I Met a Buddhist Monk When I Was 22: Part 2
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7 years ago in #buddhism by stellabelle (75)
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It's interesting what you say in the last paragraph about your thinking and meditation. I've been reading Jung's Psychological Types, and in the first chapter he talks about how the common attitude in the age of antiquity towards what we now understand as "thoughts" or "internal monologue" was that they were more visionary or some sort of magic like perhaps the gods speaking through or to you.
I think 'gods' were invented because the average person cannot comprehend where these highly imaginative ideas come from, as we cannot just accept the fact that they might emerge organically, just as cells form, birds sing, etc. I feel that humans are not comfortable with the unknown, and in their quest to get rid of anxiety, they must define everything. I take the opposite view: I am comfortable with the unknown, and I don't have the need to define everything. This is a more organic approach to living and to understand what the contents are inside one's own mind. I've spent a good chunk of my life studying these mind things in depth, and by doing, I am not afraid of them, nor do I need to define their origins.
But yes, I have had many 'visions', too, as many religious people would define them. I see no reason to define my visions as something religious though. The visions appeared to me, as a way of directing my energies in life towards them. They had a purpose. I am not special in this arena. Many people live this way.
Yeah, and that's clear in the characterizations of human nature in Greek and other mythologies,with different gods likely reflecting conflicting urges and beliefs of people.
I think vision-esque experiences are the product our intuition and subconscious processing experiences and information, and spitting out conclusions very suddenly into our conscious minds. You're right, many people do live that way, myself included; based on our society and what it values, it's decidedly a less common way of being, but an important and valid one nonetheless.
i believe people like us would fit in very easily in a tribe. A lot of modern society people have lost their inner narrative, as it has been replaced by consumerism. The traveling inward has a wealth that people of nowadays have mostly lost. Artists, programmers, writers and other creative people, those who create not in some kind of mechanical way, but as a product of inner dialogue, those people are like the messengers of a world before corporations and the over-dependence on consumerism. The less I buy, the more I am creating to fill in the voids. It took me a while, but I can say that I don't really desire things anymore. I desire experiences and connection, but not 'things.' It has not always been this way, but I started my quest pretty early....in my early 20's. I've been practicing this for a while now.
Huh, that's a really thought provoking perspective. Maybe Steemit is the tribe! I'm definitely getting better at detaching myself from things. Objects only matter to me insofar as they are vehicles for experience.
Do you think your water visions of a machine and ocean were steem premonitions? Maybe foreshadowing your children's book?
@stellabelle - Your story amazes me but at some level I think I have seen half ass monks of many many religions in my travels. I have seen people considering themselves greatest servants of God act with a 'holier than thou' attitude towards needy fellow humans practically in every temple, mosque or church I visited. This was to such an extent that I almost vowed to never visit such places of worship. I would not call myself an atheist - I do believe that there is a point of strength every man or woman needs to believe in. Perhaps this is God for some and perhaps it is some loved one for some others - that is immaterial but I believe that at some moments in life, we have to look for this external source of strength. Unfortunately, the path to this external source of strength is riddled with middlemen created by our society and religious structure. As an intellectual at some level, I can meditate (think actually as you point out) and connect to my strength sources in my mind but multitudes have been coached, for centuries, that they need these middlemen like Sadhus, Moulas, Priests and Monks to reach God. Religion, in many senses, has become a source of creating money and power in many countries. I speak about this often with people and try to educate them. I do not know how much effect it has but I will keep trying. Sorry for this rant but your blog triggered this chain of thought. It is admirable that you tried to share your experience and have chosen your own path of religion and meditation (thinking). Thanks for sharing.
Hello @stellabelle. I translated this post in Russian. Translation here: https://steemit.com/journal/@igor-steem/ya-vstretila-buddiiskogo-monakha-kogda-mne-bylo-22-goda-i-vot-chto-ya-uznala-zhurnal-naiden-segodnya-vecherom. Thank you! Post is very interesting. The last paragraph for me was the most important in this series of articles. Very interesting rule of life. Respect!
Ooh that physical description! So descriptive that I felt like I was sitting at the bar with him listening to that story.
What an interesting -- big picture -- life experience. Travel is so enriching. Thanks for sharing this story!
thanks for reading.
inspiring! "I just call it thinking." That moved something in me, gave me motivation. thanks.
maybe it's because as humans we have to overcomplicate everything. Maybe we are better off thinking in very general terms instead of fucking up everything with over-complexity.
Bummer that Horatio had to make a move...this kind of disappointing story was so familiar to me in my 20s when everything with men inevitably seemed to come down to sex.
I really like your "thinking" ritual and how you simply honor without doubt what arises for you in that space, it's brilliant!
The Broken Buddha, A Critcal Review of Theravada Buddhism and A Plea For A New Buddhism
I had an opposite experience. But I went looking for a Buddhist Teacher and found a Korean center in Gresham Oregon. Mahayana Korean Zen has its own problems, which my teacher a Korean Monk, we were both in our 30s at the time, he told me about lots of corruption and broken vows.
My teacher treated me as if I was a Buddha, he became my first real male friend. He never did or said anything inappropriate and taught me true compassion. Even if you are broken and wild like me there is the potential within you to become free, to become a Buddha. Sunim helped me break free from trauma conditioning brought on by childhood sexual abuse by my stepfather. I owe him and the Korean community my life, they helped me save myself and my family.
Buddhism is not about gods or deities, its not about earning merits, it's about the letting go of aversion, craving, and ignorance regarding who you truly are and seeing reality as it is not as you wish it to be...
Men abused me but I don't hate all men, my Mom abandoned me, but I don't distrust all women, however I am also very careful, I don't trust anyone until I've known them personally for a couple years.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience @stellebelle, but not everyone has had a bad experience with Buddhist Monks
Is that Den of Earth?
Reading your story give me reason to keep faith in humanity and not doing something stupid.
As you already said, you are flawed, … But who isn’t ? I am, they are, even a monk is not perfect - even if he tends to be :)
There is hope.
@stellabelle And that is why I came back to catch up on your blog. Very entertaining to me. I actually laughed out loud a couple times while reading this. No eyebrows reminded me of when Neo got flushed out of the Matrix. LOL
Also I like the fact that you say you learned a lot from this half-assed monk. Hahahah Also one thing that struck me as very interesting was that you have been atheist since you were 8 years old. I have a very similar experience. I called bullshit on Noah's Ark when I was 7. It logically didn't make sense even then.