お坊さん　Monk

6th March – 弥生

In Japanese, there are various ways to call monk depending on their Buddhism sect or their hierarchy, but generally we call monk as お坊さん (Obou-san).

Why are they called Obou san?

IN Nara /Heian era, the metropolitan city was divided into several district, those districts were named as 坊, and each Bou had several buildings. Then as the time passes by, Bou standed for the temples where monks stay and gradually Monks themselves started to be called as Bou.

In Japanese we call the person with shaved head is called 坊主 (Bouzu), this came from the Monks’ hair style. As the Bou means Temple and temple’s master (主) is Bou, so the word 坊主 were born.

In Buddhism, desire and being selective are the reason people suffer from. Each hair can cause those selfish mind, therefore in order to cut off this mind, Monks shave their hair. Generally, most monks have this hair style so the shaved head has been called as 坊主 (Bouzu).

What is Japanese monks’ general jobs in the Temples?

Their main jobs can be holding memorial service for the people who believe that temple’s sect and send the deceased to rest in peace. Monks generally go to the funerals and memorial services to chant the sutra. This service can costs around 2,000 ~ 3,000 US dollars, and those money are called お布施 (ofuse) and it is counted as donation for the temples. So monks are getting salary from those events. Also Monk will decide the commandment names for the deceases, generally called 戒名 (Kaimyou) – Commandment names can be called differently in different sects. Kaimyou has hierarchy and if person want to get the higher rank ones, they have to pay more than ordinary ones. It can be over 10,000 US dollars to just get the Kaimyou.

Monks also maintain the cemeteries in the temples, chanting the sutra for all deceases resting there. They also does marketing for the cemeteries, informing people that there are vacant space for graves in order to get more customers for the temple.

Furthermore, some monks hold lecture for people and teach the Buddhism.

When they do not have those works, they train themselves to become a better monks.

Japanese Monks’ life style

Generally, monks eat frugal food called 精進料理 (Shoujin-Ryouri), this menu does not use animal contained food, garlic, spring onions, onions, leeks and Japanese shallots, as those ingredients push the desires. However, Japanese monks are not strict as the other Aisan Buddhist monks, so some monks eat just a regular food they want to eat.

Every morning before the sun goes up, Monks clean up the temples they stay. they use brooms and dust cloths and try to clean up by their hands.

Those life style is part of their training and makes monks keep calm and apart from human desires.