Buddhism Monastery Life? How’s It Looks Like?
I’ll share with you my points of view based on my observation through some of the experiences.
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1. You have to wake up before sunrise, meditate day and night.
Some, only sleep four hours a day, in order to train their mind. They meditate diligently, day and night. They meditate when they walk, when they eat, when they lay down their body to have some sleep, and they meditate when they sh*t. This is what they do to gather the necessary conditions for what they believe is a path to liberation. To become enlightened and free themselves from samsara. Every day for years or might for their whole life.
Some people said that this is the most selfish path one can walk but what if they had walked the path and let one know ‘the path’ later so one could also get out from this endless circle…? They are the keeper of the teachings. Without these keepers, no one will have the chance to know how to walk the path in the future.
2. Financial and competition.
Now, many people think that this lifestyle doesn’t need money (that’s what I thought when I dip my toes into the community). They live like a parasite. A beggar. After all, they don’t work like society tells us to, to earn money. They live a leisurely life out of society while using all the money earned through hard work from the donators.
What outsiders didn’t know is that the competition inside the communities was the same as the competition in layman's life. Those who are having good financial backgrounds will receive better treatment because most of the time, their money helps keep the organization running. Some without financial background but genuinely want to dive into this kind of lifestyle might receive some support from the community at the start but, with one or other conditions, that support might be stopped later on. However, those who grow in the path usually will have the support, they don’t care where those daily needs come from. Their only goal is to train their mind so it can be purified and be able to realize Nibbana.
Dhammo have rakkhati dhammacāriṃ
Dhammo suciṇṇo sukhamāvahati
Esānisaṃso dhamme suciṇṇe
Na duggatiṃ gacchati dhammacārī“The Dhamma surely protects him who practises it;
the Dhamma brings happiness when practised well.
This is the benefit in the Dhamma well-practised:
The practitioner goes not to a bad destiny.” — Theragatha
3. Sacrification and devotion.
Some of the participants need to make sacrifices to keep the environment suitable for the others participants practising meditation. This sacrifice means they have to do any kind of work serving the community. Become a chef and make sure everyone had enough nutrition to keep going on? sure. Cleaning after that? sure. Arrange classes between the teacher and the disciple? of course. Find donators and manage all the financial flow? it’s a must! It took great responsibility. All of this work needs to be done by someone. But what if none of them wants to make the sacrifice…? They don’t come to the monastery to become other slaves! They want to be free! But instead of being free, they got into another rabbit hole.
If the finance isn’t good and the community wasn’t managed by a virtuous and wise leader, some of the participants might even punch and hit each other! (yes! it’s happened!). It’s funny if ones stay long enough inside the community and realize that their life actually wasn’t that perfect and actually harder compared to living as a layman. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
However, to be fair, all of the conditions that arise in the community really depend on each participant's effort and teamwork in the community. Teamwork is really important, man.
Those mentioned above aren’t the worst part.
4. Sitting meditation needs patience, practice, practice, and practice.
While one can meditate in any kind of posture, sitting meditation is believed as the perfect posture because it’s almost closing all our senses and leaving only our mind for us to deal with. This is the perfect posture for learning and training our minds. It requires another effort for sitting while trying to keep the posture straight and comfortable enough to maintain our consciousness aware of specifically chosen objects compared with sitting in front of our computer and doing anything we did in front of the screen.
Some training required one sitting for an hour while trying to focus only on one of their meditation object. Some will ask one to sit for three hours. Some even required one to sit for five hours straight! This requirement has its own reason. The longer you sit, the more you dwell and learn about your thoughts, which means the more you know about yourself.
It’s known that sitting too long isn’t good for our body's health. In some places, one can do Yoga or other stretching moves outside sitting time. But some places have more strict rules and you can’t do those stretching postures. Screw you.
5. Be wise in choosing a teacher!
You need full faith in the teacher, no matter what they said and instructed, good or bad according to your judgment and perception. Any distrust, no matter how small it is, will not help the practice. Instead of gaining a peaceful life and becoming enlightened, things can be turned to the exact opposite. To me, it feels worse than breaking up with my romantic partner. As if my whole world was crumbling. Without guidance from a teacher, how do I end this tangled thread? That’s how I felt back then. It’s a matter of trust and faith.
Glad that now I’m finally can let things go and choose to be just who I am capable of, with the support from the environment I had. I can walk based on my own pace.
6. Those who live in the community, isn’t a saint.
They are not a saint without false. They are human beings that still learning too. They just choose to walk different paths with more strict rules which isn’t easy and when they don’t aware for a moment, they are easily get drawn to the joy of layman life, easily.
With that, they not only failed to keep the teaching but also contributes to destroying the original teaching from the inside.
It’s easier to live a layman’s life. Keeping our minds busy with whatever we encounter in our path. Doing whatever we want and enjoying whatever we have. Without training our minds, we just let them run to wherever they want. Lot’s of distractions and escape to choose. We become our own slaves and enjoy them out of ignorance.
I’m not glorifying monastery life. But I salute those who take the path and keep walking on the path despite all of the challenges. I respect them.
