October - Nuns

Live in a Buddhist Nunnery Every Day

I lived in a Buddhist nunnery every day in October.

There are thousands of Buddhist monks in Thailand walking around every day.

But there are only about 200 nuns.

Through Workaway I was able to volunteer at The Vijja Vipasannaram Foundation for one month.

At 3pm on weekdays, all the volunteers ( Hungarian girl, old German man, 2 French girls, Chilean girl,
young German boy, me) would assemble to ask the head nun any question at all about Buddhism.

She is from Thailand, and lived for decades in Germany working as an architect.

She has perfect English.

After moving back to Bangkok and being in a leadership role at a big company, her growing dedication
to the path of Buddhism led her to be ordained as a nun. 

She told us the Buddhist creation story  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agga%C3%B1%C3%B1a_Sutta 

Read (The Beginning of Life on Earth)

The 4 noble truths  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths

The 8-fold path  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path 

The 5 hindrances  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_hindrances

And she was always relaxed, open, and unthreatened by our questions. She was humble and
confident, and almost everything (except for the creation story) made wonderful, logical sense.

My dad asked me on a Whatsapp call, “So are you going to become a Buddhist?” 

I thought about it and said, “I don’t think so, I’m actually farther away from being Buddhist than when
I came…..” 

I’ve been in Thailand 3 months, and I keep asking Thai people (taxi drivers, new friends at bar,
people in hostels) if they are Buddhist.

Most of them say yes.

But few of them do meditation or follow the 8-fold path.

So far, it seems that the mass of Thai people are about as Buddhist as the mass of American
people are Christian.

But what does it mean to be a “real” Christian?

What does it mean to be a “real” Buddhist?

Are only pastors, small group leaders, and missionaries given the “real Christian award”?

Are only monks and nuns doing Buddhism for real?

In Buddhism, the monks and nuns believe that the people will eventually, in next lives,
work their way towards being a monk/nun, then become enlightened. It just takes time.
Multiple lives. And if they aren’t up for it right now, no worries they’ve got time.

In Christianity there is Hell.

Everyone has 1 chance to make the half-court shot, and if they miss it, they’re stuck in hell forever. 

In Christianity it's salvation through belief

(that Jesus rose from the dead and is ruling the universe.)

In Buddhism it's salvation through meditation.

(meditate alot and you will eventually reach nirvana)

Salvation.

We need to be saved.

We are not okay.
We all agree that no one is perfect.

But we disagree on the formula, the cure for imperfection.

Christianity, Buddhism, exercise, food, porn, Netflix, buttered popcorn, ice cream, yoga, basketball, knitting, yard work, cleaning your room, walking your dog, going fishing, martial arts, biking, swimming. 

Really any of these will work.   

Some are better than others.

Choose wisely!

Everydaycountslikecrazy