Ive been a monk for 3 years AMA

[Cathal]

Hi again friends.

Follow up from last year. I am a monk in Thailand. If anyone is interested in this kind of monastic lifestyle or whatever really i can try to answer you best i can

Cat

[Myioko]

Hi,

~How is your day to day life satisfaction?

~Do you feel like you have room to act out your desires, and what is your relationship with desire? Which ones do you act on vs let go? (like desiring to go to a place, have a thing, learn something, have a relationship, create something, eat certain foods, experience things, feel and act out a particular emotion, etc). 

~How has your relationship with relating to other people changed? 

Thanks

 

 

[Michal__]

How many hours a day do you meditate?

This is a high quality thread.

[Lyubov]

Where about in Thailand are you? I spent 3 months there this year. I was in Bangkok, Phuket and Krabi. Lovely place. I went to several temples, Bangkok had the most impressive, really such a beautiful place. Krabi had one on top of a mountain you hike up. I absolutely love Thailand. Maybe not a place I would want to live in year around but it's a great place to spend several months in at a time. Such lovely people there. 

Edited Sunday at 07:10 PM by Lyubov

[emil1234]

can you describe your level of realization / moment to moment experience of life? 

[Yimpa]

Hi Cat (lovely name!)

Do you often dream while you are asleep?

Edited Sunday at 11:48 PM by Yimpa

[Cathal]

@Myioko How is your day to day life satisfaction? A significant lot more than before, naturally just emptying the mind out there is a persistent sense of well being amongst the constant changing mind stuff coming up

 

~Do you feel like you have room to act out your desires, and what is your relationship with desire? Which ones do you act on vs let go? (like desiring to go to a place, have a thing, learn something, have a relationship, create something, eat certain foods, experience things, feel and act out a particular emotion, etc). 

Yeah it feels like there is an animal that is being tamed and sometimes it really desires this and that some more some others, especially women. I just keep letting go, but i think some things are bone deep and i will probably experience them again if im being honest. I see parts of my spiritual growth i need to look at, being a monk though allows a really lot of mental training, you feel like no matter what you can trust in letting go

 

~How has your relationship with relating to other people changed?

Like amazingly good for me. But also, living in community has shocked me to see how much garbage i held in my heart towards people. If it wasnt for the long term noble monks around, i probably wouldnt have learned much about love

[Cathal]

@Yimpa Yes i have very vivid dreams usually, most of them seem to be mental concocting nonsense but time to time very suprising stuff comes up, emotions and stories from way way long ago

[Cathal]

@Lyubov Oh yes sounds like the typical tourist places, Thailand is amazing. I have been in Chaiya for 2 years roughly, and Chon Buri for 1.5 - jungles and mountains, and time to time through bangkok for visa

[Cathal]

@Michal__ if you mean like sitting and walking im not sure a good portion of the day, other portions are well you know fairly ordinary stuff ha. Especially first 1.5 year, it was really a lot, but it got calmer now. I think the calmer you get the less youll want to do it, but i always try to remind myself that even though im happier i can keep doing more. It becomes just a joy to let go, it slowly becomes an addiction (in a good way)

[Cathal]

@emil1234 i think when it comes to talking about that, i can say for sure these things dawn on you, come to you, as your mind becomes more pure through meditation. Thats about good enough for me.

The pure in heart will see God, rings a bell

[Yimpa]

47 minutes ago, Cathal said:

@Yimpa Yes i have very vivid dreams usually, most of them seem to be mental concocting nonsense but time to time very suprising stuff comes up, emotions and stories from way way long ago

Wow… I assumed the opposite. Thanks for sharing! 

[Lyubov]

5 hours ago, Cathal said:

@Lyubov Oh yes sounds like the typical tourist places, Thailand is amazing. I have been in Chaiya for 2 years roughly, and Chon Buri for 1.5 - jungles and mountains, and time to time through bangkok for visa

Yeah the places I went def had a lot of tourists but I also liked how a lot of local life and culture was still preserved. We drove on a scooter around and there was a ton of farmers and local life still. I think Phuket had the most tourists. Krabi had it too but much more local life surrounding it. Bangkok was a mix of everything. I got a DTV workcation and hope to go back next year for 3-6 months. Apparently Chang Mai is really worth visiting too. 

[something_else]

Are you friends with the group of monks I met on a Thai beach? They carried five coolers of beer down on their backs, each had five packets of cigarettes hidden in their robes, and they were sharing them all with everyone on the beach  I hope so because those guys were fuckin awesome hahaha

In general I absolutely love Thailand. I want to live in Bangkok so badly.

Edited yesterday at 09:16 AM by something_else

[AerisVahnEphelia]

Do you still roleplay or did you turn out like Banthe 

[Applegarden8]

I will ask this question. What is the purpose of your life?

[Cathal]

@Applegarden8 For me I dont personally believe i have a personal like special purpose, its just aligning with the actual reality that governs what i am, and being out of tune with that causes a lot of suffering for sure, which is selfishness- the lack of, freedom of, selfishness .

 

At least it seems to be all spiritual texts point at freedom from selfishness to be the aim of our lives. So practically speaking doing inner work and hope that it pays off and is useful for others

[Someone here]

Do you have any unhealthy habits? How is your diet?

thanks .

[AerisVahnEphelia]

5 hours ago, Cathal said:

@Applegarden8 For me I dont personally believe i have a personal like special purpose, its just aligning with the actual reality that governs what i am, and being out of tune with that causes a lot of suffering for sure, which is selfishness- the lack of, freedom of, selfishness .

 

At least it seems to be all spiritual texts point at freedom from selfishness to be the aim of our lives. So practically speaking doing inner work and hope that it pays off and is useful for others

isn't it selfish to be a monk and not truly participate in society, don't you think this is escapism & selfishness to decide to be a monk instead of "building a house".

which is okay, I don't think there is any free will nor selfishness either way.
 

[Applegarden8]

1 hour ago, AerisVahnEphelia said:

isn't it selfish to be a monk and not truly participate in society, don't you think this is escapism & selfishness to decide to be a monk instead of "building a house".

which is okay, I don't think there is any free will nor selfishness either way.
 

I really don't underestand what selfish means in practical reality. I think the human psyche is far more complex to be explained or the first person experience of reality by the term selfishness. you can be selfish in anything. You can be selfish in expecting praise for helping people, even if you are a full time volunteer. You can be selfish to break free from the herd. Your selfish if you don't feel guilty for what society thought you should feel guilty about.

Edited 21 minutes ago by Applegarden8