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I had internally imagined what life as a monk would be like long before becoming one. And after becoming one, my expectations were mostly the same. As you read this, keep in mind that monk life in the US is much more comfortable than in Thailand. The rules are a bit different, too, for practical…

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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 . . .

In my previous posts I talked about the rules to follow before becoming a monk. After becoming a monk there are 227 more rules one must follow, called wenai, which is something like a highly expanded version of the 10 Commandments.