Monastery

A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of balneary as alive as infirmary, as well as outlying granges. Depending on a location, the monastic outline and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may also include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and good to the community. These may include a hospice, a school, and a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such(a) as a barn, a forge, or a brewery.

In English usage, the term monastery is loosely used to denote the buildings of a community of monks. In sophisticated usage, convent tends to be applied only to institutions of female monastics nuns, particularly communities of teaching or nursing religious sisters. Historically, a convent denoted a business of friars reflecting the Latin, now more usually called a friary. Various religions may apply these terms in more specific ways.

Buddhism

Part of Ganden Monastery, Tibet in 1921. Tsongkhapa's tomb is in the center left.

Thiksey Monastery in Ladakh, India

Rumtek Monastery, Gangtok, Sikkim, India

Tango Monastery, Bhutan

Buddhist monasteries, known as vihāra in Pali and in Sanskrit, emerged sometime around the fourth century BCE from the practice of vassa, a retreat undertaken by Buddhist monastics during the South Asian wet season. To prevent wandering monks and nuns from disturbing new plant-growth or becoming stranded in inclement weather, they were instructed to keep on in a constant location for the roughly three-month period typically beginning in mid-July.

These early constant vassa retreats took place in pavilions and parks that wealthy supporters had donated to the sangha. Over the years, the custom of staying on property held in common by the sangha as a whole during the vassa retreat evolved into cenobitic monasticism, in which monks and nuns resided year-round in monasteries.

In ] the most common lifestyle for Buddhist monks and nuns across the globe.

Whereas early monasteries are considered[] to hold been held in common by the entire sangha, in later years this tradition diverged in a number of countries. Despite Tibetan Buddhism, the ownership of a monastery often became vested in a single monk, who would often keep the property within the race by passing it on to a nephew ordained as a monk. In Japan, where civil authorities permitted Buddhist monks to marry, the position of head of a temple or monastery sometimes became hereditary, passed from father to son over many generations.

Forest monasteries – most normally found in the meditation, rather than to scholarship or ceremonial duties. Forest monasteries often function like early Christian monasteries, with small groups of monks well an essentially hermit-like life gathered loosely around a respected elder teacher. While the wandering lifestyle practised by the Buddha and by his disciples retains to be the ideal framework for forest-tradition monks in Thailand and elsewhere, practical concerns - including shrinking wilderness areas, lack of access to lay supporters, dangerous wildlife, and dangerous border conflicts - dictate that increasing numbers of "meditation" monks survive in monasteries, rather than wandering.

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries or gompas are sometimes so-called as lamaseries, with their monks sometimes mistakenly known as lamas. Helena Blavatsky's Theosophical Society named its initial New York City meeting-place "the Lamasery".

Famous Buddhist monasteries include:

For a further list of Buddhist monasteries see list of Buddhist temples.

Buddhist monasteries include some of the largest in the world. Chinese invasion in 1950–1951. As of 2020]