Month: March 2017

Why Are Most Monasteries Not Allowable?

Why are most monasteries not allowable for vinaya monks? Today, I was Skyping my parents which is something we do once or twice a month now.  I feel it is good for them to “see” me as a monk, rather than having them talk to me and visualizing their son from 1999.  That was when I left home and things changed for me.  We had a nice discussion.  We spoke about possibilities for a visit, but I told them that finding a place was difficult, because the monks all use money and whatever they buy with that money becomes unallowable. […]

Bowling Down an Alley

I had the day off from school and went  for alms today in a new area unannounced. I wanted to go down a side street near “shit- mile.”   “Shit-mile” means “8 mile marker” in the Myanmar language.  So Before I went there, I saw an alley on the right with a small food-stall setup.  Because it was a new area and nobody knew I was coming for alms, I need to explore every opportunity to collect enough food for my lunch, a meal that would need to last me until the next morning.  I walked past the stall and […]

Singing With My Bowl

“Singing With My Bowl” Today, after I Skyped my parents to say hello, I was doing my usual weekend schedule after: Go walking for alms, and then meditate at Swedo Paya (Tooth Relic Pagoda down the street from me). It is my favorite part of the week. It is where I can stop being a college student and be more like the monk I prefer to be. Near the end of my meditation in the Pagoda, a large Vietnam group came and did a chanting procession circumnavigating the inside of the pagoda. Afterwards, they sat down and did some more […]