Monastic Life
Outline
- Rejoicing
- Giving
- Daily meditation
- Bonus: How do monastics live? (You've made it!)
Bonus: A Day in the Life
Many people asked me what I did at the retreat.
This was a day in the life at the retreat (based on memory, so could be slightly imprecise. The retreat schedule was a modification on the monastics' daily schedule):
- 5am: Wake up
- 5.30am: Meditation (1.25h)
- 7.30am: Breakfast
- 9am: Teachings (3h, with a break in between)
- 12pm: Lunch
- 2pm: Offering service (3.5h)
- 6pm: Medicine meal (a.k.a "dinner")
- 7pm: Meditation/Chanting (1.25h)
- 8.15pm: Study time/"Noble silence"
- 10pm: Lights out
Meditation/Chanting
The bolded activities were the ones that were the biggest departures from my usual life. For young adults at retreat, morning and evening meditation sessions were guided by a nun or a monk. On some evenings, we chanted. I usually kept quiet as I didn't know how to chant. We were not required to do anything we were uncomfortable doing.
Noble silence
One of my favorite activities of the day was "noble silence". It's something I've considered implementing in my life multiple times after leaving the abbey. It's essentially free time, but you must keep silent1. Commencing at the end of evening meditation/chanting, noble silence was kept until halfway through breakfast the next day. In a constantly noisy world, protracted silence was so precious. For some, it was conducive to reflection and mindfulness. For me, it was a sanctuary.
What do you wear?
Loose-fitting, solid-colored clothes without any words or graphics on them. I never noticed how many of my thoughts came from perceiving words and graphics on people's clothes until I was at the abbey. Thinking back, it makes sense since we often remark on cool graphics on people's clothes or edgy slogans on their caps. The quietude really helps calm the mind.
If you start seeing a particular type of clothes appearing more in my wardrobe, you know what it is...
What do you eat?
Vegetarian food! Lots and lots of tofu and beans, as well as veggies.2
All the food at the abbey were donated, to honor the alms tradition of monastics. A lot of what we ate, therefore, was either donations by ourselves or neighborhood volunteers. I have many thoughts on this "giving economy," but maybe for next time!
Closing thoughts
I appreciated having the opportunity to live like a monastic for a week, where every aspect of life was thoughtful (some might say, mindful) and imbued with lots of intentionality. It was a special experience.
(See Part 2.2 for Buddhist theory)
This applies unless there are emergencies, determined at your own discretion.↩
Contrary to popular belief, it's not a strict requirement for monastics to avoid meat. Some consider avoiding meat as part of the precept not to kill sentient beings, but given how monastics survived on alms food in the past, they really ate whatever people gave them. As I've read recently though, according to yoga, vegetarianism is more conducive to spiritual development. There are many reasons to be vegetarian. (I personally still eat meat though.)↩