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Most people have a variety of interests in their lives - family, career, hobbies, politics, religion, etc. Of these interests one will be primary, usually family or career, while the others will be less important to them. When the study and practice of the Buddha's teachings becomes the most important thing in a person's life, when that takes precedence over all other things, then that person will probably be interested in becoming a monk or a nun.

Of course not. Some of the Buddha’s most accomplished disciples were lay men and women. Some were spiritually developed enough to instruct the monks. In Buddhism, the level of one’s understanding is the most important thing and that has nothing to do with whether one wears a yellow robe or blue jeans, or whether one lives in a monastery or a home. Some might find the monastery, with all its advantages and disadvantages, to be the best environment in which to grow spiritually. Others may find the home, with all its joys and sorrows, to be best. Everyone is different.

When the ancient Indians looked into the jungle they could always tell which leaves were about to drop from the tree, because they were either yellow, orange or brown. Consequently, in India, yellow became the color of renunciation. Monks’ and nuns’ robes are yellow so they can act as a constant reminder of the importance of not clinging, of letting go, of giving up.

Normally we are very concerned about our appearance, especially our hair. Women consider a good hairdo to be very important and men are quite concerned about going bald. Keeping our hair looking good takes up a good deal of time. In shaving their heads, monks and nuns give themselves more time for the things that really matter. Also, a shaved head symbolized the idea of paying more attention to inward change than outward appearance.

One could ask the same thing about any vocation. ‘Becoming a dentist is all very well but what would happen if everyone became a dentist? There’d be no teachers, no cooks, no taxi drivers.’ ‘Becoming a teacher is all very well but what would happen if everyone became a teacher? There’d be no dentists, etc. etc.’ The Buddha did not suggest that everyone should become a monk or a nun and indeed that is never going to happen. However, there will always be people who are attracted to life of simplicity and renunciation and who take delight in the Buddha’s teaching above all else. And like dentists and teachers they have special skills and knowledge that can be helpful to the community in which they live.

You might compare the meditating monk to the research scientist. Society supports the research scientist as he sits in his laboratory conducting experiments because it hopes that he will eventually discover or invent something that will be for the general good. Likewise, the Buddhist community supports the meditating monk (and his needs are very meager) because it hopes that he will attain wisdom and insights that will be for the general good. But even before this happens, or even if it doesn’t, the meditating monk can still benefit others. In some modern societies it is ‘The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ with its extravagance, its conspicuous consumption and its self-indulgence which is held up as the ideal to follow, or at least to envy. The example that the meditating monk sets reminds us that one doesn’t have to be rich to be content. It shows us that a gentle and simple lifestyle has its advantages too.

The Buddha founded the order of nuns during his lifetime and for five or six hundred years, nuns played an important role in the spread and development of Buddhism. But for reasons that are not clear nuns never commanded the same esteem, or got the same support, as monks and in India, Sri Lanka, Tibet and South-east Asia the order died out. However, in Taiwan, Korea and Japan the order of nuns has continued to flourish. Today in Sri Lanka steps are being taken to reintroduce the order of nuns from Taiwan although some traditionalists are not very enthusiastic about this. However, in keeping with the Buddha’s original intention, it is only right that women as well as men have the opportunity to live the monastic life and benefit from it.