Publisher's Synopsis
What does it mean to be a monk? How do you become one? What are the rules you must follow if you choose to lead such a life? When and how did people begin to live like this? Nuances vary between different religions and sects but the monastic experience can be described generally as an ascetic lifestyle dedicated to mystic pursuits. Asceticism can be characterized as living an austere life of withdrawal from the world, purposefully devoid of sensual pleasures with the goal of obtaining spiritual rewards. Mysticism, can be taken to mean the search for a state of "oneness" with God or the Absolute. An attempt to communicate and "belong" to something bigger than our limited ephemereal beings. This book attempts to explore these concepts and questions further by compiling together and analysing different writings belonging to different traditions and written in different eras. Inside you wil find various monastic rules of conduct (from Christian, Buddhist, and Jain traditions), enlightening articles written by monks and theologians, awe-inspiring descriptions of monasteries, fascinating biographies, the widely studied Diamond Sutra and other pertinent writings dealing with the subject of monasticism. Hopefully, by reading these, you may arrive at a better understanding of what leads human beings to sacrifice so much in pursuit of such strict, but spiritually satisfying, lifestyles.
