Warrior monk

Japanese warrior monks

Hindu-Muslim conflicts provoked the creation of a military order of Hindu ascetics in India.

A warrior monk is a concept found in various cultures of a person who combines aspects of being a monk, such as deep religious devotion and an ascetic lifestyle, with being a warrior, trained to engage in violent conflict.[1]

Examples include:

• Sant Sipahi is a Sikh ideology, inspired by the lives of Sikh gurus, of a saint soldier who would adhere one's life in strict discipline both in mind and body.
• Sōhei, a type of Japanese warrior.[2]
• Righteous armies, Korean guerilla fighters, including monks
• Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller and Teutonic Knights, warriors during the Crusades.
• Shaolin Monastery, a Chinese monastery renowned for monks who were experts in the martial arts.
• Naga Sadhus, a militaristic sect of arms-bearing Hindu sannyasi.

Nowadays within certain parts of the legal world, legal practitioners who publish articles in law reviews or teach at law schools in addition to their full-time legal practice are occasionally referred to as warrior monks.

In fiction:

• The description of the ideal soldier in the manual of the First Earth Battalion.
• The Jedi Order, a fictional monastic organization in the Star Wars epic space opera franchise
• The Adeptus Astartes, Space Marines, are genetically altered super soldiers who serve the Imperium of Mankind in the Warhammer 40,000 universe^[citation needed] alongside the Adepta Sororitas, Sisters of Battle, who are soldier-nuns serving directly under the command of the Imperium's church.

See also

• Armed priests
• Martial arts § Spirituality
• Bhishma, Hindu mythological character who vows to be celibate and never marry.
• Jim Mattis, US Marine and politician nicknamed "The Warrior Monk"
• Parashurama, a mythological rishi (sage) and a kshatriya (warrior) of Vedic/Hindu mythology.

References

1. Peters, Ralph (2010-07-03). "The 'warrior monk'". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
2. Hitomi Tonomura (1 January 1992). Community and Commerce in Late Medieval Japan: Corporate Villages of Tokuchin-ho. Stanford University Press. pp. 216–. ISBN 978-0-8047-6614-2.