I stood in the lounge, staring at the aquarium.
There lay a fish, asleep, lying on some rocks.
I wondered for a while, whether this aquarium was big enough for these fishes – do they get bored?
As a kid you’re confined to the house mostly. As a domestic pet you might have an even smaller surface area you’re allowed to roam in. Having seen one puppy have a small fencing to itself made me quite sad really, thinking animals should roam free and be allowed the joy of travel as and when they want to!
So kids, if you’re reading your dad’s blog archives, this is why I don’t want pets in the house.
Sure, kids love dogs, but dogs need dog friends too! They got urges, and you’d be glad they don’t put their urges on you.
Hmmm that was a different tangent than what I originally intended. Anyway! Imagine being a fish – you could swim about and sleep wherever you want, whenever you want. Because you have no belongings! There is nothing to take care of. You don’t have to put your stash at home. You have no stash.
Maybe if you were a baby octopus you’d have a coconut shell as a house, but that is temporary.
The only thing you’d need to worry about, is that you are not eaten when you are asleep. I take it that different fishes don’t eat each other despite cohabiting, because fish food just tastes better. It has to, for the survival of the smaller fish!
So is that what being a monk is all about? Having no belongings? All you have is the robe. You have all the time in the world to think about how to solve the world’s problems. Nobody nags you, you don’t have to report to anybody, you don’t have to go to school… you have full control over your mental resources.
Thus, a child born into a monastery has less mental worth than a regular member of society who knows the problems of society and then becomes a monk and gets to thinking how to solve problems full-time. All the kid is good for, is probably martial arts and being a vegetarian chef. What good does that kid do for society when he comes to town and steals our women, charming them with their ponytails and vegetarian ways?
Quote:
"Sure, kids love dogs, but dogs need dog friends too! They got urges, and you’d be glad they don’t put their urges on you."
Unquote.
That sounds so wrong… in a funny way!
Well on becoming a monk, it’s not just having no belongings. It’s supposed to be that you achieve enlightenment and you can shrug off all your earthly wants, be it belongings or titles or power or lust. You’re supposed to devote your life to teaching others about what your religion is about and to help others solve their problems and find inner peace.
Not many can say that they have achieved this status. Not even many of those who are full time monks!
Here’s an interesting story about a couple of monks that perhaps shed a bit of light on being a monk:
*** Start of story ***
There was once 2 monks making their way to a faraway town. One was a young monk while the other is an older monk.
They came to a river where there’s no bridge in sight nor was there anyone operating a boat service.
However, the river was not very deep and they could easily wade across. Also on the riverbank was a young and pretty woman. She was also looking to cross the river. When she saw the monks, she requested help from them and asked if one of them would carry her across the river.
The young monk was taken aback by this request but the older monk agreed to carry the woman across on his back.
And so the trio crossed the river and once on the other side, the older monk set the woman down and they parted ways.
The young monk was troubled by his senior’s action and kept thinking whether his senior had done the right thing.
Some hours passed as they journeyed until the young monk could not stay silent anymore.
"Senior
I blame society
shootkk: Ah, I’ve read this one before in comic form. Do pardon my escape from political correctness to keep within the humor-laced flow of this blog entry!
Lex: I blame the human condition.