this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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The way I talk to monks. In Theravada buddhism, monks are treated as a class above average humans. We had to special wording when speaking with them to be reverent, kind of like when speaking with nobles, royals and whatnot in Europe.
Still awkwardly doing that around most monks when I'm with my family, just out of respect for them. There are a few close monk friends that I can talk to normally though.
It's relatively common for people to just spend a few years as a monk, right?
I reckon itd be weird if one day I'm picking on my little brother, then the next I feel obliged to treat him as royalty, then a couple years later I get to noogie him again.
Not years. An average person might spend a few days or weeks as a monk every few years, to sort of cleanse their Karma so to speak.
My brother just decided to be a monk for life though. It's quite rare that people become monks for life though, especially someone as young as him. A Theravada buddhist monk's life is more restricted than those of Mahayana traditions like in China, Japan, Korea, etc.