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 UK, Japan and Malaysia.

For those of you who are familiar with various traditions know that the kind of buddhism found in Japan is quite different from Thai and Tibetan buddhism - 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 observes 227 precepts. For quite obvious reasons, it's recommended to start out as a junior...

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 basic, but living in the monastery proved to be an excellent way to practice the language. The photo above is from the ordination ceremony which turned out to be much livelier and more colorful than I could ever 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 since 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 family and friends sponsored the ordination - for which I'm most grateful.

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

So, by offering food to monks the giver generates merit which is believed to have positive consequences in the future - that's what we call karma. Likewise, when we do something bad that's believed to have negative consequences. As we all know, a sense of happiness and satisfaction arise when we do what's good and right - therefore one could say that generosity is a source of happiness.

For more on Thai culture, I highly recommend Thailand Breeze.

Thai Monasticism

Monasticism is full of routines - wake up, go to the toilet, chant four times a day, alms round, eat breakfast, sweep the monastery grounds, clean your room, do laundry, eat lunch, private meditation practice, buddhist studies, take a shower, attend ceremonies and funerals.

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.

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 alms round, chanting and sweeping. They also go to school full-time which is paid for by the monastery.