3.1. Life in Buddhist Monasteries—Pariyatti Monasteries

The monasteries or Buddha Viharars were the chief center of learning and only the Buddhist monks could be admitted to them for education. Thus there was no planned arrangement for mass education as such during the period. It forms this position it would be wrong to construce that the Buddhist monks were unmindful of the education of the people in general. So at the time of begging alms the monk used to remove the religious doubts of the people through their interesting conversation or short an alp lectures. Thus the people in general receive moral and religious education from the monks.

According to Thai tradition, only a male has the privilege of becoming a novice or a monk and is able to stay in a monastery for further education. A female can be merely a lay attendant and cannot closely associate with monks. Thus, male children have a good chance to fulfil their education through ordination.

The main duties of monks consist of Pariyattidhura (burden of study, task of learning) and Patipattidhura (burden of insight development, task of meditation practice).^[1] Pariyatti involes learning and teaching the Dhamma, while Patipatti is about the practice in accordance with the Dhamma. Dhura can be reasonably translated as “duty” or “taking the responsibility”. There are a few laypeople who work for the development of Pariyatti, either in religious offices or in teaching cares^[2]. However, the number of them is quite small. Monks are those who considered themselves responsible for the preservation and development Pariyatti and who can devote all their time in this work. Of course, there are nuns who take the same responsibility as the monks do.

Another duty of monks is Patipattidhura. Patipatti involves practicing the Dhamma. It is about meditation which is of basically who kinds-Samatha meditation and Vipassana meditation. Samatha meditation is the practice mainly to develop one’s concentration which can be down the turmoil of the mental defilements (kilesa). This kind of meditation can produce the Jhana that are high levels of concentration.

Vipassana meditation is the practice mainly to develop understanding about the Dhamma. It is usually translated as insight meditation. The meditation learns to observe his body and mind objectively (without any personal judgment). This way, he sees the true nature of body and mind and this knowledge finally leads to the realization of the truth.

There are some monks who work for Pariyatti while there are some others who practice meditation. There are also some monks who teach or learn the Dhamma while they are practicing meditation. Monks live at monasteries. Most monasteries are in city and villages. There are also a few forest monasteries where monks mostly live in solitude and spend their time in meditation. In towns and cities, there are monasteries where only a few monks live. The monks in those monasteries are not actively involving in Pariyatti. Those monasteries are more like a family monasteries since monks who are originally from the same erea and spend their time peacefully.

During the time of the Buddha, monks do not have possessive authority at monasteries except in a few cases. Most monks travelled around from place to place except the time they were in rainy retreat (Vassavasa). During Vassavasa, they remained at a monastery which they spend their time for three months-the period from the full moon day of July to the full moon day of October. However, there are a few monks who only lived at one monastery without travelling much.

During the reign of the kings in Thailand, the kings, queens, princes, princesses, minister, and wealthy people donated monasteries to the monks they admired most. This custom still exist in Thailand except the fact that the donors of the monasteries include all classes of people. Unlike in the ancient time, monks do not travel much. In most cases, they station at only one monastery all their life. However, young monks more from place to place as long as they are still learning as students. When they become teachers, they usually live at one monastery where they teach their students.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Dhammapada Atthakatha, Vol. I.,7.

[2]:

Fuen Dokbao,Reader, Buddhism and Thai People, pp. 79-80.