Timekeeping
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Timekeeping: Buddhist Perspectives
Buddhists typically do not pay much attention to time. Since Buddhism aims at releasing oneself from the cycle of births and rebirths (samsara), time as part of the physical world does not play a very large role. Buddhist monasteries, especially ones in the Theravada tradition, largely reflect this attitude. Timekeeping in general is quite lax. It functions as a means to keep the monks' daily routine more or less regular, and does not become part of a rigid routine prescribing life in a typical Christian monastery. In Buddhism, monks live in a monastery so that each one can practice the Teachings according to his own path. Since the Theravada Buddhism teaches that the way toward nibbna, or the release from the saµsra, is possible only through individual effort, monasteries exist only to serve each monk's individual purpose.
This emphasis on the individual is reflected in monastic timekeeping. In a typical Theravda Buddhist monastery, monks wake up a few hours before dawn, around 4 to 4:30 AM. Then they sweep up their living quarters, and gather for a short early morning prayer at around 5. The monks go for an almsround in the village or the city neighborhood at 6 and return to the monastery by 8. In Thailand in particular, monks gather for a formal morning prayer exactly at 8 AM. Afterwards the monks have a free time for about two hours. Most spend their time in their living quarters; some do their personal chores around the temple. At 11 AM the monks gather for the main meal of the day. The Vinaya states that monks cannot eat anything after "noon," which is defined as the time when the shadow cast by a straight pole is exactly the length of two finger joints. In the afternoon the monks do their serious activities, which consist mostly of teaching, studying, or meditating. There are no prescribed rules for what the monks must do during this time. However, in Thailand, all the monks have to gather for the third time for the evening prayer at 6 PM. Both the morning and the evening prayers last about an hour. After the evening prayer all are free to themselves, and by 9 PM they all go to bed. This rough routine is prevalent throughout the Theravada Buddhist world, i.e., in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. However, in Thailand the prayers at 8 AM and 6 PM have become national institutions. All monasteries in the kingdom are required by the Ecclesiastical Council, the supreme governing body of Thai Buddhism, to hold them exactly at the times prescribed. Moreover, all government agencies and all schools are required by the government raise the national flag exactly at 8 AM and lower it at 6 PM. All the radio and television stations in the country are also required to broadcast the national anthem live from the central government station exactly at both times in order to accompany these nationwide ceremonies. This way to ensure accurate timekeeping throughout the kingdom is still universally practiced.
The method used to keep time varies according to the technology available in the monks' vicinity. In the Buddha's time, the sun was used to tell the time of day, and the moon for telling the calendar. In fact the Vinaya Rule concerning the time after which monks may not eat is the only one referring to a definite point of time in a day. Another Rule states that monks may not enter a house of a layperson at "night," which is defined as the time when it is so dark that one cannot read the lines on one's hands. Nowadays, however, monasteries use mechanical or electrical clocks and watches. In addition, the Vinaya also requires that each monastery appoint one monk who is responsible for keeping and watching the calendar. This is a very important activity because the monks are required to assemble for the patimokkha, a large gathering of monks in which the Rules are recited and transgressors confess their wrongdoings to the assembly. The Vinaya states that the patimokkha has to be held every Full Moon and New Moon day. The calendar keeper has to determine and announce such days in advance and tell everyone accordingly. Since monks from many monasteries in one area often convene together for the pim¯kkha, there has to be agreement among the calendars used. Today, however, modern calendars containing both Western (solar) and lunar systems are widely available, and they are ubiquitous in monasteries.
One can see many striking differences between Buddhist and Christian monasteries. Stanley Tambiah, in The Buddhist Saints of the Forest and the Cult of Amulets (pp. 149-150), reports that a Westerner who had an experience in a Christian monastery and later was ordained in the Theravada tradition told him that Christian monasteries were much more rigid and structured. A Christian monastery is bounded by walls. A typical Theravada monastery, on the other hand, is a place where people and animals can come and go more or less as they wish. While the Christian monastery has more rules, the Theravada one allows much more freedom to individual monks to pursue their own interests. A Christian monastery thinks of itself much more as a collective unit than does a Theravada one. Lastly, the Theravada monastery does not exalt physical work to the extent that its Christian counterpart does. Physical work is performed only because it needs to. In fact monks are not allowed to perform hard physical labor. The monastery does not and cannot sustain itself as an economic unit. The monks need the laypeople to feed and provide them with clothing, medicine, physical labor in case of construction of new compounds, and everything else. The laypeople gain merit from such acts, and the monks are expected to maintain their quest for nibbna and teach the laypeople how to get rid of sufferings. A Christian monastery, on the other hand, often became wealthy corporation with the monks themselves performing the economic work. Christian monasteries were responsible for the solar-based calendar which is being used today. However, the lunar calendar used in the Theravada world, a system based on the waxing and waning of the moon, could be said to originate from the need for monks to assemble every Full Moon and New Moon day, as prescribed by the Buddha himself.
References
Buddhism in Thai Life, Bangkok: National Identity Board, Office of the Prime Minister, n.d.
Lester, Robert C., Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 1973.
Na Rangsri, Sunthorn, Putthapratyaa Chaak Phra Traipidok, (Buddhist Philosophy from the Tripiaka). Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, B.E. 2541 (1998 A. D.).
Piker, Steven, Buddhism and Modernization in Contemporary Thailand, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973.
Smith, Bardwell I. ed., Religion and Legitimation of Power in Thailand, Laos, and Burma, Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1978.
Spiro, Melford E., Buddhism and Society and its Burmese Vicissitudes, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1971.
Swearer, Donald, Buddhism and Society in Southeast Asia, Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1981.
Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja, The Buddhist Saints of the Forest and the Cult of Amulets, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja, World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand against a Historical Background, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Wijayaratna, Mohan, Buddhist Monastic Life according to the Texts of the Theravada Tradition, Claude Grangier and Steven Collins trans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
