Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
The documentary Act Normal is about Robert Edison who, at 18 years of age, left Britain for Thailand to become a Buddhist monk in the forest tradition. Five years after he moves to Iceland to form the first Buddhist sect in the country, he decides to disrobe and get married only to return later to Thailand to become a monk again.
It isn't a new film, having been released in 2005, and it doesn't tell a grand story. I just like its humaness. It might also be of interest to those thinking of ordaining.
It can also be watched on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/27590176.
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
~Chatral Rinpoche
Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
Just watched this, interesting account of one man's journey. I wonder if he has remained as a celibate monk?
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
Yes, Ven. Dhammanando has just had a retreat hut built by a sponsor in Huai Khrai and plans to remain there for the indefinite future.philji wrote:Just watched this, interesting account of one man's journey. I wonder if he has remained as a celibate monk?
He occasionally posts to Dhammawheel.
Lacking mindfulness, we commit every wrong. - Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔
ཨོཾ་ཧ་ནུ་པྷ་ཤ་བྷ་ར་ཧེ་ཡེ་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།།
ཨཱོཾ་མ་ཏྲི་མུ་ཡེ་སལེ་འདུ།།
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔
ཨོཾ་ཧ་ནུ་པྷ་ཤ་བྷ་ར་ཧེ་ཡེ་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།།
ཨཱོཾ་མ་ཏྲི་མུ་ཡེ་སལེ་འདུ།།
Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
Thanks for the info Losal Samten.
Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
Thanks from me too. Ven Dhammanando did seem like someone headed for long term retreat.
A bit more information about the documentary, including the trailer:
Interview with the director http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/interview ... ct-normal/
A bit more information about the documentary, including the trailer:
Interview with the director http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/interview ... ct-normal/
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
~Chatral Rinpoche
Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
Punya I saw the video a couple of years ago. I found it really interesting. I was not surprised when
he married the woman....one look and I thought this isn't going to last. Unfortunately even though the woman was hurt she will definitely never meet anyone like him again. Indeed he was a one-off, a gem.
he married the woman....one look and I thought this isn't going to last. Unfortunately even though the woman was hurt she will definitely never meet anyone like him again. Indeed he was a one-off, a gem.
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
I did not know this documentary, thanks for sharing.
Bhante Dhammanando helps many people in DhammaWheel.
In the Theravada tradition can one be a monk again?
Bhante Dhammanando helps many people in DhammaWheel.
In the Theravada tradition can one be a monk again?
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
I'm pretty sure that as long as one hasn't committed a parajika offense, one can. But there may be other ways to be expelled for life. Ven. Dhammanando on Dhamma Wheel is well-learned in the Vinaya and would almost certainly know.Lucas Oliveira wrote:I did not know this documentary, thanks for sharing.
Bhante Dhammanando helps many people in DhammaWheel.
In the Theravada tradition can one be a monk again?
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
I think it is allowed for Mahayana monks too, but I've never heard of it happening...I think the limit for men leaving home is seven times
Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
I had to laugh when he said his idea of a relationship was meeting up once a fortnight. I think many dharma practitioners could relate to this - study and practice being the priorities.dreambow wrote:Punya I saw the video a couple of years ago. I found it really interesting. I was not surprised when
he married the woman....one look and I thought this isn't going to last. Unfortunately even though the woman was hurt she will definitely never meet anyone like him again.
Yes, exceptional but still very human. The difficulties of what he had done as a monk were very much underplayed. "The making of..." video gives a bit more insight.Indeed he was a one-off, a gem.
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
~Chatral Rinpoche
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
I have read that a man can give back and retake his vows 3 times where as a woman can only do this once.Fortyeightvows wrote:I think the limit for men leaving home is seven times
Although I could be wrong
"Morality does not become pure unless darkness is dispelled by the light of wisdom"
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
I remembered the movie Samsara. In the film he returned to be a monk
I participate in this forum using Google Translator. https://translate.google.com.br/
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
I know for a fact that in taiwan at least, a woman may only ordain once.Lobsang Chojor wrote:I have read that a man can give back and retake his vows 3 times where as a woman can only do this once.Fortyeightvows wrote:I think the limit for men leaving home is seven times
Although I could be wrong
Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
Yes, in our tradion (Gelug) there are those numbers. I know a man who disrobed two times. He doesn't seem to ordain a third time - but who knows.Fortyeightvows wrote:I know for a fact that in taiwan at least, a woman may only ordain once.Lobsang Chojor wrote:I have read that a man can give back and retake his vows 3 times where as a woman can only do this once.Fortyeightvows wrote:I think the limit for men leaving home is seven times
Although I could be wrong
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Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
When Fortyeightvows said that I had a feeling that it was ordination lineage specific.Ayu wrote:Yes, in our tradion (Gelug) there are those numbers. I know a man who disrobed two times. He doesn't seem to ordain a third time - but who knows.Fortyeightvows wrote:I know for a fact that in taiwan at least, a woman may only ordain once.Lobsang Chojor wrote: I have read that a man can give back and retake his vows 3 times where as a woman can only do this once.
Although I could be wrong
"Morality does not become pure unless darkness is dispelled by the light of wisdom"
- Aryasura, Paramitasamasa 6.5
Re: Documentary about a western monk in the Thai tradition
i've met Dhammanando. He is a nice guy.
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