I started to meditate in Chiang Mai which is a sizeable town in the north-western part of Thailand, in 1993. If you would like to read about my very first encounters with buddhist meditation, then my article Divine Meditation makes for interesting reading.

Many years passed until I took the step to ordain as a buddhist monk. During those years I lived and practiced meditation as a layman in many monasteries round the world. The countries where I spent the most time were the UK, Japan and Malaysia. For those of you who are familiar with the various forms of buddhism know that the kind of buddhism you have in Japan is way different from the buddhism found in Thailand for example - but more about that in another post.

Samanera And Bhikkhu

So, after having spent a lot of time in monasteries working  and meditating side by side with monks and nuns, I decided to take the step to ordain as a junior monk - which in buddhist terms is referred to as a samanera. Junior monks follow a set of 10 precepts or rules if you like, whereas a fully-ordained monk which is called bhikkhu adheres to 227 precepts. For quite obvious reasons, it's recommended to start out as a junior...

I spent the day before the ordination at the temple dressed in white clothes. My room didn't have any mosquito nets or furniture so I had to sleep with only a thin rice mat between my body and the wooden floor. As a monk you part with physical comfort and worldly luxuries.

The monastery was located in a small fishing village some 300 km south of Bangkok. I had been meditating for 14 years when I ordained in 2007 but my Thai-language skills were still quite basic, but living in the monastery proved to be an excellent way of practicing the language. The photo above is from the ordination ceremony which turned out to be much livelier and more colorful than I ever could have imagined.

In Thailand it's a tradition that your mother and father offer you the monk robes, the alms bowl and other necessities. This offering is considered a highly meritorious deed in buddhism because monks live according to the Buddha's teachings and meditate a lot, which purifies the mind and leads to enlightenment.

It's believed that people who make such offerings will enjoy a better birth in existences to come. No one in my family were able to make it to Thailand for this event so my girlfriend's father, her family and friends sponsored the ordination - for which I'm most grateful!

In Thailand it's a tradition to ordain as a monk at least once in your lifetime. Some ordain for just a few hours while others do it for a whole year. Traditionally, it was done for a period of three months known as the rains retreat. Ordaining gives you a chance to study and practice Lord Buddha's teachings and it gives your parents the opportunity to offer you the monk robes, alms bowl and other necessities.

For someone who isn't the least familiar with buddhist culture, it would be only natural to view monks as beggars and therefore a burden to society but according to buddhist teachings giving and generosity are meritorious deeds.

So, by offering food to monks the givers generate merit which will give fruit to positive results in the future - that's what we call karma. Likewise, when we do something bad that will have negative consequences in this lifetime or in existences to come. As we all know, a sense of happiness and satisfaction arise whenever we do what's good and right - therefore one could say that giving is happiness.

Thai Monasticism

Have you ever seen an 8-year old monk? These children often come from underprivileged or dysfunctional families. The boys attend most activities at the temple such as chanting, alms round and sweeping the temple grounds. They also go to school full-time which is paid for by the monastery. 

The day starts early in the temple, at four o'clock in the morning the monks chant buddhist texts and by dawn they set out on alms round. During alms round the most senior monk walks in front and the rest of the monks follow in line. The Thais are so generous that many days our alms bowl were full and we had to carry the extras in shopping bags on the side.

Monasticism is full of routines - wake up, morning toilet, chant four times a day, alms round, breakfast, sweep the monastery grounds, clean your room, lunch, buddhist studies, private meditation practice, attending ceremonies, funerals and evening toilet.

It's a wonderful place for someone who's interested in practicing awareness and meditation but if you're not - it could be incredibly boring.

The monks eat twice a day. We had breakfast round 7.30 in the morning and lunch must be completed by midday. It's only natural to ask, "What's the fuzz about not eating after midday?"

Let me share my personal outlook with you. Buddhism teaches awareness or mindfulness if you like, so when hunger sets in sometime in the late afternoon we can be aware of it and let it go. Being aware of every sense impression and to be able to let go of them have very positive effects on the practice.

Monks are allowed to drink tea, soy drinks and milk in the afternoons and evenings. So, hunger or a lack of energy are not major issues. More so, it's a matter of letting go of personal habits.

Monasteries in Thailand are divided into two main groups. For easy understanding I call it forest and city monasteries. The city monasteries are not as strict as the forest monasteries. For example, in the forest monasteries they often only allow one meal a day and spend a lot of time meditating, whereas the city monasteries are known to emphasize buddhist studies over meditation.

Awareness And Meditation

I was a junior monk for 46 days and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who's interested in meditation. Full-time community practice makes for speedy progress, but remember that you don't have to be a nun or monk in order to benefit from your practice.

We practice meditation and awareness with our minds, so no matter what clothes you wear, may you be in a temple or in prison and regardless of your gender, age and race - the fruits of spiritual practice are readily available to all of us.

May you find happiness and wellbeing!

axel g really affects people
you make it possible...