasticism in the religions of the world).

Institutional centres for religious leadership

In some religions, monasteries serve as training centres for institutional religious leaders. There is, however, a clear dichotomy between training secular clergy (e.g., bishops and priests) and training regular clergy (e.g., abbots and brothers). Even though the distinction may seem to be blurred in the Roman Catholic and Eastern (both Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox) traditions, most Christian monastics, both men and women, continue to be laypersons (i.e., “brothers” and “sisters” who take vows but are not ordained). Indeed, the Christian tradition is unique in that its monastic training produces priests as well as monastics. In all Indian religions, by contrast, there is an unbridgeable gulf between the priestly and the monastic careers and their concomitant institutions. The common denominator lies in the supererogatory status of the monastic life. If churches and seminaries prepare ecclesiastical leaders, teachers, and intellectuals, monasteries may train people to whom the same terms apply but with a difference: at least into the 20th century, the monk or nun was usually thought to be more radical and less compromising than the ecclesiastic or church functionary.

Other purposes

Apart from the redemptive, spiritual, and social goals of monastic systems, most of them tolerate peripheral goals that may be rather mundane. A Tibetan Vajrayana (Tantric or Esoteric) Buddhist lamasery (monastic religious centre), for example, may serve not only as a dispenser of spiritual counsel but also as a bank, a judicial court, a school, and a social centre for the laity. Some unusual nonreligious functions for which monasteries have been used include coaching in wrestling (in some Hindu orders) and the preparation of perfumes (in the Muslim Sanūsiyyah order).

Eremitic

There have been a variety of types of monastic institutions. Arising first was the eremitic type, including the early Christian hermits or anchorites; the actual or legendary rishis (“seers”) of Vedic India (pre-800 bce); some of the earliest Jain shramanas (“ascetics”), particularly Mahavira and Parshvanatha, the semi-historical founders of Jainism; the Daoist recluses of early southwestern China; and sporadic hermits in the various areas of the modern world—such as Gauribala in Sri Lanka, the Mother in Puducherry, India, and Western converts to Asian belief systems without organized monastic trappings. Some European and American neo-mystics also should be included in this class.

Common to all true hermits and eremitical institutions is an emphasis on living alone, on pursuing a highly regularized contemplative life (with individually generated, often experimental spiritual disciplines), and on frequently idiosyncratic and sometimes heretical interpretations of scriptural or disciplinary codes. Self-mortification and individual austerities can be detected, but these are incidental to the eremitical style.

Quasi-eremitic

The lauras (communities of anchorites) of early Christianity in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece, and Cyrenaica—perpetuated today in the Mount Athos (a monastic complex founded in Greece in the 10th century) tradition—as well as the small-scale ashrams (religious retreats) of monastic Hinduism since at least 300 bce are best called quasi-eremitic. Similar in function were the semiformal congregations of the early Buddhist monks and nuns, which preceded the establishment of the sangha (monastic order or community). Common elements of quasi-eremitic monasticism include a loose organizational structure with no administrative links to mother institutions and no external hierarchies. This type of monasticism marks a transition between the eremitic and the cenobitic; in many cases, certain groups displayed eremitic and cenobitic features alternately, either during different annual seasons or on the occasion of special gatherings. For example, in early 4th-century Egypt and Syria, hermits attached to the Christian lauras lived alone during the week but gathered on Sunday (sometimes also on Saturday) for worship and fellowship. In the 20th century some Nepalese followers of Gorakhnath (8th century ce) lived as recluses most of the time but formed a quasi-military association on certain occasions—such as the Kumbh Mela, or all-Indian monastic assemblies, held every sixth year at certain pilgrimage centres. During these periods they were organizationally indistinguishable from the most highly structured cenobitic units at the conventions.