Is it normal that i will become a monk in a few years?

79% Normal
21 Comments

Been wanting to become a Buddhist monk for awhile. Feel that relationships are complete crap and that sexuality is kind of perverse in a way (I mean the emotions when you are having sex can be so animalistic). Marriage also seems funny since how can you say that you'll be with 'someone' when that someone might not be the same person in a couple of years?

All that's hard though with all the hype of eternal love and material success in the media. Not sure if there's Nirvana or rebirth or anything like that, but don't think that it's an option to speculate without trying to find 'truth'.

is it normal that I feel this way? Are there other people out there that want to find out what the meaning of their existence is by taking extreme measures like that? Curious because I haven't met anyone my age (30) that wants to do it.

Voting Results
79% Normal
Based on 39 votes (31 yes)
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Comments ( 21 )
  • Just_feed_me_Troll_Meat
    12 years ago

    Yup, small. Good decision on becoming a monk.

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  • Just_feed_me_Troll_Meat
    12 years ago

    Is your penis very small since you want to deprive yourself the joy of being around women and praying in a monastary or whatever for the rest of your life?

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      How does that work?

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  • bakerj99
    12 years ago

    It's normal you feel this way, but i wouldn't jump on being a monk necceserairly. You can feel this way, without having to devout yourself.

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      Yeah. Need to make a bit of money so that if it doesn't work out I'd be able to survive.

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  • TheProgFather
    12 years ago

    Not on the level that you are talking about, but I definitely have experienced similar feelings. It's in the back of my mind that after I go to college and retire from a successful career, I'll shake shit up with my esoteric contemplation. But seriously, I find myself constantly synthesizing apparently contradicting world views and wondering how people can be so ignorant, all the while being frustrated with my own ignorance. I'm 19 btw.

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      Don't get into hard drugs, don't go killing people and don't fall in love (the last might be the thing that's most likely...I was going to be a monk at 21 when I fell in love...but when you're 30 you've got enough resistence to think clearly). Good luck man

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  • GeekiTheBrave
    12 years ago

    are you aloud to use the internet?

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      Community service monks are allowed to use the internet depending on what the services available are at that particular temple

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      • GeekiTheBrave
        12 years ago

        Well. thank you for curing my ignorance

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      In some places. To types of monks as far as I know...people who are into helping the community and people who are into meditation only. I want to do a few years of community service (which gives time to get acquainted with the scripts as well) and then get into the meditation part fully.

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  • Energy
    12 years ago

    I like monks. Go for it! If that's what you REALLY want, why not?!

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      Not sure if that's what I want to do forever, so making some money to keep as a failsafe just in case. I love it when people of different religions are tolerant towards people of other religions so your support is super (assuming you're not Buddhist). What are your thoughts on spiritualiy and life?

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      • Energy
        12 years ago

        Um, more into new age things :P

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  • 1000Dogs
    12 years ago

    You're questioning your life now that you've had enough experiences that tell you that things aren't the way you've been told they were. Nothing abnormal about that. Becoming a monk may be an extreme way to react to your doubts about the values of some seemingly-important things, but if you can find purpose doing it, go right ahead.

    Before you do so, it'd be a good idea to expose yourself to other ways of thinking, so as to be clear on all your options. Personally, I find Buddhism to be pretentious, since it's quite literally about placing yourself above absolutely everything else, but it's also respectable to work hard to fully understand yourself.

    Honestly, I believe that the way things are going, more and more people are going to come to understand that the things that modern western society places importance on (getting married, having children, a big important job, etc) don't apply as much in a world with more people than jobs and with a population around seven billion.

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      I do a lot of research into other religions and am kind of a proponent of religion in general. Most problems would vanish quickly if people that are so into religion learn their own religion properly. These days I spend a lot of time trying to get people to understand Islam properly. Great religion...ignorance is strife in people outside of the religion as well as inside the religion

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    • Crudhouse
      12 years ago

      Great comment. This selfishness comment is true, but everyone's pretty much 100% selfish aren't they? They are all just going after what they want...sometimes it overlaps into things that are communally beneficial. It's it logical to find out what absolute truth is before doing things though?

      Because if you don't you'd be doing things that weren't right...and then you'd be part of the problem right? I mean look at all of what's going on now in the world. It's like trying to solve one disaster after another...and that's because solutions that are put into place aren't holistic...so there has to be another solution for the problems created by one solution and so on.

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      • 1000Dogs
        12 years ago

        I can't accept the argument that selflessness is based in selfishness. I understand where it comes from, and I'm pessimistic enough to accept the reasoning, but I just can't accept that someone who does something nice for someone they love just to see them happy is doing so for themselves. Sure, I'm happy when a loved one is happy, but to call that selfishness is, to me, just looking to stir up an argument, or to justify to yourself why you'll just do something for yourself instead.

        Point is, even if making others happy is selfish, it's a good enough kind of selfish that you may as well ignore the difference. Even if a doctor cures a patient's cancer because it satisfies him to do it, the patient still gets to live a better life for it.

        As for absolute truth, well, 7 billion of us can't agree on anything. The best anyone can hope for is to make the most informed decision they can and hope for the best. Whether or not people do that is their own responsibility, and it's pretty safe to say that everyone fails to do so every once and again.

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        • Crudhouse
          12 years ago

          Thoughts are the most effective methods of helping people and the easiest to transfer. A person who works on refining his thoughts is bound to help more people by sharing his thoughts with one person and the thoughts spread, than feeding a thousand people. Look how much of an influence the Dalai Lama is. How is focusing on refining your thoughts more selfish than being a doctor?

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          • 1000Dogs
            12 years ago

            I don't believe that thoughts are as easily shared as you think. At least, not in a meaningful sense. It's not difficult to find like-minded people who will hear your ideas, but it's almost impossible to change a mind.

            This is simply where our ideologies part ways. I believe that people only change when they are ready to. If you believe you can change minds, by all means, do so.

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            • Crudhouse
              12 years ago

              I don't believe that I can change minds lol. Read any debate on the net and that's proven. Btw...are you a guy or a girl? Not to sound sexist or anything, but I get the most flak from girls for this whole idea being selfish. Guys tend to agree a little more (though most people think that it's dumb or that it's cause I'm unbalanced etc. etc.)

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