It may have been obvious but it would be an understatement to say that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Even so, I was left to my own devices most of the time. Normally new monks would have much to learn, from knowing how to put on your robes properly to how to compose yourself on alms rounds. I was never taught much at my first monastery and I think it was because the abbot knew that the practices of the ‘house’ monks are not the same as the forest monks in the distant provinces. He wanted me to have a clean slate.

The experience was the necessary first step into understanding what the life of the Theravada Buddhist monk entailed. Whether it be walking barefooted on roads, no consumption of food stuff after midday or meditation for long periods, there was a lesson to be learned from all these activities. After all we were not born with already thick soles nor soft mattresses to cushion our joints. The human body has been around for hundreds of thousands of years and has had plenty of time to hone itself.

The ordination day itself was another surprise. Personally I would’ve preferred a quiet affair, just myself and my parents to see me don the robes and then leave for a while. In fact in Thailand these are auspicious occasions where extended families are involved too, if not out of obligation then out of the belief that they will receive good karma by helping someone into monk-hood. The biggest surprise was seeing a whole cast of musicians and people nearby turn up out of nowhere and got involved too. If anything, it showed that the Buddhist tradition is very much alive and well, even if it was only a small monastery just outside of Bangkok.

For the next few entries I will be going to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand on a meditation retreat with a few other forest monks. This retreat occurs once a year and is a week long event for about 130 lay meditators and 8 monks. I had no idea about how any of this would turn out and it was like being thrown into the deep end. To spend your time alone is one thing. To be setting an example in front of a hundred others is quite another. It would also be where I will be learning for first time many practices that set apart the forest monks.