religious character and conduct are grounded in certain
cravings of the soul, which, in seeking satisfaction, are influenced by
theoretical opinions. The longings of the human heart constitute the
impulse, or the energy, of religion. The intellectual convictions act as
guiding forces. As a religious type, therefore, the monk was produced by
the action of certain desires, influenced by specific opinions
respecting God, the soul, the body, the world and their relations.

The existence of monasticism in non-Christian religions implies that
whatever impetus the ascetic impulses in human nature received from
Christian teaching, there is some broader basis for monastic life than
the tenets of any creed. Biblical history and Christian theology furnish
some explanation of the rise of Christian monasticism, but they do not
account for the monks of ancient India. The teachings of Jesus exerted a
profound influence upon the Christian monks, but they cannot explain the
Oriental asceticism that flourished before the Christ of the New
Testament was born. There must have been some motive, or motives,
operating on human nature as such, a knowledge of which will help to
account for the monks of Indian antiquity as well as the begging friars
of modern times. It will therefore be in order to begin the present
inquiry by seeking those causes which gave rise to monasticism
in general.

_Causative Motives of Monasticism_

Whatever the origin of religion itself, it is certain that it is man's
inalienable concern. He is, as Sabatier says, "incurably religious." Of
all the motives ministering to this ruling passion, the longing for
righteousness and for the favor of God is supreme. The savage only
partially grasps the significance of his spiritual aspirations, and
dimly understands the nature of the God he adores or fears. His worship
may be confined to frantic efforts to ward off the vengeful assaults of
an angry deity, but however gross his religious conceptions, there is at
the heart of his religion a desire to live in peaceful relations with
the Supreme Being.

As religion advances, the ethical character of God and the nature of
true righteousness are more clearly apprehended. But the idea that moral
purity and fellowship with God are in some way associated with
self-denial has always been held by the religious world. But what does
such a conception involve? What must one do to deny self? The answer to
that question will vastly infl