How do you spend your time? What kind of work do you do?

[Chi]

What kind of work do you do?

Medical writer (pharmaceutical sales training)

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Caring for my elderly mother and disabled brother; hiking; walking; meditation/Dhamma study; connecting with my family; biking; spending time with the cats; Tai Chi/Qigong; canoeing; observing nature; written correspondence/paper crafts; meal planning and cooking

Do you have friends who aren't into meditation/Buddhism?

Yes, without any obstacles; however, I'm mostly solitary at this time

What kinds of things do you talk about and do?

Whatever is appropriate to the situation, while striving to maintain the precepts.

If you're in a partnership, is your partner into your lifestyle? If no, how do you deal with it?

My partner, while not Buddhist, is wholly supportive.

Thanks for sharing Sea Turtle!

Oh, man. Do you ever have moral dilemmas about working in the pharmaceutical industry?

How is it like to care for your family members?

[Chi]

I work in the rail industry, not a rewarding career but pays bills for now. In my free time, I meditate, read Buddhist books, mountain and road cycling, hiking and enjoy knife collecting. I don't really have any close friends but most people I know are not into Buddhism. I am a lone wolf in that regard. My wife is very supportive of my practice, she is not a practionner though.

Thanks for sharing jrl!

[Chi]

What kind of work do you do?:

Provide physical, emotional and behavioural care for sick elderly people and people with disabilities according to my employer. Practise Brahma-vihara, explore The 4 Noble truths and associate with Theravada Buddhist co-workers according to me.

How do you spend your time outside of work?:

Meditation, study, talking with my partner, other friends in SE Asia and the handful of Thai kids I have "adopted"/support.
Spend some time with my kids/ grandkids and supporting people recovering from addictions.
Go to one of a number of Theravada monasteries for meditation and classes.
Do Physio while listening to Dhamma talks
Sleep and do ADLs

Do you have friends who aren't into meditation/Buddhism?:

Closest non-Buddhist friend is a JW that I have got into mindfulness and meditation. I have a number of Hindu, Muslim and Christian friends.

What kinds of things do you talk about and do?:

Conversation is limited because I do not watch TV and rarely listen to music (they both intrude into the mind). Most of my conversations that do not directly relate to the Dhamma are with co-worker, clients and their families so tend to focus on sickness, dying, death, grief and letting go.

If you're in a partnership, is your partner into your lifestyle?:

She is a Buddhist but get nervous when I go to the temples and hairdressers.

If no, how do you deal with it?:

It is not my problem so I do not take ownership of it. I refer her to the Teachings, monks and her grandmother.

metta
dagon

Thanks for sharing dagon!

I love your perspective on your work. You live in Thailand? What's your country of origin? What are ADLs?

Why does your partner get nervous?

[dagon]

What kind of work do you do?:

Provide physical, emotional and behavioural care for sick elderly people and people with disabilities according to my employer. Practise Brahma-vihara, explore The 4 Noble truths and associate with Theravada Buddhist co-workers according to me.

How do you spend your time outside of work?:

Meditation, study, talking with my partner, other friends in SE Asia and the handful of Thai kids I have "adopted"/support.
Spend some time with my kids/ grandkids and supporting people recovering from addictions.
Go to one of a number of Theravada monasteries for meditation and classes.
Do Physio while listening to Dhamma talks
Sleep and do ADLs

Do you have friends who aren't into meditation/Buddhism?:

Closest non-Buddhist friend is a JW that I have got into mindfulness and meditation. I have a number of Hindu, Muslim and Christian friends.

What kinds of things do you talk about and do?:

Conversation is limited because I do not watch TV and rarely listen to music (they both intrude into the mind). Most of my conversations that do not directly relate to the Dhamma are with co-worker, clients and their families so tend to focus on sickness, dying, death, grief and letting go.

If you're in a partnership, is your partner into your lifestyle?:

She is a Buddhist but get nervous when I go to the temples and hairdressers.

If no, how do you deal with it?:

It is not my problem so I do not take ownership of it. I refer her to the Teachings, monks and her grandmother.

metta
dagon

Thanks for sharing dagon!

I love your perspective on your work. You live in Thailand? What's your country of origin? What are ADLs?

Why does your partner get nervous?

Work in Australia - stuck here at the moment due to treatments for an injury
House here, house in Thailand - home is where my back pack is.
Born and early years in Burma
ADL's - sorry, Activities of daily living
Partner is used to Asian lay practise with focus on merit and Brahma-vihara in daily life. She has spent a lot of time watching me study and in meditation which she thinks is Monks way. ....

metta
dagon

[Ben]

With the last question, I meant how do you deal with it mentally, emotionally? I've never been in a serious adult relationship so I have never experience having a partner that does not think similarly in terms of meditation/Buddhism.

I think its a mistake to think that a marriage or relationship with another Buddhist is the gold standard - its not.
I've seen a few marriages between Buddhist converts crash and burn spectacularly, so, I dont think its important to have a partner who is a practitioner.

My wife is my best friend, and I couldnt wish for anyone (including another Buddhist convert) to be more supportive. So, there is nothing to deal with. One thing I find, perhaps it is just my relationship with my wife, but being married to a non practitioner means that I think it keeps me a little more grounded. There are some frustrations but you will find that in any relationship whether it be between two practitioners or not.
all the best,


Ben

[kendali]

Have you ever been interested in the mystical aspects of Judaism?

Yes. There is kabbalah, which many have at least heard of, but true teachers are hard to find. Most authentic teachers are found within Hassidic communities which are notoriously fundamentalist and closed off to non-Orthdox Jews. (I was never Orthodox in practice.) There is "pop-kabbalah." You may find books about Jewish meditation in the bookstore, for example, but a careful reading of those texts reveal more Buddhist and New Age practice than anything traditionally Jewish.

Most importantly, though, mystical Judaism predicates itself on strict monotheism. I am not a monotheist -or theist of any sort- so that rules me out.

Thanks for asking.

[DNS]

Thanks for sharing here and at the other DW David!
What are the best and worst aspects of being a landlord? How did you get started in investing in homes? I've thought about it as well, because I can deal with all types of people quite easily if I put my mind to it, but Real Estate seems like it brings out all this money-motivatedness in me....

When I met my wife she was already a college graduate, U.S. citizen, and landlord. She came to the U.S. with $50 and worked some jobs, saved her money and bought some smaller apartment buildings. I was working for the Federal prison system and on my way to possibly being a warden when I met her. I had taken some stats classes in uni and crunched the numbers and decided to invest with her from my saved money, stocks and retirement funds. We bought additional buildings and eventually traded up to larger buildings, leading me to go full time in the real estate business, leaving government service. Currently we own an apartment complex and some condos in Las Vegas and San Diego. My wife is amazing and incredibly strong and independent woman, coming to the U.S. with almost nothing. Due to that, she handles much of the difficult issues with human resources and customer complaints and I focus on other duties and this allows more time for me on my websites and other Dhamma activities.

As with any business there are positive and negative aspects. There are difficult customers, challenging customers, angry ones, etc. And then there are plenty of other cases of happy customers, for example an African-American gentleman who came to our place with a criminal record, completed his sentence and was denied everywhere for an apartment. He had a full time job, wife and baby. We accepted him and he turned out to be a great resident. One day he thanked us and gave us a hug for taking a chance on him. There are plenty of nice moments like that.

[Sea Turtle]

Hi Chi,

Thank you for your questions. Your inquisitiveness is a delight!

Oh, man. Do you ever have moral dilemmas about working in the pharmaceutical industry?

Yes. However, I don't manufacture, test, or sell pharmaceuticals. I just write about disease states and the medications used to treat them. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the pharmaceutical industry, and with good reason. That said, I try to take a balanced view by acknowledging the positive effects that certain drugs can have on the lives of patients. My mom, for instance, has been helped by drugs for cancer. My brother has gotten his life back from schizophrenia as the result of drug therapy.

How is it like to care for your family members?

Mostly it is a joy to care for my mom. I adore her and feel like, with all the care she has given me since the time I was in the womb, I could never repay her kindness to me. It feels like a privilege and honor to be able to give back.

My brother is more of a challenge, and I will be responsible for him when my mom passes away. I'm working on preparing for that on every level.

Wishing you well in your life and your practice!

[Katarzyna]

Hi Chi,

What kind of work do you do?

In my native Poland I was a lecturer in political science. After the fall of Communism my mother and I decided to make aliyah. In Israel I joined the IDF, training first as gunner in a Sho't Kal tank crew and later as a Krav Maga instructor. Now I run my own civilian Krav Maga centre. In the future I hope to become a nun in Myanmar. In fact I nearly became a nun there 16 years ago, but shortly before I was due to take the precepts a telegram arrived from Israel recalling me for military service - I was needed because Arafat had just launched the Second Intifada. But one day...

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Reading books on the Dhamma and practising meditation; teaching children’s self-defence classes at Torah camp; listening to heavy metal; gardening; ikebana; hiking and rock-climbing in lonely places; learning new languages (Bedawi Arabic is my latest one and I intend to start on Pali later this year).

Do you have friends who aren't into meditation/Buddhism?

I find that I don’t really click very well with Israeli Buddhists. And so it happens that most of my friends are either cultural Jews (plus a few religious ones) or cultural Muslims.

What kinds of things do you talk about and do?

My Jewish friends are mostly in academia and we mainly talk politics, philosophy, literature and music. My Muslim friends are all ageing headbangers like me and we talk about nothing but music: Pendragon, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, forthcoming gigs, and so on.

If you're in a partnership, is your partner into your lifestyle?

I am a “Jubu”. The Jewish part is that I keep a kosher household and celebrate all the Jewish festivals out of respect for my family tradition, but being an atheist I don’t hold any Jewish theological beliefs. The Buddhist part began when I was in Poland and would attend a Korean Zen centre affiliated with Master Seung Sahn’s Kwan Um School; I believe this was the only kind of Buddhism that existed in Poland during the Communist era. Later I switched to the Theravada after attending first a short course and then a long retreat with Sayadaw U Pandita.

My late husband was a Polish Catholic, but one of a mystical and theologically liberal inclination - a big enthusiast for the early Spanish Carmelites and for Quietists like Guyon and Fenelon. Our religious differences never caused any friction in our relationship.

——
Kasia

[DNS]

שָׁלוֹם

Interesting bio.

After the fall of Communism my mother and I decided to make aliyah.

(For those that are not familiar with this term, it refers to Jews in the diaspora immigrating to Israel.)

In the future I hope to become a nun in Myanmar. In fact I nearly became a nun there 16 years ago, but shortly before I was due to take the precepts a telegram arrived from Israel recalling me for military service - I was needed because Arafat had just launched the Second Intifada. But one day...

As an 8 precept nun or is the plan for full ordination?

If you are in the diaspora can the IDF force you into reserves? What would be the repercussions of not going back for reserves? Loss of Israeli citizenship?

[Katarzyna]

Hi David,

שָׁלוֹם

עֲלֵיכֶם שָׁלוֹם

As an 8 precept nun or is the plan for full ordination?

If it's in Myanmar then it will be as a thilashin who normally take ten precepts, like samaneras. Of all the kinds of Buddhist nun that I've met it is these who've impressed me most favourably.

If you are in the diaspora can the IDF force you into reserves?

I was in the reserves because I had enlisted as a career soldier rather than being a conscript. But getting recalled isn't an issue for me any more since I'm now too old for combat duty. The cut-off age for women is 38.

What would be the repercussions of not going back for reserves? Loss of Israeli citizenship?

No, the worst outcome would be a short jail sentence, though this doesn't happen often because there are so many grounds on which you can opt out. The loss of citizenship is reserved for much more serious acts of disloyalty.

__
Kasia

[Alexander____]

Thanks for sharing Alexander!

What tech startup do you work at? It's amazing you one from doctor to software development...how many years did you practice as a doctor? What made you dislike the lifestyle?

It's in healthcare developing a number of apps to improve communication and efficiency in hospitals between clinicians and clinicians and their patients.

I practised for two years, I decided to do it form a very young age and never considered anything else. It's a very career driven profession and I never quite fitted into it. But I'm rather stubborn and society rates it incredibly highly so I stuck with it for quite a good few years longer than was sensible.

I'm another Buddhist with a Jewish background. Interesting how many there seems to be about...