Hi Robert,
robertk wrote:Some Tibetan monks are good at soccer. When i was at the temple in Lumbini (where the Buddha was born, one of the four most holy places) directly accross from the temple, a professional looking team , all in robes and with their coach also robed , were playing. I don't know if it concurs with Tibetan Vinaya but they were very earnest.
Years ago I met an Italian Theravadin monk called Mahinda or Milinda or something like that, who told me about his stay at a certain Tibetan monastery in Italy. While he was there one of the resident monks informed him one day that they would be holding the Vajra Cup later that week and asked him if he'd be interested in taking part.
"Sure," replied Mahinda, thinking that the Vajra Cup must be the name of some Tibetan ritual.
"Great, our team's one player short. Which position would you prefer?"
The Vajra Cup, it turned out, was an annual soccer match between the Tibetan-ordained monks in Italy and those in Germany. Mahinda then explained that it was out of the question — in the Pali Vinaya, balls and other playthings aren't even to be touched by a bhikkhu, let alone played with. His hosts were okay about this, but later one of them approached Mahinda and said: "We understand that your vows prohibit playing football, but would you mind being the referee?"
Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu