Talapoins
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [1]
Or TALOPINS, priests of Siam. They enjoy great privileges, but are enjoined celibacy and austerity of life. They live in monasteries contiguous to the temples; and, what is singular, any one may enter into the priesthood, and, after a certain age, may quit it to marry, and return to society. There are Talapoinesses, too, or nuns, who live in the same convents, but are not admitted till they have passed their fortieth year. the Talapons educate children, and at every new and full moon explain the precepts of their religion in their temples: and, during the rainy season, they preach from six in the morning till noon, and from one in the afternoon till five in the evening. They dress in a very mean garb, and go bare- headed, and bare-footed; and no person is admitted among them who is not well skilled in the Baly language. They believe that the universe is eternal, but admit that certain parts of it, as this world, may be destroyed, and again regenerated. They believe in a universal pervading spirit, and in the immortality and transmigration of the soul; but they extend this last doctrine not only to animals but to vegetables and rocks. They have their good and evil genii, and particular local deities, who preside over forests and rivers, and interfere in all sublimary affairs.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
priests or friars of the Siamese and other Indian nations. They reside in monasteries under the superintendence of a superior, whom they call a Sanerat. Celibacy is obligatory upon them, and a breach of chastity in the case of any one of them is punished with death. They perform penance for such of the people as pay them for it; are very hospitable to strangers, and strict in their rules of chastity. There are also female Talapoins, who live according to rules similar to those of the men. The residences of the Talapoins are much superior to those of the priests in Ceylon and Burmah, having richly carved entrances and ornamental roofs.
