Maybe a monk?

plutonic

I was recently at Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar. I know very little about Buddhism, but I felt the need to offer flowers to the Buddha. We found a relatively empty area to do it, in case we did something wrong. As we stepped up to offer a man invited me to chant with him, he taught us the chant (entirely in Burmese, we had no idea what he was saying) and then indicated that I make the offering. He looked like he was meant to be there, he looked like he knew a lot, but he didn't look like a monk. He wore velvet robes, held wooden prayer beads, had long hair and seemed more involved than anyone else there, praying, chanting and respecting everything while even some of the monks did not. I would like to know exactly what he was, can anyone help me out?

person

There are very dedicated lay practitioners, sometimes they're called yogi's. They also spend their lives in prayer and meditation, they don't take monastic vows though.

conradcook

He was a friend!

C.