| Summary: | The diploma thesis presented here informs the academic public on a specific social group of Theravadian monks in Sri Lanka. The paper focuses mainly on providing a detailed survey of the present situation of Theravadian forest monks and their relations to the main-stream modern society of Sri Lanka. The author of the thesis presents the findings, which he collected during his field research between October 2004 and September 2006. The method he had chosen, the "living-in research" enabled him to become a full member of the monastic community. Therefore, besides from being an involved observer of the examined phenomena, he was able to participate in the action himself. The synchronous aspect of this work consists in a detailed examination of the present situation of the individual subjects and relations among them. The position of a monk (bhikkhu) and that of the monastic community (Sangha) in Sri Lanka traces back to 2000 years ago and the mutual monk-laymen relations have undergone many changes. For this reason, a part of the thesis is dedicated to monitoring the development of the Sangha and its position from the very beginning to the present times. Within this part, the author goes into more depth when describing the dynamic phenomena related to the culmination of colonialism in the second half of 19th...
|
|---|
