Since the day we landed in Cambodia, my first step onto the Asian continent, I began to realize my fascination with Buddhist monks. Without effort, they attract so much attention! Mysteriously wandering around the city adorned in a bright orange (or various other shades of orange) sheet draped across their body and buzzed heads. Sometimes holding various accessories! Sometimes orange/brown umbrellas, sometimes simply sewn cloth bags, sometimes large bowls (that really look like a little bongo). Sometimes they wear shoes and sometimes they don’t. But these men can be spotted everywhere! Just meandering the city in pairs, trios, quads, or solo. Anytime I actually got near one let alone saw one from afar, I got ridiculously excited. It was quite similar to how I would react if I saw a celebrity!
I became a little obsessed, but it felt okay because my teammate Bry shared the exact same fascination. We would literally announce to one another when we spotted one on our daily jaunts. We would make note of the groupings (how many were together), the color of their sheets, and what accessories they were carrying. Yes, yes, we recognize how bizarre this sounds. Who cares about those details? We actually do.
It’s definitely the air of mystery they hold that really intrigues me. After my first sighting, I instantly had so many questions. Unending questions. What are they doing every morning? Where are they walking to? Where do they live? How many changes of clothes/sheets do they have? What do the different colors represent? Why can’t they be touched by or stand near women? How does one become a monk? Is that a life sentence? Can they get married? So. many. Questions.
Considering they aren’t allowed to be touched by a woman or to even stand near one (this fact was pointed out on many signs and brochures for wats and temples), would I be able to engage one in conversation? Then we found out about Monk Chat. In Thailand and most specifically Chiang Mai there is a program in some of the temples called Monk Chat. It’s a time where foreigners or anyone can come and sit down with monks living in the temples and ask questions about their monk lifestyle, Buddhism, and really anything! For the monks it is an opportunity to practice their English and develop a better relationship and understanding with the outside community.
This was EXACTLY what we had been dreaming of! During our last week in Chiang Mai, we were finally able to carve out some time for Monk Chat. We walked to the temple in the middle of the old city of Chiang Mai. It’s actually so popular and well known we had to pay to get in, but it was roughly $1. We wandered around a bit because we couldn’t find exactly where the monks were chatting. After making a big loop around the temple we found a banner stating something about talking with a monk. Bingo! There was no one there, but we felt certain we had found the right place.
Soon after we met Boworn, a novice monk! I finally got to ask ALL the questions I’d been mulling over for the past two months. We sat there asking questions for over three hours. It. was. AWESOME! Boworn is in high school, which is why he is considered a novice monk. He is originally from a hill tribe in the mountains. Thai is not his first language but rather a tribal language from his home village. His English was pretty impressive as well! My recollection of everything he shared with us is a bit hazy now. Keep in mind maybe not all of this is fully accurate. Especially because I haven’t actively researched Buddhism. Just going off what I learned in Monk Chat.
He came to Chiang Mai to be a monk because it’s an opportunity to get quality, free schooling and guaranteed provision (food, lodging, etc). He has the option of wearing two different colors of robe, sheet, monk outfit, whatever you want to call it, the more light brown color and standard orange. The brown color indicates coming from the hills. Most families who can’t afford a good school or food will encourage their children to become monks. Kids can normally join at 12 years old, although in some circumstances they can be as young as eight. You can stop being a monk at any point. Although if you stop, no more schooling, food, etc. Some monks elect to leave the monastery, get married, pursue a career or whatever, and return to being a monk one day. You can do that once or twice but it’s very discouraged to return to being a monk a third time (seems ingenuine).
They wake up eaaaaarly in the morning, like 4am, to walk around the city for morning alms. It’s intended to be a morning walk, but this is their time and opportunity to get food and money. He firmly said that he never asks for money or food, but people stop and ask to donate it to him. The communities are happy to support monks as a seemingly Thai culture duty and to earn merit (good deeds and kharma to hopefully bring them closer to enlightenment). Every morning on my run I would see dozens and dozens of monks everywhere walking the streets barefoot with their black bowls stopping in front of small food carts or restaurants. They’re barefoot as a symbol of taking on poverty and suffering, a humble positioning. They put all the food and things they get in the bowl. He said they normally walk around they same areas because they know there are guaranteed people who will give them food there. If you don’t go out and walk for morning alms, you don’t get food. The rest of the day involved school and evening chanting and meditation. Chanting is basically reciting the teachings of Buddha and meditation involves clearing your mind of focusing on the teachings.
Monks can’t be near women or touched by them to avoid and lessen temptation. They are trying to rid themselves of desires and sexual desire is a very real thing. He never said that point blank. But it was easy to make a deduction on what he was saying and it definitely makes sense. Apparently, if you accidentally touch a woman on the street, it’s not a big deal. If you are sick and in the hospital, you can be treated by a female nurse or doctor. You can hug your own mother. But in general, you’re keeping your distance to avoid unnecessary temptation and desire. Dress codes are also strictly enforced within the wats. No knees or shoulders showing. Coverings are provided should your current outfit be deemed insufficient.
There is a bit of a caste system within Buddhism. Because they believe in reincarnation, they believe people born into poverty, sickness, disabilities, etc are people who did or were very bad in their past life. Essentially those ailments are their own fault. They, in a sense, deserve this suffering, will hopefully learn from it, and get a better life next time. They are seen in a sense as lesser people. If you were born with a disability, like being blind, deaf, lame, etc, you are not able to be a monk. If you are already a monk and one of those things happens to you, then that’s okay. Very interesting concept! I imagine it would be very difficult to find compassion and empathy for the weak, needy, oppressed, and hurting people because the mindset within Buddhism is that it’s a natural consequence of past wrong.
The goal in Buddhism is to get rid of your desires. Relationships and emotions always lead to great desires or someone feeling hurt. Therefore it’s encouraged to stay more distant from family and other relationships to ensure neither you or they feel excessive sadness or intense emotion. Find peace and contentment in suffering and rid yourself of desires. But you have to be careful to not desire getting rid of your desires! Very tricky. And with my firm beliefs in Christianity, I know that they are trying the fight the inherent sinful, fleshly nature. I don’t believe they will ever be able to get rid of desires because we live in a sinful, broken world. That’s got to be an incredibly difficult and frustrating process. He told us that yes, he does have a dream. To become a computer programmer! But that desire and passion is technically not supported by the faith. Hearing his thoughts and outlook on this aspect of Buddhism felt incredibly isolating and hopeless. Do they ever feel genuine love, acceptance, or fulfillment?
The ultimate goal is to reach enlightenment where you stop being reincarnated into different lives. You’ve finally done enough good and merit to reach nirvana, the ultimate peace and ending to suffering. But it’s nothing. Not a heaven or hell. Just the ending of life. Such a different concept.
These are the main things I took away from our afternoon with a monk! We asked question after question and got to share a bit about what our beliefs are and what Christianity looks like for us. We didn’t push anything on him, but were merely curious about Buddhism and shared bits of our faith. It was such a blessing to get a monk’s perspective and be able to ask all the questions.
