It’s always darkest before dawn. Those who are drawn to the light are most often those who see the darkness. One who sees Suffering, sees the Dhamma. Those who go forth as Buddhist Monks are not generally pure before they do so, rather they have realised the harsh reality of suffering and are seeking an end to it.
That aspiration itself is the seed of purity, the Morning Star in a dark night. Our careers and family lives often bring great stresses, losses and challenges that pound away at our well being until we develop issues with anger and frustration, depression and anxiety, leading into helplessness and ignorance as to how to deal with our own mind as well as our life.
Such a recognition is what drove former marine and Iraq Vet Chris Burananont to ordain in the Monk Life Project. He recounts, “For the past 18 years I’ve been on a rocky, turbulent path of self-destruction, sabotage, chaos, and longing. Desiring so much in my heart to make the pain stop I have not left any stone unturned in my zealous desire to heal my wounds.”
The Buddha described himself as a physician, as a surgeon, teaching the cessation of suffering. The Monk Life is a path of purification, a path of healing, a path of liberation from suffering.
One may liken ordaining to going to hospital to have an operation, as to do so at home would be unhygienic and ill equipped or suited for such an operation. The Buddha said ‘Household life is confining, a dusty path. The life gone forth is like the open air. It is not easy living at home to practice the holy life totally perfect, totally pure, like a polished shell. What if I were to shave off my hair and beard, put on the ochre robes, and go forth from the household life into homelessness?’ (DN 2, Samaññaphala Sutta)
By doing so one secludes oneself from most of the external causes of suffering in our life, so we can focus more fully on healing the internal causes of it. This takes both wisdom to see the need and the courage to do what it takes. But one does not walk the path alone.
“I took the journey of being a monk to relearn everything that we were taught and everything that we experienced negatively and instead did it with positive intention with kindness, compassion, and love,” said Chris.
The Journey is the Destination in many ways, one of Joy and Kindness, as a harmonious community or Sangha, skillfully and gently guided by experienced Buddhist monks. At the iMonastery it is usual to “see mendicants always smiling and joyful, obviously happy, with cheerful faces, living relaxed, unruffled, surviving on charity, their hearts free as a wild deer” (MN 89, Dhamma Cetiya Sutta) And this is simply because the Dhamma is good, even at the beginning.
The holistic treatment of the monastic precepts, comfortable and suitable location, food and weather, the meditation and mindfulness, the practical and inspiring Dhamma, rapidly sheds our burdens and stresses just as the shaved head hair falls to the ground. The purer and wiser participant if they return to the worldly life, does so vaccinated against its perils, more equipped and skilled to deal wisely with its challenges and a new appreciation of the all importance of keeping a pure soul.
