- Hi there, I'm Aria
and I was recently in a video
where I mentioned how I spent some time as a monk
in a monastery in Thailand
and people seem to wanna hear that story.
So,
this is that story.
What an intro that was.
It's beautiful here,
it makes me feel like I'm back in Thailand,
except
there was a drunk couple fighting in an Arby's
down the street.
Don't really have that in Thailand.
My dad works in the hotel business
so we bounced around overseas most of my life.
Spent some time in Singapore, to Bali,
even some time in France, bonjour.
And then I also ended up in Chiang Mai, Thailand,
which is where I finished high school.
And typically in Southeast Asia
young men, before they're married,
they'll spend some time in the monastery
to earn religious merit, social merit,
and blessings for their families in this lifetime
or the next, 'cause we believe in rebirth.
Which is swell.
So, after I graduated high school I entered the monastery
for a couple of weeks and my younger brother joined me
to give thanks and honor my parents
for taking care of me for the past 17 years,
which included putting up with a lot of the shenanigans
I would get up to.
One time my principal did call my mother in
because I kicked a sign down in the mountains.
(yelling)
So, once we moved into the monastery
we weren't made monks right away,
first we had to have our heads shaved
as well as our eyebrows,
which was quite a look for me.
But essentially you're shaving off all your hair
as a way of renouncing worldliness,
and so once that's done you wear white robes
for a few days before your big ordination ceremony,
which is a prayer ceremony led by the other monks
and my family attended and then after that
I was given my saffron robes and was officially ordained.
I never really learned how to put on those robes though,
they tried to teach me,
but I think they gave up after like the second hour.
You gotta wrap it around here,
you go over the shoulder,
it gets really complicated.
The other monks probably saw me
and they were like, that kid does not know what he's doing.
Once you have the head shaved, the eyebrows shaved,
you look like a monk,
so, it's okay.
It's all good.
So, once you become a monk the routine is fairly,
well, routine.
You wake up early in the morning at the crack of dawn
and you walk around barefoot in the local village
collecting alms, which are essentially offerings of food.
So, basically we would form a long line
and just walk around the local neighborhood
and the townspeople would one at a time
give us alms into individual bowls that we had.
So, once you have all your food,
you convene in a big dining area
and have a communal meal.
And then the rest of the day is fairly relaxed,
you basically spend it learning scriptures,
sweeping the monastery,
before at dusk convening in the big temple
for a prayer session which can last up to two hours,
which can be pretty tough,
especially when you're on your knees
and your feet are in an awkward position,
but then after the prayers end,
you return to bed,
and then you repeat the cycle the next day.
But if I'm being perfectly honest,
it was tough,
especially at first.
You know, coming in as
a hormonal teenager into this setting
where you're stripped away from everything you're used to,
it got tough at times
and I remember the first few days
I really had a difficult time,
which sounds incredibly whiny
considering you're basically
given food and you spend the rest of your days
kind of relaxing and praying and meditating,
but I think as with anything in life,
when there's a big change in your life,
especially as a teenager,
it takes some time to get used to.
But I think that's kind of part of the journey in a way,
it's part of the challenge.
You learn to strip away these things
that aren't really necessary in your life,
that's the beauty of spending the time in the monastery
is that you learn that these things that I was
so dependent on,
didn't really need them in the end.
Did I really need to spend time on MySpace?
Spending hours designing the theme for my page?
No, I did not.
And no matter how good my page looked,
and it looked great,
did I need to be doing that?
No.
Being able to experience Buddhism at that level
is a experience I never really thought
that I'd appreciate as much as I do now.
^Being third-culture kids I don't think anyone
^would've begrudged us if we hadn't
^spent time in the monastery,
^so I think it meant more to my parents
^that we actually had.
And so I'm grateful to have had that opportunity to do so.
And I still consider myself a Buddhist to this day
because Buddhism in many ways
is just a way of life.
The principles it preaches are just rooted
in the core values that we all, everyday
should be practicing no matter what religion we are.
Be kind to others, be tolerant, be compassionate,
and there's something just so beautiful
in that simplicity.
And so if any of you out there wanna consider Buddhism
or maybe even spending some time in a monastery,
please do so,
they would welcome you with open arms.
And who knows, maybe we'll spend some time
in a monastery together.
- [Kid] Hurry up.
(yelling)
- [Aria] One more time.
- [Girl] Aria, no, it's gonna fall!
(yelling)
(laughing)