Monasticism / the going forth

Monasticism in Buddhism is the renunciant way of life followed by monks and nuns, and it has been the institutional backbone of the tradition since its founding. The key term is "going forth" (Pali pabbajjā, Sanskrit pravrajyā), the act of leaving ordinary household life behind. Buddhism is the path the Buddha ("the awakened one") taught for freeing the mind from the craving and confusion that make life unsatisfying, and from the very beginning he established an order of full-time practitioners who would devote their whole lives to that path.

To "go forth" means leaving home and family, shaving the head, wearing simple robes, owning almost nothing, and taking up celibacy and a detailed code of discipline (the Vinaya). Freed from the demands of earning a living and raising a family, monastics can pour their energy into meditation, study, and ethical training. In return, lay people support them with food and necessities — the daily alms-round embodies this exchange — and the monastics support the laity with teaching and a living example. This mutual relationship between the ordained community (the saṅgha) and lay society has sustained Buddhism for over two thousand years.

The saṅgha is one of the "Three Jewels" a Buddhist relies on, alongside the Buddha and his teaching (the Dharma). It is worth noting honestly that the status and full ordination of nuns has had a complicated and uneven history across different regions and eras, and remains an active matter in some traditions today. Monasticism is a pan-Buddhist institution present in essentially every branch — Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna — though its exact forms and rules vary from culture to culture.