What is holding you back from ordaining?
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
Not sure if I can handle the boredom. I enjoy visiting monasteries, but after a few hours there, I start thinking. "OK, its time to go".
- jcsuperstar
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Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
really? when i'm at temple i never want to leave...
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
This is an old website of mine which I have neglected for too long. I've repaired the broken links. Feel free to inform me of other good links I should add to the collection.Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:Check out this web site: Going Forth
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
Maybe I need to stay long enough to break through the restlessness.jcsuperstar wrote:really? when i'm at temple i never want to leave...
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
good for you all, but here i'm in trouble with my instincts, and always thinking that there is a lot of time when you ordained how long you can read scriptures, how many hours in the day you can study dhamma and meditate, and as monk what you will do the rest of the time, but first i have to deal with my sexual desire and food ( during retreat that damn McDonald sign become vivid! after some time i have to turn that into my nimitta ).
- Cittasanto
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Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
Hi Effort,
is that really your nimita?
or were you just standing there salivating?
is that really your nimita?
or were you just standing there salivating?
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
Dhamma practice 18/7/365effort wrote:and as monk what you will do the rest of the time
metta
Jack
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta
Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta
Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
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Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
I can empathise with that.ando wrote:Sometimes when I think about ordaining or even a life of solitude, I think about this:
Am I running towards something?
Or am I running away from something?
I think, that untill I attain my goal of total world domination, that if I ordained I would never be sure if the 'real' world had not just been a bit too big for me and that I had maybe chickened out.
Big nods to all those who put their obligations, particularly to their children, ahead of fulfilling their own personal dream btw ..
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
lol. I know, right? I had debated just making a general post about it in the lounge but it even felt wierd to announce it as if I was saying "Welp. Guess I'll be sticking around samsara a little while since I'm getting married soon." But I actually believe I'll make a better husband than monk. Having contemplated a celibate life before getting into a relationship, I can't even bare the thought of being anything less than completely loyal, faithful, and respectful of my partner. Marriage may be samsara but it doesn't have to be hell.retrofuturist wrote:Greetings,
Congratulations! (I think? - it feels like a funny sub-forum in which to say that...)meindzai wrote:Pretty much sealed that last week too since I got engaged.
-M
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
I actually empathize with you pilgrim, though or me it's a "grass is greener" scenario. When I'm at the monastery for awhile I start to miss home, and when I go home I start to wish I was at a monastery. Guess I am like the foolish, inexperienced mountain cow.pilgrim wrote:Maybe I need to stay long enough to break through the restlessness.jcsuperstar wrote:really? when i'm at temple i never want to leave...
-M
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
I'm incapable of breaking up with my girlfriend.What is holding you back from ordaining?
Sometimes it makes me sad, when I lose restraint, I'm really loving her but I know that it won't last.
I'm kind of caught between two stools.
best wishes, acinteyyo
Thag 1.20. Ajita - I do not fear death; nor do I long for life. I’ll lay down this body, aware and mindful.
- jcsuperstar
- Posts: 1915
- Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:15 am
- Location: alaska
- Contact:
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
kinda what i did.. btw congrats!meindzai wrote:lol. I know, right? I had debated just making a general post about it in the lounge but it even felt wierd to announce it as if I was saying "Welp. Guess I'll be sticking around samsara a little while since I'm getting married soon." But I actually believe I'll make a better husband than monk. Having contemplated a celibate life before getting into a relationship, I can't even bare the thought of being anything less than completely loyal, faithful, and respectful of my partner. Marriage may be samsara but it doesn't have to be hell.retrofuturist wrote:Greetings,
Congratulations! (I think? - it feels like a funny sub-forum in which to say that...)meindzai wrote:Pretty much sealed that last week too since I got engaged.
-M
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
LOL...reminds me of the Ajahn Chah story where the young monk kept pining for his ex-girlfriend. So Ajahn advised him to keep a little momento of her to pull out whenever he felt that way, a bottle of her faeces! ... .Caught between two stools..LOLacinteyyo wrote: I'm incapable of breaking up with my girlfriend.
Sometimes it makes me sad, when I lose restraint, I'm really loving her but I know that it won't last.
I'm kind of caught between two stools.
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
lol... but unfortunately that wouldn't help, her faeces can't upset me that much. breaking up with my girlfriend means to break up with the whole life we built up together. I feel that it's my duty or that I've got some kind of commitment... rather that I'm responsible for her, since we built up our lives with each other based on our relationship. I dunno... think it's quite selfish. But I know that the responsibility I feel is also an excuse for myself. However sooner or later I'm going to leave the householders life, it's not a question about whether or not, but when.pilgrim wrote:LOL...reminds me of the Ajahn Chah story where the young monk kept pining for his ex-girlfriend. So Ajahn advised him to keep a little momento of her to pull out whenever he felt that way, a bottle of her faeces! ... .Caught between two stools..LOLacinteyyo wrote: I'm incapable of breaking up with my girlfriend.
Sometimes it makes me sad, when I lose restraint, I'm really loving her but I know that it won't last.
I'm kind of caught between two stools.
best wishes, acinteyyo
Thag 1.20. Ajita - I do not fear death; nor do I long for life. I’ll lay down this body, aware and mindful.
Re: What is holding you back from ordaining?
What is holding me back is household obligations (I am the breadwinner here, too), but also my opinion that at the stage of the path I am on, I would just swap "layperson"-dukkha with "monastic"-dukkha.
I feel fortunate that - other than my obligations to earn our roof over the head and food on the table - I have all freedom in the world to practice.
So it is up to make the most of it (which I am not fully utilize yet) wherever I am.
And I am just not convinced that the monastic way is the only path to renunciation (I would be wondering of how much of monastic life is actually avoidance?)
I feel fortunate that - other than my obligations to earn our roof over the head and food on the table - I have all freedom in the world to practice.
So it is up to make the most of it (which I am not fully utilize yet) wherever I am.
And I am just not convinced that the monastic way is the only path to renunciation (I would be wondering of how much of monastic life is actually avoidance?)