Why Are There Monks and Nuns? A Review Article

Abstract

Augustine said that he knew what time was until asked about it. Before reading Henry and Swearer's For Sake o World: Spirit of Buddhist and Christian Monasticism, 1 I knew what a monastic was, but now, having read it, I am not so sure. question What is a monk/nun? (always asked inclusively, a laudable but sometimes Monty Pythonesque procedure2) is main theme of book. From their vantage points within Christian Catholic Benedictinism and Buddhist Thai Theravada (with which they are, respectively, thoroughly familiar) Henry and Swearer attempt, rather than a comprehensive but necessarily superficial survey of Buddhist and Christian monsticism, an intriguing enquiry into the profound questions of identity and purpose in monstic life (p. 203). Their study is a useful and insightful pioneering work which can form a solid basis for future investigation. authors have a message to give us. As title suggests, they argue that monastic is one who lives ascetically for world rather than against it and, in chapter 1, they epitomize this in lives of Thomas Merton and Thich Nhat Hanh. To question of whether is necessarily dualistic, they confidently answer that genuine asceticism is not (p. 40)-indeed that it is a challenge to dualistic separation of flesh and spirit.3 Pushing their point, they argue that ascetic denial allows monastic to be more fully alive . . . than rest of us (p. 180) and that there are some monastic habits of heart that could heal what ails our social and cultural and religious life (p. 227). This plea for cultivation of what has been called the monastic dimension in hearts of all Buddhists and Christians, whether lay or monastic, is a worthy one. Were it heeded and acted upon, both traditions would find themselves strengthened and refreshed. Support for their message is presented in chapters 2, 3, and 5, which (with some redundancies) trace historical development of Buddhist and Christian monasticism; in chapter 4, The Rule of Life, which gets down to practical matters of monastic's daily life; and in chapter 7, which discusses interaction of Monasticism and Modernity. authors' philosophical musings on what a monk/nun might be are found throughout, but especially in Introduction and (3 la ritornello) in concluding chapter 7.