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Buddhist monasticism is one of the earliest surviving forms of organized monasticism and one of the fundamental institutions of Buddhism. Monks and nuns, called bhikkhu ( Pali , Skt. bhikshu ) and bhikkhuni (Skt. bhikshuni ), are responsible for the preservation and dissemination of the Buddha's teaching and the guidance of Buddhist lay people.
Buddhist Jack Maguire has suggested that in the 4th century, Christian monasticism developed in Egypt, and it emerged with a corresponding structure comparable to the Buddhist monasticism of its time and place. [40] In Alexandria, Indian gravestones dating from the Ptolemaic period (c. 305 BC – 30 BC) have been discovered in Alexandria. [42]
Monasticism (from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós) 'solitary, monastic'; from μόνος (mónos) 'alone'), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities.
Buddhism was known in the pre-Christian Greek world through the campaigns of Alexander the Great (see Greco-Buddhism and Greco-Buddhist monasticism), and several prominent early Christian fathers, including Clement of Alexandria and St. Jerome, were aware of the Buddha, even mentioning him in their works.
[37] All Buddhist institutions had been severely damaged by the war with the Cholas, and the three main traditions had fragmented into eight sects. Parākramabāhu united all of these into a common community, which seems to have been dominated by the Mahāvihāra. However, this did not bring an end to sectarian competition completely. [37] [40 ...
Buddhism lasted from the 2nd century B.C. to the 8th century, there, until it dwindled in the face of Zoroastrianism, the Sassanide state religion. [415] Remnants of Buddhism remains until the 9th century [416] and the lasting impact of Buddhist influence is reflected in Muslim arts and poetry of Islamic Persia. [417]
The rational interpretation of Buddhism as the "religion of reason" was also promoted by early Buddhist societies in Europe, such as the Society for the Buddhist Mission in Leipzig, Germany, founded in 1903 by the Indologist Karl Seidenstücker (1876 –1936) and the British Buddhist Society, in their journal The Buddhist Review.
Additionally, Isabella Onians notes that Mahāyāna works rarely used the term Hīnayāna, typically using the term Śrāvakayāna instead. [32] The Chinese Buddhist monk and pilgrim Yijing wrote about relationship between the various "vehicles" and the early Buddhist schools in India. He wrote, "There exist in the West numerous subdivisions of ...