User:Savoryyyy/Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery

Culture
Birken monks follow the Thai Forest Tradition, which is strictly disciplined and prohibits touching money. Thus, they rely on the people around them for food and other resources. Birken also depends heavily on resident lay stewards, who volunteer their services and live at the monastery full-time. Although the stewards are not monks themselves, they are asked to abide by the [eight precepts] of Buddhism for the duration of their stay. Stewards stay at the monastery for at least three months, and they are the primary caretakers for the monks, who are not permitted to ask for help. In Birken's early days, it relied heavily on donations from locals. Since then, it has become more well known, and many Canadians give freely to help support the Thai Forest Tradition in North America.

Clossey, Luke, and Karen Ferguson. "BIRKEN BUDDHIST FOREST MONASTERY: Asian Migration, the Creative Class, and Cultural Transformation in the New Pacific British Columbia." BC Studies, no. 208, winter 2020, pp. 17+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A653765626/AONE?u=nysl_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=c4ccc9be. Accessed 27 Nov. 2022.