Editing Monastery (section)

==Monastic life==
[[File:Procession monastique.jpg|thumb|Procession monastique]]
In most religions, life inside monasteries is governed by community rules that stipulate the gender of the inhabitants and require them to remain [[Celibacy|celibate]] and own little or no personal property. The degree to which life inside a particular monastery is socially separate from the surrounding populace can also vary widely; some religious traditions mandate isolation for purposes of contemplation removed from the everyday world, in which case members of the monastic community may spend most of their time isolated even from each other. Others focus on interacting with the local communities to provide services, such as teaching, medical care, or [[evangelism]]. Some monastic communities are only occupied seasonally, depending both on the traditions involved and the local climate, and people may be part of a monastic community for periods ranging from a few days at a time to almost an entire lifetime.
{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Life within the walls of a monastery may be supported in several ways: by manufacturing and selling goods, often [[agricultural]] products; by donations or [[alms]]; by rental or investment incomes; and by funds from other organizations within the religion, which in the past formed the traditional support of monasteries. There has been a long tradition of Christian monasteries providing hospitable, charitable and hospital services. Monasteries have often been associated with the provision of education and the encouragement of scholarship and research,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peterson |first=Herman A. |date=2010 |title=The Genesis of Monastic Libraries |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25750346 |journal=Libraries & the Cultural Record |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=320–332 |doi=10.1353/lac.2010.0001 |jstor=25750346 |s2cid=161518883 |issn=1932-4855}}</ref> which has led to the establishment of schools and colleges and the association with universities. Monastic life has adapted to modern society by offering computer services, [[accounting]] services and management as well as modern hospital and educational administration.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lall |first=Marie |title=The alternative: Monastic education |date=2021 |work=Myanmar’s Education Reforms |pages=101–129 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13xprwx.9 |access-date=2024-05-03 |series=A pathway to social justice? |publisher=UCL Press |jstor=j.ctv13xprwx.9 |isbn=978-1-78735-387-9}}</ref>