Vihara (विहार) indicates in Sanscrit and Pali a monastery or a temple in the Bouddhisme Hinayana. The term means in the beginning refuge used as fixed residence during the rain season (Vassa) by the first buddhist monks which, like the majority of the ascetics of their time, practiced the wandering. Will vihara modern typical includes/understands a room of meditation surrounded by cells and shelters a furnace bridge carrying a representation of the Bouddha. A Arbre of the bodhi is in the vicinity. As the buddhist monks are never cloisters, but free to move place in place apart from the period of vassa, will vihara it can shelter only some boarders at certain periods. Nevertheless, nowadays, the large majority of the monks Theravada resides permanently in a monastery. The rules which frame the life in will vihara are contained in the Vinaya S (monastic codes).

In Thailand will vihara it became a temple, the monks residing in structures called wat .

The term will vihara would be at the origin of the name of the Indian State of the Bihar, cradle of Buddhism, and perhaps also of that of the town of Bukhara. The Chinese translation of will vihara, jīngshè 精舍, is not used for the temples nor the traditional monasteries, but is sometimes selected since the end of the XXe century by groups of study or Buddhist practice.

Constitution of will vihara

The first will viharas were to be simple constructions out of wood or bamboo. On the grounds offered or placed at the disposal of the Community by the noble ones or commercial rich person eager to gain merit, permanent structures into hard quickly appeared, generally located near the cities or of the great transportation routes; the coenobites started to compete with the wandering monks, without however replacing them. In IIe front century J.C, the general form of will vihara was fixed: cells of meditation, or sometimes of small rooms, surround a central space; will vihara is built beside a chaitya (Stupa), which it sometimes includes at the bottom of space vis-a-vis the door. Vihara and chaitya constitute a sangharama , “garden” or “residence” of the sangha. In the north of India forms troglodytes appeared whose Ajanta is an example. One will find some later in the Grottes of Mogao. From Ier century appear large monastery-universities like Nalanda or Anuradhapura with Ceylon. Thus evolved/moved according to two large direction will vihara: temple-monasteries of village or university centres. The monasteries and Buddhist temples of the areas Mahayana and Vajrayana, where the retirement of the rain season is not respected, have their own architectural history and bear different names according to the types and the areas.

Sources

See too

Stupa | Pagoda | Wat | List of Buddhist temples

Random links:

Modal window | Campigny (the Eure) | Broderick Crawford | (603) Timandra | The black Cat (literature)