Are there Buddhist traditions without monks?
SGI, for example, describes itself as a "lay Buddhist organization".

I'm not sure I'd want to call it orthodox Buddhist, though.

Traditionally there might have been a split in lifestyle between monastery (and a literate life) and fields (and manual labour). I think I remember seeing a TV documentary with teenagers, monk-candidates, studying texts in a monastery: one said that the (academic) study is difficult/onerous, nervertheless easier (therefore a better career choice) than spending life working in a (agricultural) field.