The image of enlightenment has changed. The original idea of nirvana was a cessation, extinction, a snuffing out, as of a lamp. Perhaps we should call it endarkment. It implies a stoic view of things. Life was seen as so contaminated that the end of it was the best thing of all.
Beings are worth saving, even stones are beings, and consciousness is a great project.
The monastic life then becomes less a way station on the path out of life and more of a matter of practical choice within life, a skilful means. We put a fence around the training hall to get containment, so that the energy we pour in does not leak out. The training hall is a kind of alchemical vessel. Only if it is in some degree sealed off can we get enough heat to change the lead into gold. This is the great virtue of monastic life.