The Monk

By Andrea Kaldy

He appears at the same time, early, every morning. I can see him from the platform while I am waiting for my train that takes me to work. He wears nothing but a bright orange sheath, tightly wrapped around him for warmth in the middle of winter. Nothing but a cotton sheath, not even shoes. His steps appear to be careful for his slowness, but I know that's not the reason. He simply has nowhere to rush off to while the buzz of a weekday morning is passing him by. He stops patiently in front of the local shop and reads the posters until the rolling door opens. This is around the time my train comes, so I never see what happens after, but I can guess.

The monk probably takes the donations given to him by the owners of the shop, who are Buddhists themselves, and carries his precious cargo back to his temple to his fellow monks. They rely on the charity and goodwill of the Buddhist community who more than willingly donate what they can to sustain them.

Why would someone choose to live in such heavy reliance on the charity of others? The thought enters my mind. I cannot imagine living on the edge of existence. I have a mortgage, a kid in private school, living standards, a job to go to, a car to maintain. All these, that occupy my mind on a daily basis, seemingly forming the foundations of my very existence. What would I do without my mobile phone, dishwasher, Foxtel or even just the steady fortnightly income that allows me to have those things? How essential these mundane objects have become in our daily lives, though if you really think about it, what do they give us beside convenience?

That makes me think...What would I really do if I had to give up those things and other comforts and live like a monk. For starters, I'd have a lot of free time, I think with a hint of sarcasm, and I surprise myself. I consider myself a deeply spiritual person, how can I then have that sort of judgement about someone choosing to dedicate their life to their religion? Here is the snag. To me religion is only the outward expression of one's faith. Daily rituals, words repeated, sometimes with little or no actual meaning to the person reciting them. Spirituality or faith on the other hand is about the processes that we have inside; our beliefs about ourselves and how we fit into the bigger scheme of things.

To Buddhists, it seems, that the rituals, the acts of faith cannot be performed without the inner spirit's total commitment. This is what the Monk is taking one step further, dedicating his life to the inner knowledge and the nurturing of the pure Spirit. Not just the Universal Spirit, but the one everyone has, whether they acknowledge it or not. He has the awareness and understanding that so many of us are ignorant to: he knows that if you don't nourish the inner Spirit first and strive for a higher understanding within you first, then what hope do we have trying to raise the awareness of the world to the Universal Spirit.

What is it that's stopping us from doing the same? The distractions of our daily lives to start with. What do you most look forward to when you have some free time for yourself? A lot of people, and I am guilty of that myself, just want to tune out, when you don't have to think of anything, do anything, just be. It sounds wonderful doesn't it? Playing solitaire on your computer, watch some mind-numbing TV reality show on Foxtel.

Is that it? I ask you then, what does that do to nourish your own Spirit? These area only simple examples but I see very little value in those things all of a sudden. I see them as distractions that tune out your brain, so you don't have to be anything else but a drone.

Is that what our Spirit really needs? Is that what you really want to be? A drone, who does not question their reality but accepts it as it is shrink wrapped and "tailored" to your needs by the people who decide what we need to wearing, eating, watching, doing?

I look at the Monk and see someone who creates his own reality. Not with the worldly objects he surrounds himself with, not with the constant need to be in contact with his outside world via email, mobile phone, Facebook, TV and those things. He does that by eliminating those very things that distract him from dealing with the only reality that exists, everything else is intangible, destroyable, subjective. He is nurturing the single thing, that due to its eternal nature, truly is Real. He is nurturing his inner Spirit.

Photo by Stephanie Zagalak