Sometimes, I’ll come across something in our guidebook or on the internet that sounds like a cool idea. I’ll think to myself, hmmm, that sounds like a cool idea. But then I’ll never do anything to execute the idea because it either requires more effort than wandering around or involves too many unknowns. Every once in a while I’ll get in the mood to make something happen. Which is how I ended up sitting around, chatting with a bunch of monks about Buddhism and life and such.
It really involved very little effort, but the description in Lonely Planet was slightly on the vague side. It only mentioned that certain temples held monk chats to allow foreigners to find out more about Buddhism and to allow the monks to practice their English. Because I am rather on the uptight side and not adventurous by any means (traveling the world notwithstanding), this left a lot of unanswered questions in my mind. Do I have to schedule an appointment? Or do you just show up? If you’re just supposed to show up, what do I do when I get there? Do I just find any monk and say, monk, do you want to chat?
Yeah. I way overanalyze things, I know. I would be a bad Buddhist.
Turns out you do just sort of show up. The temple I visited was only a few streets away from our guesthouse, and they have a designated area for the monk chatting. Monks who are feeling chatty sit over there and strike up conversations. My first monk was a rather shy fellow, leading to lots of awkward silences. From him, I learned the basics of monkdom. All Thai men must serve a period of monkhood. Most do it around age 21, but some voluntarily because novices at a younger age. The men don’t have to serve for long periods, but many decide to stay monks for several years. Monks must leave their families behind in the villages and come to live in either a forest temple or city temple. They wear varying shades of orange, yellow, red or brown depending on what temple they are from. Monks get up early to chant in the temples, and only eat the alms donated by others.
My second monk, on the other hand, was born to chat. Good thing he didn’t take a vow of silence. From him, I learned that monks must shave all body hair, including their eyebrows. Funny how I never noticed before he mentioned it, especially since the eyebrow shaving scenes in the Wall and on the Sopranos by Anthony Jr. really freaked me out. He told me about how monks are not supposed to play sports or exercise, but he sneaks a few push-ups everyday to stay fit. He gets up at 4:00 every morning, but doesn’t usually go to bed until midnight. He doesn’t see a need for any more sleep.
Either sensing my slightly aimless state in life or just the type of monk to not let the chat end without imparting a few words of wisdom, the second monk decided to talk Buddhism with me. If you have a problem, said the monk, solve it. And there’s no sense worrying about the past, because it already happened. Nor should you worry about the future, because it isn’t here yet. Focus on the present, the monk said, for it is the only thing you can control.
Wise words.
Now how many times did your mother impart those same words of wisdom to you?? You had to travel around the world to get the same words when you could have just saved the money & asked your mother. 🙂
Ha, Mom’s awesome. Thanks for the post, just realized how little I actually knew about Thai monks.
Okay, now I just have to pull up my photos and check out all the monk photos, because I also didn’t realize that they shaved their eyebrows. I also find it interesting that exercise is forbidden. Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing. I had an informal chat with a monk in Chiang Mai, but I didn’t learn all that you did.
That is totally wild…I love it! You can now say you’ve chatted with Buddhist monks in Thailand…glad you decided to do it, because that last monk was smart.
I for one LOVE buddhism. The words are always wise, even if at first you don’t understand what they mean. I hope you got to enjoy more “Zen” moments!