Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts.
The reason that I was interested in the possibility that Christian monasticism might have directly or indirectly borrowed from Indian monasticism, aside from simple curiosity, is that there are two related elements of Indian monasticism that sounded very familiar:
- Forsaking the world: monasticism is, in one sense or another, an attempt to “get away from it all” and lead a life of ascetic devotion.
- Self extinguishment which is the extreme form of self control,self denial and selflessness.
Those are excellent points you bring up, but none of these indicate that Christian monasticism borrowed anything from Indian monasticism. The idea of leading a secluded life of purification and virtue precedes even the Indians. To understand the basis for modern cenobitic (community) monasticism, one must understand the chronology behind its development.
One of the possible reasons why some conflate Christian and Buddhist monasticism is that people assume that Christian and Buddhist monasticism has always been similar to what they see now - both involve a group of people living apart from the world in ascetic pursuit of purity. However, that could not be further from the truth. In fact, the first Christian monks were actually hermits, living truly and well alone, even from other hermits. They drew their inspiration from Elias the Prophet who lived in a cave in the desert. It was this that motivated the first hermits like St Anthony of Egypt to retreat to the desert to discern the call of God just as Elias (somewhat unintentionally) did. Living in community was never part of the picture in the beginning. Buddha, on the other hand, developed a different kind of monasticism for his way of life as recorded in the Vinaya. If Christian monasticism was inspired by Buddhist monasticism, then it should have started off with at least some degree of community living as Buddhist cenobitic monasticism was already well-established and well-developed by then.
Cenobitic monasticism did eventually develop in the Christian tradition, but there were a great variety of approaches and their success was just as variable. Again, if these were truly inspired by the Buddhist tradition, then there would have been some degree of consistency or success reflecting the experience of the Buddhist monks, but this did not happen.
It was not until the 4th century that cenobitic monasticism really properly established itself in the Christian tradition. The writings of the Church Fathers demonstrates that this idea of group monasticism is actually only a later development of Christian monasticism as a means of providing an accessible alternative to the eremitical life. Indeed, St Pachomius - who studied from St Anthony of Egypt and known as the father of cenobitic monasticism - actually drew inspiration when God granted him a vision to develop the cenobitic life for others to strive toward similar purity without having to go through the extravagant severity that other hermits practiced. This was further expanded by great saints like St Augustine, St Basil and St Benedict. None of these people ever visited the Buddhist monasteries, nor do their writings reflect any similarities in approaches. A study of the texts of their Rules shows that there is little similarity with the relevant portions of the Vinaya or Varsavastu. The flow, principles and implementations cited in the texts of both traditions are also quite different.
If it should interest you, while it is true that the first Christian monks appeared long after the first Buddhist monks, the origins for Christian monasticism actually precede Buddha. Elias the Prophet lived in the 9th century BC, long before even Buddha was born in the 7th century BC.
I greatly respect the Buddhists and their monastic life, but it should be made clear that the desire for purity in solitude is not one that is uniquely revelational. It does not depend upon somebody having taught you how or what to do. Wandering ascetics existed before Buddha or Christ, and even in places where people have heard neither Buddha or Christ, there were movements for asceticism as well. Indeed, it is my humble opinion that such desire for a divine encounter is the outpouring of the inner human hunger to seek the one true God, being as we are His children made by the work of His hands, even if we are not consciously aware of Him.
In fact, I daresay that the Christian monks are the luckiest of the lot - for they both embody this hunger as well as receive the divine revelation that is granted to us by Christ our Lord, and they gorge themselves on this every day.
