The 4 Most Interesting Experiences I Had as a Buddhist Monk In Thailand
At least one of these will surprise you.
4 min readJan 11, 2023
In 2016 I spent 5 months ordained as a Buddhist monk in the northeast of Thailand.
These are the most interesting experiences I had during my time there.
1. The lifestyle was easier than I thought
The monastery I chose was a part of the Thai Forest tradition — the strictest in the world.
Without going through all the 227 precepts of the full Buddhist monastic code (other traditions only follow 5 to 8), the following points will give you an idea of how it was:
- Wake up at 4 AM
- Walk 3 miles (5 km) barefoot every morning to collect alms
- Only eat once daily
- Meditate a minimum of 3 hours per day
- Maintain the monastery grounds, including toilets that are distributed throughout the forest, infested with mosquitos and huge aggressive ants
- No TV, phones, computers, or internet