the irritiation

HIYA!

I walked away from the temple with a couple of monks from that temple. Let me explain how it happened that I we walked together.

The morning I left the temple I sat in the hall eating some bananas after the monks had finished their breakfast. It's very common for laypeople to eat after monks. One monk saw me eating a bunch of bananas and was impressed. So he came up to me and sat next to me. He had these charms and little amulets strung around his neck. I asked him what these were for and he said they protected him from gunshots and knife stabbings. I said bring a knife and lets see what happens. Another monk burst out laughing.

I felt that here was an opportunity to learn a little about what monks think about these charms and amulets. The power that they have. So I invited him to walk with me. Then I thought, "Jeez, I guess I should invite any of the monks. All of the monks." Two of them decided to go with me.

We set out a little after nine am. I at first thought they were going with me for an unlimited time. I later found out that they hadn't brought their alms bowls so couldn't go on alms round in the morning to accept alms / "beg for food".

We walked until about 11 am then stopped for a break. It was pretty hot so we found some shade. The guy with the amulets is the senior of the two and knows more, both internally (meaning he knows himself better) as well as theoretically. Turns out he doesn't believe in the power of those amulets. What he told me anyway, is that he doesn't have faith in himself to keep up a good solid practice of Buddhism so he uses those amulets as reminders to be mindful and careful in his everyday life. That makes much more sense to me than believing in some supernatural power of those amulets. His explanation gives me an idea regarding how the belief that they have supernatural power came to be but I won't go into it.

We talked and talked for at least 30 minutes about Buddhist practice, teaching, and other such things. I feel he has a fairly good grasp but didn't get that much into his deeper understandings. He on the other hand was all praise for me. He wouldn't stop talking about how much I know, how deeply I understand and all that. Yakity yakity yak. I got tired of it after a while. He'd talk to me in respectful terms that I've never heard from a monk before. After continuing the walk, when we'd meet someone he'd say how well I know the teaching and praise my practice. I get tired of this sort of thing but it's just one more thing for me to practice. Just accepting that someone feels this way or that way about me without getting irritated or having my ego bloat and my head get big or anything. Just accept and let it go at that. Nor do I want to reject the feelings of irritation and any other feeling that arises. Accept everything as it appears to be.

We walked to another temple where they let me go and they returned to their temple.