Monk Andreas is a 21-year-old from Trondheim Norway who plays the church organ and is in his 3rd year of a 4-year music program. Monk Andreas came to the Monk Life program through the recommendation of his best friend and fellow brother Monk Christian who is currently ordained with him for the second time.
On how he met Christian, “I finished high school then went to a Folk school where you can specialize in different activities. Mine was skiing and extreme sports. I first met Christian. I saw the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle on his table. My first thought was what if he’s into everything about meditation all that stuff like I am? My second thought was no no, no way, there’s no way at all. We started talking and that’s exactly what it was. He was totally into meditation and all that stuff. I started meditating in 2019. I thought I wanted to go to a Buddhist monastery for a retreat and then to practice meditation. All through covid we talked everyday hours and hours until late at night.”
He speaks of his intentions to ordain. “I had already been thinking about going to a monastery. We kind of made an unofficial promise that we’d go to a monastery together. Took like 3 years. I had my exams in May so he went first. Now in September, we decided to go together.” He speaks of how they had the intention of going to school together and inspired each other along the path. “This is something we gotta do. It’s a dream that we talked about for 3 years.”
Regarding his religion, “I’m technically Christian. We meditated a lot together at that school. Used the app headspace. Possible to get a streak if you use it daily and it racks up how many days you’ve been using it in a row. Used it since 2019. Streak of 1,030 something days. I ended that streak right before I came.” Monk Andreas had been studying eastern wisdom and Buddhism for some time before coming to the Monk Life Program.
Regarding his meditation and expectations on himself, he states, “my expectations went a bit dormant a few months before I came. It’s been absolutely turbulent. Not in a positive or negative way, but in a way that is very conducive to letting go. I knew there were parts of the mind that I would face when I connected to coming here.”
He speaks with great appreciation towards all teaching monks and especially his mentor, Luang Pi River, who gives him extra private sessions to enhance his meditation skills. “There’s one monk that really helps me. Luang Pi River. He helps me a lot. I’ve been having some private meditations with him. He’s exactly the monk to help me with the parts of the mind that are the most challenging to let go. He has, and is, and will help me a lot more on walking the most conducive path of letting go. The chance of just meeting LP River is completely astronomical. He’s the perfect person to help me. I found the very most efficient path to go within.
He speaks of how to deal with the ups and downs of training the mind. “The meditations have also been turbulent. But a plane can’t just turn around if it’s turbulent. At the same time, it still covers distance. It’s necessary for a way that it’s part of letting go.”
He describes how he has learned to deal with his emotions more peacefully. “Emotions are buoyant. If you put them in water, there are two ways for emotions to go. They are either expressed or suppressed. Push them down underwater. One minute you can do it. Five minutes getting challenging. Ten hours that’s really challenging. Emotions have a buoyancy. Suppression is your arm getting tired. It’s about letting emotions come so you can finally rest your arm.”
He advises to “take it totally Sabai. Like even more than you think. You just gotta let go of a lot of the restraints. If you’re forcing something, it’s not helping no matter what it is. It’s much better to let whatever comes in whatever amount and whatever way to go. The first thing I learned was to not control the meditation. You have the blueprints, but construction has to go at its own pace. You can’t force that.”
He speaks of acceptance and expectations in the practice. “Another thing I’ve accepted more is that you’re in control of the pace of letting go. If you don’t feel ready to let go that’s completely ok. You’re completely in control of the rate or the pace. One of the first things I told myself after a few days was if hypothetically the entire month went by and everything was entirely or completely the same I would be completely ok with that. Not to set any expectations or pressure to let go. You’re in control of your speedometer. Some people scare you when they fly by. It’s kind of scary. I’m learning to feel completely safe with the entire process.”
When asked if he has any advice for those thinking about ordaining but are hesitant about it for whatever reason he states, “scientifically all the evidence is pretty obvious. Dalai Lama said something to a researcher or scientist. He said help us bring forth the message or contents of meditation to the West through scientific terms. Explore everything you can find on the internet, friends, and teachers. There’s a lot of very special wisdom to learn. Explore everything. Realizing you want to go to a monastery. That doesn’t come first. You learn about meditation first then you come to a monastery. Just start somewhere.”