![]() People walked by and smiled, but they didn't really get what was happening. She let them be, but the monks weren't having a lot of luck. ![]() They definitely stood out, and at one point the mall manager came out to see if they were staging some kind of protest. They situated themselves in a line in front of a shopping mall full of retail shops and casual dining options. Tevas seem to be the preferred brand in this group. They've all got shaved heads and they're wearing traditional orange robes with sandals. They went to campus to do something called "almsgiving." Meaning they hold a bowl and wait for people walking by to offer them some food, since monks of this Buddhist tradition can't make or buy themselves meals. Even the monks recognized how surreal the scene was. Yes, it sounds like the beginning of a problematic joke. I spent most of my time with the Empty Cloud monks inside the monastery for meals, meditation, and dharma talks - which are like sermons or spiritual lessons.īut we did take one field trip - just a few miles away - to the campus of Rutgers University, where five of the monks walked into a frat house. Monks always eat before the lay people like us who stay there, and, even when it's not an official silent meditation time, everyone needs to walk around sort of quietly and keep conversation at a moderate volume. They welcome us with tea and give us the basic instructions for staying there: No makeup or any other physical adornments. He grew up in a conservative evangelical family and found Buddhism after college. Obviously not.īut it did help me understand why more and more Americans are converting to Buddhism, or even, if they don't go all in that way, they are finding elements of that tradition that they can incorporate into their own spiritual life and identity.Įmpty Cloud Monastery in West Orange, New Jersey.īhante Suddhāso is a soft-spoken guy from Colorado with small, round glasses. Now, I do not want to suggest that showing up at a Buddhist monastery for three days taught me everything I need to know about Buddhism or mindfulness. And what better way to do that than spending time at an actual monastery? That means doing my own research and having my own experience with Buddhism. My mom died 14 years ago and I can't ask her, so I have to figure it out for myself. I wanted to understand what that could look like. Like a lot of Americans, she didn't see Buddhism and Christianity as contrary to one another - they could be complements. She had books by the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh on her bedside table. ![]() ![]() But I also have clear memories of her sitting on her black meditation pillow in front of the window in her bedroom, eyes shut, breathing deep and audibly. My mom was a lifelong Presbyterian who served as a church deacon, and hung artisan-made crosses around her house. In all this spiritual seeking I'm doing these days, it was time to go deep on Buddhism. I wanted to understand how, by training your mind, you could actually create some kind of divine connection to yourself, to other people in your life, or even to a higher power. I wanted to understand the theology that birthed the modern mindfulness movement. However, I do think there's something off-putting about the "mindfulness industrial complex" - the expensive getaways and self-proclaimed gurus, who make promises about personal transformation they can't necessarily keep.Īnd I've been looking for something different. On the whole, I think mindfulness showing up in our culture in new ways is a good thing. Before my weekly yoga class starts, the teacher says a bunch of stuff about mindfulness, and setting intentions for our downward dogs and plank poses. My kids learn mindfulness and meditation techniques in their public elementary school. Entire sections of libraries and bookstores are devoted to the subject. There are mindfulness retreats that will set you back thousands of dollars. Ayyā Somā (left) and Bhante Suddhāso (right), the co-founders of Empty Cloud Monastery.
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