Question for Donq.

[mojomojo]

Hi Donq, in some of your posts, you mention living in the forest, also helping monks to fight fire, in Thailand, I presume these are Buddhist monks. May I ask you, did you live in a monastery with the monks, or did you live alone in the forest, did you live off the land, or travel from the forest to work everyday, if , you lived alone in the forest, how did it help you spiritually.

Please forgive all the questions, but many years ago, I wanted to leave my country and join a Buddhist monastery, I have great respect for the Buddhist way of life and philosophy, I never did join a monastery, maybe fear, maybe not committed enough, but I would love to hear of your experiences.
Many thanks, for anything you have to share,
Robert.

[donq]

Hi Robert,

I don’t mind to answer. But I already talked about myself a lot, so I will say it only briefly here.

Yes, they were Buddhist monks but rather some kind of Zen (I chose to go there after I had study/practice some other Buddhist schools, and finally I decided to focus seriously on mindfulness practice only). We didn’t cling so much to any traditional practice. I mean normally, any Buddhist monk had nothing to do with fighting fire like us. Hahaha. Besides, (one of) my spiritual teacher who was an abbot there also was an activist (to help very poor villagers there etc.)
Yes, I lived in a monastery (not really monastery, just a poor building with only one wall) with the monks. Each of us lived in some kind of poor hut. And that time (around 30 years ago) there were only a few monks living there. The temple was located in the think forest. Just a few years before I went there, there were still forest elephants! Even so, I had to chance to see some wild pigs! Near our temples, lived a deer. I never seen him but knew he was there. There were also some Diard's firebacks which I saw them once in a while. And yes, lots of fireflies in then night! :-)
I was studying in an open university, so I could drop it and went to live in the forest temple from time to time (each time about month to a few months). I did like that for some years. The last time I was there almost 1 years.
Again, normally there would be only 5 persons living there while our forest temple covered more than 1,000 Acres so it was very good for spiritual practice, to observe ourselves in the middle of no land etc. hahaha.
Hmm…from my experience, yes, the quiet place is good for spiritual practice but any place is still just a place. And there’s no such thing as the real quiet place that last long. For example, I never went back to my forest temple for more than 25 years. Someone told me that, now there’s even the internet there! Hahaha.

P.S. I've just finished some work for today and still feel dizzy. Sorry if I wrote a bit roundabout.

[mojomojo]

Hi Donq, thank you very much, for taking the time to reply, your words paint a very good picture, it must be a very special place for you,
Again, thank you for sharing,
Robert.

[rosesrblu111]

I'm drawn to Buddhism. Not sure why.

I was raised a catholic, I don't practice it.

I call myself a soul looking to connect with God. I believe we are lead different path ways leading to our spirituality and to God

just my thought....

[donq]

Hi Jacqueline,

Hahaha, I’m always drawn to friends who connect with God. Don’t know why.

I was raised a Buddhist and had practiced it a lot. But I don’t consider myself to be a Buddhist any more. I've embraced any different path that leads to a genuine spirituality. I even think that I'm a Taoist. :-)

[mojomojo]

Hi all, was raised a catholic, turned me against religion, too much of a guilt trip, controlling, money grabbing, so turned to Buddhism, Zen, Shaolin, then came a mix of, Kriya yoga, Hinduism, then throw a bit of new age into the pot. Later, I realised, it was man's deeds that turned me away from my own religion, so now I have also embraced that as well, which is comforting in a way, because it is probably more familiar and works as well as any other, not saying you need religion for spirituality. For a long time I held the opinion, religion was spirituality, that Man got his hands on, and used for control and money making.
Robert