Archive for October, 2013

Preparing for งานบวช ngaan1 buad2 is not much different from preparing for a wedding. It is an entire family affair where everyone gets involved and helps out. You need to have ‘rented’ a temple, donations for monks, a full meal ready for all the guests, musical instruments, flowers…

Beyond memorizing the chanting you also should practice kneeling like a monk. While most Thais have no problem with it, the larger heavier framed farang can find it painful. I certainly did. As a monk, you’ll be expected to kneel one to two hours per day. For me, the kneeling position…

After you’ve qualified and learned the basic rules to becoming a Buddhist monk, you then can be ordained. Ordination isn’t an easy task and can be as complicated and time consuming as preparing for a wedding. Your very first task should be …

Is it ok for a monk to wear shoes? Use a phone? Own an iPhone? Drive a car? Eat steak at Sizzler, use a computer, use Facebook, shake hands with a woman, use money, etc.?

I really tried to be a good monk by reading and following all the rules. But, it turned out many of the rules are really strange and the monks simply ignored/violated them. Let me explain . . .