Comments on: Why would you want to be a Buddhist monk?

By: Toffer

Toffer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:05:29 +0000

I just recently started reading a book called Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zin. I also have another one of his books Wherever You go There You Are. Both books are about mindfulness/awareness. They have seriously helped me to start thinking a little more clearly and to be more in the moment.

I found it interesting that the author points out at the beginning that our thoughts are not us. We just get so wrapped up in our minds that we think they are. He relates stories of people whose minds are so caught up in the past or in the future that they are never “here”.

I took the opportunity just this last Tuesday to take a class on Yoga Nidra and Walking Meditation. I must say the calming influence it had was a bit weird. Dont get me wrong. I did enjoy it but as a normally tense person It was kind of strange to experience the “letting go” feeling.

By: VeNicia

VeNicia — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:45:23 +0000

Those books sound neat, Toff! Both your experiences are really interesting.

There seems to be many types of meditation and I think whichever a person chooses can be beneficial for them. Personally, I think of prayer when I think of meditation, and love to try to clear my mind and just listen and be at peace particularly in the temple. Somehow it is fulfilling and reenergizing to clear away the clutter. It puts everything else into perspective and nearly always makes me feel lighter and happier, or more enabled to handle particular challenges with a clearer mind. And, I believe, enables us to be more receptive to the sweet and quiet voice of the Spirit. Usually the first feeling that comes is one of being loved by God. That’s the best feeling in the world!

Specifically, something that works for me is to close my eyes and focus on breathing. When I breathe out, I think “Out with ____” and say whatever negative emotion that comes to my mind. I imagine ridding my heart and mind and soul and body of it with the exhale. (Sometimes the same word keeps coming back to my mind–in which case I keep expelling that same emotion until I feel like it’s gone!) When I breathe in, I think, “In with ____” and usually say ‘peace’ first, but say whatever positive feeling that comes to my mind. I do this until I feel like I’ve cleared my heart of everything that would otherwise fester, and filled my life with peaceful thoughts. When my mind is anxious, or I do this before bed it helps me sleep a lot better!

My personal mantra when I’m going about my day is “Be where you are. Love who you’re with. Live today!” (And I try not to take text messages when I’m with people for that reason. I’d rather be with who I’m with–usually =o)–and want them to know it.)

By: Yongyut K.

Yongyut K. — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:24:20 +0000

I’m writing this from Bangkok, Thailand. This is my first time entering this blog and I like your writing about the Buddhist monks and meditation so I have something to share. I had been a monk myself for 4 years. For the whole first 12 months, I lived in a cave, with other monks, and spent day and night meditating. The first one month was a nightmare because I could not control my mind. The 11 months after that, it’s like heaven and you didn’t want to come back. The world inside us, when clearing from all thoughts and worries, is as clearly as cristal. However, I did not reach any permanent state of pure mind just yet, that’s why I came out of the cave and entered the real material world. Twenty years later, I still long for that moment again. While we normal people think it’s a kind of illusion to stay alone and away from society, many monks (maybe included the Buddha himself) think the outside world itself is the illusion. Nothing is real. They even think the “self” does not exist. The reason is that we cannot control our “self”. So, to get rid of the feeling of “self” is the only way to liberate ourselves from the illusion. Glad to come in here and join the blog. Sorry with my poor English.

By: Clint

Clint — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:31:44 +0000

Yongyut - thank you for sharing your interesting experience with Buddhist mediation and philosophy. Very interesting. Also don’t worry about your English, I’m just glad that you shared your thoughts.

And Toffer - I would like to borrow that book, if possible.

By: Yongyut

Yongyut — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:28:45 +0000

I’m not a guru in Buddhism but I still want to share some ideas as I have interest in the issue on this blog. Just for a thought of today. We Buddhists are taught to let go all attachements to our mind. We called it ‘mind objects’. It may sound weird but that’s what we are taught to do. However, as a human being, most of us don’t believe that’s a way to bring happiness to our lives. We thought the opposite. We think having all we want is the way, despite the fact that, the more we want, the more we want more.. and more. Love, greed and anger, for instance, once attached to our mind, it brings sudden and long term suffering. Love brings fear - i.e. fear to lose love, fear to get the things we don’t love, fear to observe the changing phenomenon. Everything is subject for changes, including all mind objects. That’s why they are all not worth clinging to. The less we attach our mind to it, the less suffering we will feel. Once, there is no attachment, once all sufferings and fears disappear. The ultimate understanding of all is that there is no “self” in life. Even our body is not ours, how can love, greed, and anger can be ours. It’s just an wandering object visiting us from times to times. That’s why ordinary people like us need to learn to see inside our heart and learn every bit of the internal movement as much as possible. We need to control our mind, and learn to let things go at will. For at least, we can experience the empty mind at sometimes of a day. Meditation will serve this purpose.
Monks learn best on this as their final goal is to get rid off the ’self’ completely. It is a freedom from all of the worldly needs. Once they can help themselves, they can use their life helping the others — especially in the term that they help the others have less sufferings in life. Some monks work in humanitarian needs i.e. AIDS, hunger, conservation, animal protection, and so on.
Monks cannot be judged by the dress they wear. Because it’s all about the internal world. Some monks who reached a certain higher state of mind may just wear ordinary dress and work in the office in downtown New York. But once you become an Arahat or a person who reached enlightenment, you will automatically liberate yourself from sexual desires, and other mind objects. Every moment of time of those Arahat will be passed on through the complete mindfullness or purified mind.

That’s all from my understanding.