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Ajahn Gavesako disrobes after 38 years.

jlljll Veteran
in Sanghas
I just found out about this recently.
It came as a shock to me.
He was 1 of the foreign disciples of ajahn chah.
In my mind, he must have attained high levels of
meditation.
To think that he gave it all up is , i am lost for words.


http://nationmultimedia.com/national/Popular-monk-returns-to-Japan-30208021.html

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    To be perfectly blunt, what he does, chooses to do or decides his actions will be, are his affair.
    Only if someone's actions are a deliberate decision which affects me directly, and bears consequences to me according to what I may decide - is it anything to do with me.

    Why be shocked?
    it's none of anyone's business.

    Just my 2 cents.
    Invincible_summerDaltheJigsawDharmaMcBum
  • robotrobot Veteran
    Why wouldn't a monk retire like anyone else? It is a job of sorts. Do they swear an oath to remain a monk till death?
    VastmindDaltheJigsaw
  • VastmindVastmind Memphis, TN Veteran
    The article also indicated that it might be health related.
  • ChazChaz The Remarkable Chaz Anywhere, Everywhere & Nowhere Veteran
    jll said:

    I just found out about this recently.
    It came as a shock to me.

    Monks..... good ones ..... disrobe all the time and for all sorts of reasons.

    The only thing that changes is the clothes they wear.

    Invincible_summer
  • ysmaelysmael Explorer
    if he disrobes with very good intentions and would farther better himself from what he had learned thru the years, then i dont see anything wrong with that
  • jlljll Veteran
    i just wonder what your reactions will be
    if the dalai lama disrobes and marries Madonna.
  • jlljll Veteran
    thanks for the latest update.
    any papparazi photos of the necking???
    robot said:

    jll said:

    i just wonder what your reactions will be
    if the dalai lama disrobes and marries Madonna.

    Are they dating?
  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    jll said:

    thanks for the latest update.
    any papparazi photos of the necking???


    robot said:

    jll said:

    i just wonder what your reactions will be
    if the dalai lama disrobes and marries Madonna.

    Are they dating?

    Damn, I've had my eye on the DL for ages now....! Grrrr, Madonna! ;)
  • jlljll Veteran
    may I suggest some conical metal bras for your wardrobe ???
    MaryAnne said:

    jll said:

    thanks for the latest update.
    any papparazi photos of the necking???


    robot said:

    jll said:

    i just wonder what your reactions will be
    if the dalai lama disrobes and marries Madonna.

    Are they dating?

    Damn, I've had my eye on the DL for ages now....! Grrrr, Madonna! ;)
    MaryAnneDandelion
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    jll said:

    i just wonder what your reactions will be
    if the dalai lama disrobes and marries Madonna.

    Precisely the same as my comments in my first post.
    To take you seriously for a moment.
  • ChazChaz The Remarkable Chaz Anywhere, Everywhere & Nowhere Veteran
    jll said:

    i just wonder what your reactions will be
    if the dalai lama disrobes and marries Madonna.

    Good point. I suppose it depends on what you think about the office and person of the Dali Lama and how much you cling to that.

    Is it chiseled in stone somewhere that an emanation of Avalokiteshvara must be robed in order to benefit beings?

    HHDL describes himself as a "simple monk". That being so, if he decided to disrobe, get married and take up golf, it would be no different , than any other monk disrobing.

    BUT ......

    The world would still have to wait for him to die, pass through the Bardos and take rebirth before there would be another DL.

    I think that would be priceless :rarr:
  • upekkaupekka Veteran
    there are four types of unskillful speech
    check in which types 'yours are'
    :)
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited September 2013
    I teach meditation like this. When it's time to sit in meditation then sit, that's not wrong. You should practice this also. But meditation is not only sitting. You must allow your mind to fully experience things, allow them to flow and consider their nature. How should you consider them? See them as transient, imperfect and ownerless. It's all uncertain. ''This is so beautiful, I really must have it.'' That's not a sure thing. ''I don't like this at all''... tell yourself right there, ''Not sure!'' Is this true? Absolutely, no mistake. But just try taking things for real... ''I'm going to get this thing for sure''... You've gone off the track already. Don't do this. No matter how much you like something, you should reflect that it's uncertain.

    Wise words from
    Ajahn Chah
  • jlljll Veteran
    Since you quote ajahn chah,
    how will you react if ajahn chah had disrobed?
    pegembara said:

    I teach meditation like this. When it's time to sit in meditation then sit, that's not wrong. You should practice this also. But meditation is not only sitting. You must allow your mind to fully experience things, allow them to flow and consider their nature. How should you consider them? See them as transient, imperfect and ownerless. It's all uncertain. ''This is so beautiful, I really must have it.'' That's not a sure thing. ''I don't like this at all''... tell yourself right there, ''Not sure!'' Is this true? Absolutely, no mistake. But just try taking things for real... ''I'm going to get this thing for sure''... You've gone off the track already. Don't do this. No matter how much you like something, you should reflect that it's uncertain.

    Wise words from
    Ajahn Chah

  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited September 2013
    @ jll
    The same manner that he taught. Though I would be very surprised that one who has truly realised the truth will do such a thing. But so far, no such surprises yet.

    If Ajahn Brahm did this I would be shocked (tongue in cheek).

    After all the Dhamma is timeless, applicable here and now, to be seen by those who are wise.
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    edited September 2013
    my thinking says: just like robing a monk's cloth does not make one near to awakening, similarly disrobing does not make one far from awakening. awakening to reality is always possible for every human being, as every human being just needs to realize that being in here and now, things arise and cease instantly, with nothing attractive and nothing repulsive, things are 'just as they are'.
    pegembara
  • jlljll Veteran
    If he had disrobed and lived
    a solitary life, that would have been a different matter.

    but to disrobe and get married,
    now that indicates lust.
    misecmisc1 said:

    my thinking says: just like robing a monk's cloth does not make one near to awakening, similarly disrobing does not make one far from awakening. awakening to reality is always possible for every human being, as every human being just needs to realize that being in here and now, things arise and cease instantly, with nothing attractive and nothing repulsive, things are 'just as they are'.

  • robotrobot Veteran
    jll said:

    If he had disrobed and lived
    a solitary life, that would have been a different matter.

    but to disrobe and get married,
    now that indicates lust.

    misecmisc1 said:

    my thinking says: just like robing a monk's cloth does not make one near to awakening, similarly disrobing does not make one far from awakening. awakening to reality is always possible for every human being, as every human being just needs to realize that being in here and now, things arise and cease instantly, with nothing attractive and nothing repulsive, things are 'just as they are'.

    Marriage, especially in later years, is not all about sex.
    He will be lucky to get it up after 38 years of celibacy. Use it or lose it.
  • jlljll Veteran
    Viagra.
  • robotrobot Veteran
    jll said:

    Viagra.

    They say that Viagra will make it stay hard, but it won't create the desire.
    All the best to him. I hope he has some happy times and great sex too.
  • ChazChaz The Remarkable Chaz Anywhere, Everywhere & Nowhere Veteran
    jll said:


    but to disrobe and get married,
    now that indicates lust.

    Nonsense, it could be and probably is that he's in love.

    More power to him I'd say.

  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    edited September 2013
    jll said:

    i just wonder what your reactions will be
    if the dalai lama disrobes and marries Madonna.

    Well, my reaction would be, "I hope they're happy together." And isn't that all the reaction anyone should have to a couple trying to find happiness in marriage? In the end, our expectations of how someone else should live their life has to be seen as just another one of our endless desires for the world and people in it to conform to our beliefs.
  • jlljll Veteran
    the reason buddha
    ask us to be detached from this
    world is because the deeper you
    love, the more painful will be the
    separation. this is called suffering
    due to attachment.
    Cinorjer
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