THE MONKS

“It's the word that makes silence precious and necessary.”
A lesson, a school, the Burmese monks—a doctrine that we all, believers and non-believers alike, should adopt at least in part, a teaching that resonates within each of us, striking the notes that are most our own.
This training proves necessary for every human being, capable of recognizing within themselves the essential core of their own mind.
Every child participates in monastic life at least twice in their lifetime: the first time between the ages of five and fifteen, and the second after twenty.
For a family, having a son enter the order of monks represents an important sign of prestige.
Prayers, religious readings, meditation, discipline—these are the main, inseparable combinations that make them one; shaved heads with sharp minds.
A simple red cloth wrapped around the body is a gift to life, a delicate “sacrifice” that separates them from the modern world that surrounds us all.
There are 227 rules to follow for monks and 331 for nuns—rules of sacrifice, many of which are strict, but every person should honor, respect, and practice some of these rules, day after day.
In life, everything that needs to happen will happen; everything that must occur will occur. Being ready for all that is possible, facing and discovering the tragic sides of existence, is possible. Everything we are is the result of what we think.
One must strive to save oneself with the heart, with effort, with strength, and with the mind.
M.C.