Two boys in princely attire at a shinpyu ceremony. Every Buddhist male from around the age of five to 19 has to enter the monastery as a novice once in their lifetime. The ceremony follows a well-known legend in which the Buddha himself stripped his son of garish attire, replaced the boy's clothing with monk's robes and guided him towards a monastic life of detachment. This was how the Buddha, who had renounced his own royal titles, met his own child's request for a princely inheritance.