Celibacy
Celibacy (brahmacariya) is a foundational discipline for monastics and is universal across all Buddhist traditions. The renunciation of sex, marriage, and reproduction is seen as the preeminent factor in separating the life of a monastic from that of a householder (non-monastic). Because celibacy is fundamental to monastic culture, the persecution of Buddhists has frequently involved forcing monastics to abandon celibacy and marry in order to assimilate them into lay society (laicization). Anticelibacy and pronatalist policies targeting Buddhist monastics existed in the Empire of Japan[11] and in Tibet under Chinese rule.[12]
Tibet
While Tibetan Buddhism generally adheres to a Mahāyāna tradition that values vegetarianism, many Tibetan monks eat meat due to the harsh climatic conditions of the Tibetan Plateau, which make a plant-based diet difficult. This practice is consistent with allowances in the Vinaya, which permit monks to consume meat under certain conditions.[13]
Before the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, a significant portion of the country’s male population was ordained. Today, this is no longer the case. Following the 1959 Tibetan uprising, Chinese authorities forced thousands of monks to abandon the monastic life and become "ordinary" citizens by marrying. Celibacy is a fundamental requirement for monks and nuns in all sects of Buddhism, and monastics may marry only if they renounce their vows and return to lay life.[12]
In the Gelug school, monastic discipline is heavily emphasized, and the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are always monks.[14] The heads of the Kagyu school lineages are also usually monks.[15][16] However, in some schools of Tibetan Buddhism, there are some important clerical roles filled by lay practitioners who are allowed to marry. The Nyingma school has no central authority, and includes a mixture of celibate monks and non-celibate ngakpas. Ngakpas are expected to follow practices that differ significantly from those of monks, such as living in households rather than monasteries and wearing their hair long instead of shaving it.[17][18] In the Sakya school, the Sakya Trizin is a lay tantric and can never be a monk, as leadership is passed down through a hereditary patriarchal system among male members of the Khön family.[19][20]
Japan
Japanese Buddhism is uniquely distinguished by its rejection of celibate monasticism and the absence of ordination under the Vinaya. Monks (bhikkhu) and nuns (bhikkhuni) do not exist in Japanese Buddhism, having been entirely replaced by ordained lay clergy.[3] In some Asian countries, an adage criticizing the lack of a true monastic community in Japanese Buddhism is, "Buddhist temples do exist, but there are no Buddhist monks."[32]
Saichō, the founder of the Tendai school, preferred ordaining clergy under the Bodhisattva vows rather than the Vinaya. The Bodhisattva vows gradually spread throughout Japanese Buddhism and replaced the Vinaya, but the vows still maintained celibacy as essential to monasticism. The origin of non-celibate monasticism in Japan can be traced to Jōdo Shinshū, which allowed priests and priestesses to marry, influenced by the sect's founder, Shinran.
The Vinaya lineage became extinct in Japan after being replaced by the Boddhisattva vows, making it impossible to ordain new monks. Since the Vinaya is fundamental to the ordination of Buddhist monastics, Japanese Buddhist clergy cannot be regarded as monks (bhikkhu) or nuns (bhikkhunī), but rather constitute a distinct class of lay clergy and temple administrators.[3][1] In Japan, non-celibate clergy are commonly referred to as sōryo (僧侶) and are regarded as distinct from bhikkhu, known in Japanese as biku (比丘). While they are often labeled “monks” and “nuns” in English, some consider this terminology misleading and offensive, as it conflates lay Buddhist clergy with fully ordained bhikkhu and bhikkhunī. In English, non-celibate Buddhist clergy are more accurately referred to as “priests” and “priestesses”.[33]
However, the practice of non-celibate monasticism was never widespread outside of Jōdo Shinshū until the Imperial Japanese government enacted the Nikujiku Saitai Law (肉食妻帯) during the Meiji Restoration. Through the lens of Japanese nationalism, Buddhism came to be viewed as a suspicious and foreign religion associated with China. In an effort to secularize the Buddhist clergy and promote the newly established religion of State Shinto, it was declared that clergy of any Buddhist sect were free to marry.[34][35][36] Japanese Buddhist clergy were also permitted to drink alcohol, eat meat, and raise children in so-called “family temples”.[33] This movement, known as the Haibutsu kishaku of the Meiji era, resulted in the destruction of tens of thousands of Buddhist temples across Japan, the forced laicization of Buddhist clergy, widespread attacks on Buddhist doctrine and praxis, and other repressive anti-Buddhist measures.[37]
The spread of non-celibate monasticism across the Japanese colonial empire was part of Imperial Japan's systematic efforts to eradicate the cultures of its colonial territories. Japanese Buddhist missionaries in colonial Korea declared that Korean Buddhism needed to be reformed under their guidance, and traditional Korean Buddhist practices were replaced with Japanese ones in an effort to assimilate Koreans into Japanese society.[38] Monks from pro-Japanese factions began adopting Japanese customs, including marriage, having children, and living with their families in monasteries. In 1970, the Korean Seon community split over this issue: the larger Jogye Order remains fully celibate, while the smaller Taego Order retains non-celibate priests as a remnant of Japanese colonialism.[39]
The Empire of Japan also strategically employed sexual violence against Buddhist monastics in China as a form of psychological warfare to weaken Chinese religious institutions and resistance to Japanese imperialism. Because Buddhist monastics take vows of celibacy, Japanese soldiers raped Buddhist nuns and forced monks to rape women during the Nanjing Massacre in an effort to spiritually violate them.[40]
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