Lust, Greed, & Envy

On my early morning walks to school, I often encounter Monks receiving alms from people on the street. Initially, I’d be wowed at the sight of these men in saffron robes walking around barefeet. But having lived here for two years, I’ve grown accustomed to them and they have become a normalcy in my day-to-day life in a Buddhist country.  A bit like seeing Asians shopping on Robson Street in Vancouver or the current POTUS saying something stupid; with time it becomes unexceptional and uneventful. Although the self imposed barrier of quasi-intimidating awestruck reverence that would spring up when I would cross a monk on the street is a thing of the past, I am still very much intrigued by these gentlemen of orange cloth. 

Monks are far from being intimidating people. Quite the contrary, they exude humility. However, what I find intimidating about them is their strong and ardent dedication to their beliefs. It forces me into the self-actualization about my level of commitment in what I believe. Would I ever be committed enough to a cause where I would appear in public as a person with no possessions, depending on the goodness of others to eat? I don't think so.

The more I read on the subject of monasticism, Buddhist or other, and experience living in a country where monks are so prevalent, the more it makes sense to me. Guys become monks to serve God and nation without getting distracted by the worldly affairs and attachments. Sounds about right to me, especially at this time in my life where worldly affairs and material accoutrements represent more of an encumbrance to me than anything else. But then, that's my current thinking and I readily admit that not too long ago, like many others of my fellow Earth inhabitants, I let myself be lured into the bait of temptation by lust, greed and envy as I kept stretching my hands for more, without realizing that these were temporary pleasures.

I have to admit that some days, especially on what I call my frazzle days, I find myself contemplating what it would be like to become a monk. Not for long though, maybe only for a short time, like a month at the most. Actually, in Thailand, it is traditional for all male youth to become a monk for a period of their life. Many usually do it between finishing university and starting a job. Men can become monks when they reach the age of 20.

Photo taken in Luang Prabang, Loas. Monks on their 6AM Alms Round.
Now I know where the Beatles got their idea for their Abbey Road album.

But then, after going down the list of precepts that monks need to abide by, I quickly realized that there would be just too many obstacles blocking my path to the serene and meditative bliss of monk-hood.  Precepts are like the Ten Commandments, except there are 227 of them! That's a whole lot of ground rules that need to be adhered to in order to remain on the straight and narrow of monk virtue. Heck, I probably already break ten of them every morning between the time I get up and the time I brush my teeth!  However, as I said, I think most of these I could manage if I knew it was going to be for a limited period of time.  Some of these precepts would definitely pose a challenge to the rightness of my monk conduct; just to name a few...

Monk Robes – Now I am no fashion diva but, although these robes may look cool, they don’t look very comfortable, nor stable. The robe is a large rectangle, about 6 by 9 feet, and is wrapped to cover one shoulder. I keep seeing monks hitching up their robes as they keep falling down. And apparently they are not allowed to wear underwear! Walking around à la cannonball all day with a loose ill-fitting toga would definitely have an adverse effect on my already high blood pressure.   But then, according to my research, monks wear something called coupin instead of underwear. This is a piece of unstitched cloth the size of a medium handkerchief but substantially longer. As a matter of fact, monks don’t wear anything that is stitched. It is one of the regulative principles to keep you simpler. The robes being 9 feet long, it would take me forever to learn how to dress myself. To this day, knotting my tie in the morning is still challenging for me, therefore I can’t imagine knotting a 9 foot piece of cloth around myself every morning, all the while maintaining that serene meditative mindfulness that would be expected of me.

At the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Photo by Bernard Pigeon.

Alms Round – For this you have to go out barefoot at an un-godly hour. Almsgiving involves giving monks food in the early morning to sustain them for the day, the monks leave their Wat to receive the alms from people on the streets, and they bring back what was collected for themselves and others in the Wat. But, the real question is whether I could go around “begging” which is how many Westerners see the alms round. Almsgiving would never work in Canada. A person on the street with the purpose of finding food, possibly barefooted and dressed only in a coloured robe would be considered homeless. Even if not considered homeless, Canadians, who we all know are the nicest people on the planet, would still be suspicious and doubting... is this person really religious? Or just dressed this way to get something from me? And yes, there is a certain amount of embarrassment involved here, but the exercise is supposed to teach you humility. Maybe a bit of that wouldn’t hurt me. Anyway, I have never seen this practice as begging. Certainly Thai people don’t see it this way. They are grateful to the monk for allowing them to make merit by giving food. 

A monk checking his messages.
Must be breaking one
of the 227 precepts.

Mosquitoes – Monks are not allowed to kill mosquitoes. Now, as a farm boy from rural Manitoba, I know what these pesky useless little insects are all about. Why do they even exist if not just to make lives here on earth miserable. At least, that's what the nuns used to tell us at catechism. Mosquitoes were created by God as a test of our ability to withstand some of the unpleasantness of life, and that they were put on this earth for us to suffer, and the more one suffers, the closer to the big G one will sit when one goes to the kingdom of heaven. It didn't really make sense to me then, and it still doesn't today. In any case, I digress. I don't like mosquitoes and I’ve killed a lot of them in my lifetime. To me, it's no-brainer; if these dipterous little varmints are biting me, I zap them back. I guess monks not killing mosquitoes has to do with the 'live and let live' mentality, or the 'if someone hurts me, turn the other cheek' philosophy? In any case, I still hate mosquitoes, and will continue zapping them. 

Shaving eyebrows and hair – Now, for this silver fox, this is definitely one of the worse ordinances! I think I would look like an old fat Mr. Clean with my white shiny head dazzling everyone. And let’s not forget the misconception by Westerners that a crew cut equals skinhead that in turn equals troublemaker, of which I don’t think I am…or am I? If someone has a crew cut here in Thailand, people think they must have recently been a monk; in the western world, someone with a crew cut is an expert in concocting Molotov cocktails.  Now, is my vanity getting in the way of giving myself to a higher cause even thought that means I will look like a fat Mr. Clean gone rogue?  If so, isn’t this then another good lesson to learn?

Monks watching the girls go by. Photo by Bernard Pigeon

So those are but four of the 227 precepts that would impede my induction to monk life. And I haven't even gone to the bedrock of monk-hood, meditation. I've tried meditating before, and I still struggle with it. Meditating, or mindfulness as we tend to call it today, is about taking a chunk of your day and simply living in the present, 
impervious to any distraction. My problem is that the voices in my head never seem to shut up. I have tried before to sit still and to concentrate on one thing but my mind keeps wondering towards the paranoia of the future or stranded dwelling on the foibles of the past. What's more, my meditation time often ends up my nap time, so I know that for this one, I will need some organization and supervision to get all zen like in my thoughts. So there you have it. These are just a few of the obstacles that are keeping me from becoming a happy monk. 

So, what is it that I want? Do I want to pursue this fleeting life of transient pleasures, or do I want the eternal bliss of everlasting life and spiritual enlightenment?  Eternal bliss sounds good, but then there's something to be said about lust, greed and envy. Decisions, decisions.