A monk I met recently gave me a book to read that was on the NYT best sellers list. Doesn't sound like much right? The meeting of this man, our conversation and th implications definitely are a big deal for me.
He is caretaker and former monk at a once active Buddhist Temple where I go to often.
I met him one day when he and a couple friends were drinking in a corner of the yard behind the ordination hall. They had the standard Thai street set up; small bottle of moonshine, large bottle of water and bowl of limes.
Somewhere in the conversation about why he isn't a monk anymore he told me that he wants to be in paradise. I heard the longing and frustration in that and the implication for daily drinking. Definitely lost his way.
The book he gave me,
Being Mortal, is about mortality and how modern medicine transformed many dangers in life but when it comes to aging and death what medicine can do often runs contrary to what it should do. My career as in healthcare taught me that as well.
I want to find out how these threads connect for this intelligent being who has moved away from a life of faith to one of addiction.
