Hello
- A young man of Theravada tendencies once spoke to me of being a monk-scholar.
The Buddhist path to him, meant lots of scriptural(scriptural??) study, and all
other studies associated with being a temple monk
- I mentioned before of a young Thai boy who recommended that I get my Buddha
statue blessed by the monks, and therefore becoming a blessing to me
- A lady from Laos had said something similar to me as well. She also mentioned
of a Buddha who resides over the judgement of wicked individuals in the
afterlife
- I mentioned to a Buddhist Cambodian co-worker of the need to meditate every
day(or night), and she thought the very idea of it was hilarious. As far as she
was concerned, it was something done once(or twice?) a year for special
Buddhist events
- Many Buddhists I have spoken to are also so inclined towards morality, peace,
love for fellow beings, and all these other 'dalai lama' stuff, but I never
heard one speak of actual, but plainly and surely, simple meditation, and how
such practise transfers to one's life
I think all the above trend towards plainly and simply, keeping up appearances.
When I speak to characters like the above, I can't help but notice something of
struggle amongst rats in a cage(rat race?), so to speak...with individual here
and there always running or gaining after something non-stop. Once
gained,followed by another to be gained, and another, and another...and so on...
It's sad indictment of lost individuals. On top of this, many put their
'superstar' monks on indeed, a superstar level. A certain popular Thai monk who
taught and preached in Sydney now lives a normal family life a few suburbs away
from me. I remember his 'superstar priestly' days when members of the Thai
community mouthed off death-threats on anyone(especially the media) who tried
to find out too much about his romping around with the womenfolk. The Thai
community in Sydney regarded these as plain allegations...until a pregnant
Swedish woman came forward and talked. Thai women held their tounges, but not
the Western ones...certainly not the northern Europeans(*laughter*)
I say, let's all go back to the basic and sit, and breath
in peace
Mel
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