Do you have to follow a monastic lifestyle to attain enlightenment?
score:13
Do you have to follow a monastic lifestyle to attain enlightenment? At first approximation, the answer is: yes in Theravada, no in Mahayana.
Since probably as early as Milindapanha (~100 BCE) and most certainly by the time of Vissudhimagga (~430CE), the orthodox (~Theravada) position was, you must be a monk to attain Nirvana.
But since you asked about Enlightenment, I should point out that Enlightenment is the goal of Mahayana, while in Theravada, the final goal is usually called Nirvana (Nibbana in Pali), not Enlightenment (Bodhi in Pali). In Mahayana, Enlightenment can be attained by a layperson.
These are "official" positions (as much as we can talk about official positions in such a heterogeneous conglomerate of teachings as Buddhism). Informally, in my own understanding, what some Mahayana schools call "Enlightenment" is what Theravada schools call mere "stream-entry". Other Mahayana schools however have this notion of multiple levels (bhumi), in which what Theravada calls "stream-entry" is level 1 of 10, with Final Enlightenment counted as 11th. It kinda gets complicated from "stream-entry" onward, because the boundaries of "self" no longer apply, so it is difficult to talk about Enlightenment with no subject to tie it to.
Anyway, from practical perspective, the point is, it is extremely difficult to make any meaningful progress towards Enlightenment/Nirvana if most of your focus is on pursuing material ends (success, wealth, entertainment, helping your relatives achieve the same). In order to get pretty close to X while leading a semi-normal life, one's top priority must be spiritual practice, followed by family and everything else. This basically means, squeezing study of Buddhist philosophy here and there, making meditation part of your daily routine, and, most importantly, deliberately utilizing your family & work situations as shootingrange for Dharma practice.
Upvote:1
There is a lesser-known, non-monastic tradition in Tibetan Buddhism: a Ngagpa may marry and have children.
Upvote:1
Much information is covered in the other answers, hence a small clarification of what is generally belief in Sri Lanka.
You can become Enlightened while a house holder but you have to ordinate before 7 days after becoming enlightened.
Upvote:1
You may get a understanding, of what's the matter with when reading Cula-dukkhakkhandha Sutta: The Lesser Mass of Stress for example and to know of what the Buddha had to say. Yes, right livelihood (livestyle), one of the factor of the Noble Eightfold path is necessary.
(Note: this answer has not been given with the agreement to be means of trade or the purpose of trade and keep people trapped and bound. How you handle it lies in your sphere, but does not excuse the deed here either.)
Upvote:2
My understanding of Buddhism is that you can attain enlightenment provided you devote yourself to the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path. I have met enlightened people from time to time and not all of them were monastics.
If you're new to Buddhism and the above concepts are unfamilar to you, there are some concise summaries of basic concepts at What should everyone know about Buddhism.
Upvote:2
The question is who will get enlightened, the body or the mind? The answer is obvious, the mind. So when it is only the mind that gets enlightened all the external things are just auxiliary. So the answer to your question is both yes and no.
YES
Actions directly affect the mind. So by following a monastic life your actions will be limited to only those set of activities that help in controlling the mind and getting enlightened. Enlightenment will be quicker and easier because you will have to involve less in material activities.
NO
Because mind is what matters, if you can keep an ascetic attitude and mentality even when living a material life, you can certainly attain enlightenment. But it will be difficult to maintain a balanced mindset for a beginner this way because material actions will always be affecting his mind. So if mind can not be controlled while living in samsara then a monastic life should be preferred, otherwise it's not mandatory.
For an enlightened person it doesn't matter whether he lives in a monastery or in samsara as his mind becomes equipoised. But until that state of mind is achieved a monastic life should be preferred.
Upvote:3
From Anapanasati Sutta:
Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when developed & pursued, is of great fruit, of great benefit. Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when developed & pursued, brings the four frames of reference to their culmination. The four frames of reference, when developed & pursued, bring the seven factors for awakening to their culmination. The seven factors for awakening, when developed & pursued, bring clear knowing & release to their culmination.
Here Buddha says mindfulness alone and the affects it arouses are enough for enlightenment.
Upvote:4
Enlightenment is entirely mental; it can be achieved any where, at any time, and under any circumstance with the right emotional commitment. A monastic lifestyle only has to be followed on the emotional level; you can have vast amounts of material wealth if it does not corrupt your mind by creating any forms of obsession over that wealth.
More post
- 📝 How to handle contrition
- 📝 Are there universal experiences associated with seeing through individual aggregates?
- 📝 Given that Buddhism could accommodate people's prior religious beliefs, why is Buddhism itself now described as a religion?
- 📝 Is lack of doubt a form of self-cherishing?
- 📝 Mahayana view on why Theravada's anatta is insufficient to uproot ignorance?
- 📝 Seven 10-day and one 20-day Goenka Course but no "good results"
- 📝 Going to extremes?
- 📝 Mindfulness With Breathing & Ear Pain
- 📝 Brahmas at formless realms are unable to hear the teachings of the Buddha
- 📝 What is meaning of Buddha and how he called Buddha?
- 📝 Reading your way to Nirvana?
- 📝 Clear and white light at death
- 📝 Is there a concept of after life in Buddhism?
- 📝 Does kamma define the universal law of cause & effect?
- 📝 Where can this story be found?
- 📝 Does craving include basic survival drives like hunger, thirst, reproduction?
- 📝 Can you reconcile (professional) ambition with buddhism?
- 📝 What is Prana according to Buddhism?
- 📝 Dhamma and Buddha Dhamma
- 📝 discursive meditation
- 📝 How are "all types of beings originally formless"?
- 📝 Are good deeds superficial?
- 📝 Starting Buddhism
- 📝 What are the resources a Buddhist can use during very hard times?
- 📝 Why do I experience a second, floating body when body scanning?
- 📝 do you know consciousness?
- 📝 How do I let go the ownership of the mind?
- 📝 To what extent do Zen students study Dhamma?
- 📝 How/Why to be moral without believing God or any supernatural entity?
- 📝 Can somebody remove their bad karma by believing that it doesn't exist?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Do you have to follow a monastic lifestyle to attain enlightenment?
- 📝 Is it okay to leave your suffering family behind when you have an instinct to attain Nirvana?
- 📝 Do you have to become a Monk to attain enlightment?
- 📝 Can you attain stream entry without meditation?
- 📝 Does (bad) karma have to be depleted to be able to attain enlightenment?
- 📝 If Buddhism is about moderation, then why is it that you can attain nirvana only after renouncing worldly possessions?
- 📝 What is a Sangha? Do you have to be a Buddhist to join a Sangha?
- 📝 How do you know if you have bad/good karma?
- 📝 How do you have a relationship
- 📝 How do you know if you have attained Nibbana?
- 📝 Why do you have sadness in the first Jhana?
- 📝 Is it harder to attain enlightenment without a living Buddha?
- 📝 Do you have to have certain pastlife karma to use a computer?
- 📝 Shiva's 112 ways to attain enlightenment and Buddha's way
- 📝 Should we believe we have no enlightenment whatsoever?
- 📝 Would a world full of good Buddhists seeking enlightenment would never have developed technology?
- 📝 Can insight be gained at any point in insight meditation, or do you have to go through all 7 purifications of insight?
- 📝 What do you say to share your deeds after you have donated something?
- 📝 Buddha saying he doesn't have to follow all the rules?
- 📝 Could the Buddha have touched goal and gems in the 7 weeks after enlightenment
- 📝 Can one become so sensitive by an enlightenment that one can't have people near/around you?
- 📝 Is Enlightenment a momentum with a continuum or can have regressions?
- 📝 I want to pray and meditate like a Buddhist, but I do not know how because I am Arab and I have not found sources in Arabic so can you guide me
- 📝 Will we all attain enlightenment eventually?
- 📝 When you are an enlightened Buddha do you have no more worries or fears and desires?
- 📝 What canon do you follow to modify the Buddha's views as knowledge advances?
- 📝 Have you seen evidence that Gautama Buddha visited Shambhala?
- 📝 If a buddhist should not kill a mouse living in their home, what justification do they have to rid themselves of a parasite such tapeworms
- 📝 Where is the Buddha quoted as saying do not believe anything I say until you can prove it by yourself?
- 📝 How do you tell a 4-year-old who the Buddha was?