5 Years As a Monk | What I've learned

[Music] good evening everyone all the way from Thailand the past week for us has been very busy because we just finished a ceremony where the lay Community offered the robes to the Buddhist monks and then also we after that event in the evening time we did a candlelight release and we had people coming from around the world this two events for us is quite important because it signifies the end of the rain's Retreat and the lay Community get to participate in this kind of event just once every year if you've been following on this channel then you know at the end of every rain's retreat in the theravada tradition this is how we get our age so for those who have been on this journey with me as of this rains Retreat for me I'm a fish actually five years old it's been quite the journey and I am honored I'm didn't think that we would get to this point but time just flew by but in this video for me I just wanted to take some time to reflect as usual and summarize some of the things that I learned so hopefully you can use some of this wisdom to apply to your own life but in no particular order let's take a look at some of the tips that I learned from year number five surround yourself with simple people we're taught that birds of a feather flock together who are your top five friends who are the top five people that you surround yourself with this is important because it shapes who you are it shapes your habits and it shapes your qualities so in the outside world many people tend to gravitate to those who are successful who are rich who are good looking who has the status and the fame and that's understandable but many times when we surround ourselves with people who value those kind of things what does it come with and in the capitalist world then it comes with competition at times then when people are successful and very intelligent it comes with ego they think they're special they have many requests they make up their own rules and again this is uh can be a generalization but for me this can also be common and living in the monastery for some time what I find is that is so helpful is to surround yourself with simple easy people and when you take a look at a place where I stay at the barbell Meditation Retreat we live in a local village where the villagers are not wealthy but yet they're so kind every single day they come out they offer food the best food that they have they don't have much but of what they have they give it with pure intention to support the monks the qualities of these people they're just so kind and you can see it in their eyes where they're just gentle they're honest they don't have hidden agendas they don't try to cheat you and also they just have joy and an innocence and the outside world may look at these people and may judge them that they're not as smart they're not as wealthy they seem poor but this is one way to perceive them but having lived in this environment for some time I can genuinely say that being around people who are simple and humble it's quite easy it's easy to have a conversation with them because they speak directly it's easy to have a conversation with them because they make you feel so welcome and they open everything to you they have faith they have good hearts and again just pure intentions one example I wanted to point out is p Gump p-gump is one of the local villagers Who come out every single morning never misses rain or shine he comes out to offer foods to the monk he receives the blessing he does is good for the day and then after that then he also helps to work and support here at the retreat center and in the village and he does construction he has a small team and he goes and does his work he he builds the Huts for the monk he helps with the roads and anything that we need but being around him never heard him complain in the past five years never heard him talking negatively about anyone always has so much energy a smile on his face and always willing to help but that is the type of people that we're around another is a family that works here you you've probably seen them in the other videos but it's a family of four they used to have a successful restaurant but for them they gave it up and they wanted to help to support the temple they do various job but mainly helping to support the kitchen they teach the locals the international Retreat participants who come from around the world how to prepare meals and when I asked them of what keeps you going why are you doing this and it was so sweet because without any question for them they said it was their honor to be able to support the monks who are on their spiritual path to be able to make food breakfast and lunch for all the international Retreat participants who come here who is starting their inner journey and practicing meditation they said that being a part of this good deed to support someone's spiritual path is and honor and one of the most privileged things that they can do and the common qualities that they have is the same honest they're so simple they're so kind pure in their intentions and they just want to support the community another last one that I want to point out are these two young boys who help with the construction as well and for them the past month or so they've been working on Paving the roads and this is a hard job pouring the concrete mixing the concrete again rain or shine but they're working long hours and because we're getting ready for the ceremony everyone is chipping in and to help prepare for the robe offering ceremony and kitchen team had to run into the city because they didn't have enough food or they didn't have enough ingredients and these boys came into the kitchen they saw that the family had to leave they were working very hard and they were done with their time here and it was time for them to go home but they looked around and they saw for the first time that there were dishes that were not washed pots and pans and it was everywhere because again the family this is not common but the family just had a lot to do at that moment and they had to run into the city but instead of just leaving the kitchen these boys took it upon themselves and they wash all the dishes they took over an hour and they did it with so much hearts and so much kindness when we came back we asked them of how how come you did this and for them they said oh it just wouldn't be right we see how much the family has been working how much work they have on their plate and for us any way that we can help to support them it's our honor and when this kind of action happens it's just brings so much good will within the community but for me being around simple kind good-hearted people with pure intention it's just very touching and I find that yeah they may not have the education the wealth that some people may have in the outside world but being around these kind of people it's a privilege because it teaches me to be a kind person to be a good person and to be fully relaxed when I'm around them so while we get many opportunities to teach the villagers and the locals what we find is that the true gift is that they teach us as well but if possible you can still surround yourself with successful people that's not an issue but also if possible then try to surround yourself with those who are just pure those who are kind and also those who are simple look at everything from the lens of training yourself a big mistake that people have is when they think of the monastery they think that it's just pure Bliss we don't experience any suffering we're just on a cloud everything is quiet peaceful soft and we're just floating simply is not the case we have many lay people who are coming here all the time then with that the schedule can shift then sometimes we have to teach sometimes we have to go to different ceremonies out in the city because people may pass away maybe we need to go bless home because someone just brought a new home or someone's getting married or there's a death in the family but our schedule can be all over the place at times but one of the things that the monastery has really taught me is whatever that is happening in that moment it can look negative it doesn't matter but any situation if possible learn how to teach yourself see in this moment what opportunities is available for me to teach me in this experience okay I had plans to just fully meditate and now a group of people came to ordain so now I have to take care of them a group of people this past week we had 80 people from around the world international Retreat participants coming to meditate then we can easily look at that then we can easily be negative and complain but then if possible use this opportunity to see okay now what can I get from this opportunity okay now because there are so many people here then I get to spend time with people who are on the spiritual path okay I get to talk to lay people who are learning meditation for the first time I get to teach them wisdom of how to find peace how to find Stillness and happiness how to fix some of their life's problems and develop qualities and characteristics within themselves so for us in the monastery just like you in the outside world we do have issues that we face every day but the difference is we try to use that as an opportunity to train oneself so hopefully you can take this wisdom and apply it to your situation in the outside world give unconditionally this past year we had the privilege of traveling back to the United States we first went to the Georgia Meditation Center then we went to a meditation center in Azusa California because that's where I'm from but having the opportunity to go to these places for us what was so beautiful was because we got to support the different centers we also then brought a lot of books because we were able to publish three books we have one regarding the eight precepts we have one regarding meditation just a beginner's guide and then a third one of how to journal your meditation so you can improve it but it was so beautiful because we had some laypeople who started off with offering to print these books for us it was so kind and they printed thousands of these books with these books then for us we got to ship it to the United States and when we went to these centers for us we just gave it out for free and they the people would come to meditate with us they would come here the wisdom talk and then at the end for us we gave out these copies and having these resources available and we didn't need anything back from anyone but to share the wisdom for us was just a privilege and it was an honor and to see the look the twinkle in people's eyes the Gratitude in people's eyes was just very touching and having gone to the different locations and offering these books to the local it was just a beautiful experience and what I find is that yes we did give these books but even more importantly it filled our own Hearts as well and I think in the outside world we're so used to just giving to get something in return or we give and we pretend like we don't want anything in return but we have this hidden agenda and I just found through having given out so many of these books thousands of these books worldwide is that it just fills us up spiritually and we're just full and it makes our mind more light and it makes our mind more bright so if possible then for your situation try to see that when you are giving to others the best possible outcome or the best possible condition would be if you can give unconditionally without any strings attached and when you do that you're fine or hopefully you'll find that the energy that comes back to you it will be well worth it have good friends I think I've been saying this as a lesson or as a tip every single year for the past five years and I think it's important that I say it again because it's that important we know that on the spiritual path it is filled with obstacles and challenges it's going to test your motivation it's going to test your intention it's gonna try to get you off this path you might get lazy you might use logic and justification to fall off this journey but if you are serious about developing yourself spiritually if you are serious on improving yourself and your quality of life you need a friend and these friends can be people these friends can be books these friends can come in various forms but like I've always said on this spiritual path good friends is a hundred percent of the process so if you can make sure you have good friends because it can keep you safe and also you'll have a better chance of making it meditate daily so in the monastery for us in the first few years is we just focus mainly on meditation or still we focus on meditation but the more that you stay in the monastery then you start to have responsibilities you start to take care of other monks you start to take care of the lay people who come to want to learn from us in our situation or in our case was that we went back to America to help the different centers to teach over there and as you engage in the outside world then what happens and what happens for those who are working is then you start to get more Sensations your five senses are even more activated you hear more noise you start to think more you start to uh experience the outside world and again your mind that was so still and so peaceful it can get clouded it can start to taint and the more that you work then you can even get a better reputation than what happens okay then you start to have titles then you start to feel special then ego can begin to form so the more that we're doing outside work I'm not saying that it is bad to do outside work that's not the issue but the issue is if you are engaged in the outside world the chances are that your mind will get more clouded and it will get more tainted so with that then we need a strong foundation and the foundation is you need to clean your mind every single day the same way that you shower your physical body because by doing nothing the nature of the body is that it gets dirty and we've been trained every single day stressful day lazy day doing nothing day you still shower because we understand that the body automatically gets dirty and the same thing with the mind the mind will continue to get dirty so to protect yourself to protect your peace of mind to protect your brightness and your innocence and to keep yourself in check then you need a daily meditation practice shower the mind every single day this is quite important and if you do not have that currently I hope you can start to develop that today and if you do have one then please keep it up but shower your mind every single day and the very last thing that I learned and I wanted to share with you all is that after five years of being in the monastery of wearing these robes doing the practice on a daily basis I came to the conclusion that I love being a monk this lifestyle for me just fits perfectly and I'm just so grateful for this experience this being a monk for me gives me the opportunity to fully train myself I don't have to worry about the outside world of making a living of supporting a family taking care of relationships but for me is no my job and my duty is to purify my mind be a good kind person develop wisdom and keep getting to know yourself better know your habits that are not good and then start to fix that undo those things that are no longer healthy for you and my full-time job is to find inner peace to to be happy to be a good person and then the second part of that is then go help others go share the wisdom that you've learned how did you fix yourself and give that tool give that know-how and teach other people and then by sharing this wisdom with others for me it is the best thing in the world and I just know that when I rest my head on my bed is I just feel good and by cultivating all this goodness on a daily basis because in Buddhism we know that doing good keeping our morality and practicing meditation you cultivate what is known as merits this good deeds good energy and then for me I get to uh cultivate that then by cultivating that I get to share with my parents with my family with people who passed away but yeah I I don't know how else to describe this experience but I just know that it fits me does it fit other people I don't know and I can't answer that for you but for my own situation I just feel that this is the best use of my life in this lifetime so with all the good deeds that I've been doing for the past five years I just wanted to share all of this merit with all of you and also to say thank you for all those who have been following on this journey who have been witness to this journey I'm just very grateful I don't have the words to articulate the Gratitude but yeah it's it's there and hopefully I can continue my monkhood for as long as I can but as always I just wanted to say thank you to everyone and to send you my blessings and I hope you all are well so please use utilize this wisdom for your own life and I hope this is helpful Sato thank you [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Nick Keomahavong

Views: 93,703

Keywords: a day in the life of a monk, monk, monks, buddhist monk, life of a monk, monk life, the life of a monk, the monk life, buddhist monk life, buddhist wisdom, the daily life of a buddhist monk, buddhist monk wisdom, buddhism and mental health, life of a buddhist monk, buddhist monk thailand, 5 years as a monk, lessons of a monk, life lessons of a monk, life lessons of a buddhist monk, buddhist monk life lessons, what i've learned as a monk, mental health with monk, monkhood

Id: rNq6nM56i8c

Length: 25min 51sec (1551 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 14 2022