The first monastic devotees were hermits, which means that they were individual religious followers who lived in total isolation from all other people. The first of these were Hindu seers who lived before the eighth century B.C.E. Other monastic hermits include Laozi, the founder of Daoism, who was born in 571 B.C.E., and the founders of Jainism, who also lived in the sixth century B.C.E.
The first communal monasteries in the world were communities of followers of the Buddha. Many of these sanghas were established in his lifetime (a time span between the sixth to fourth centuries, B.C.E.). These monasteries were originally not bound by any hierarchical structure or rigid rules other than the monks’ interpretation of Buddhist scripture. Some monasteries of other religions follow this pattern, living or acting alone on most occasions, but coming together on special days. Christian monasteries were preceded by Jewish monastic devotees,