The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (391 page)

Bhikkhu
,
bhikkhun
:

see
BHIK
U
/BHIK
U
.

 
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(Skt.; P
li,
bhikkhu
,
bhikkhun
; Chin.,
pi-ch'iu
; Jap.,
biku
; Korean
pigu
). Male/female members of the Buddhist
sa
gha
, usually translated as ‘monks’, ‘nuns’.
The life of the sa
ga is laid down in the rules of the
Vin
ya
-pi
aka, underlying the basic principles of poverty, chastity, and peacefulness. The bhik
u relies on begging for his food, and his clothing, made of three parts (
tric
vara
), is preferably ragged. Initially, all bhik
us spent their lives wandering, but were then allowed to spend the rainy season in a monastery (
vih
ra
), which has now become the norm for the sa
gha. It is required (or at least desirable) that a layman should spend a period during the rainy season living as a bhik
u.
The
Buddha
initially resisted the formation of an order of bhik
u