Leaving the temple

When novices turn 20 they need to decide whether they will be ordained as a monk or leave the monastery.  June 24th and 25th were the days this year when a number of novices disrobed and left the monastery.  Don't know that the dates had any buddhist significance, I think it was more that the buddhist high school held their graduation that week and it was the logical time to leave.  

A young novice I know had been excited and anxious about leaving the monastery for all of this year.  It is really a very sheltered life.  Sure they get up at 4 or 5am and don't eat after lunchtime, but I think life would be far easier than if they had stayed at home in their village working as a farmer.  They don't have to do the serious things like preparing meals or paying bills. They nearly all have mobile phones and are on facebook.  My sense is that many have quite a secure life with their friends in the monastery.  

         

After school

If you had have told me a year ago that I would be sitting in a guesthouse in Laos messaging on Facebook a young 20 year old novice who is disrobing this week, and is worried about the future, I wouldn't have believed it. 

To see a photo of this young man who I have only seen in saffron robes, dressed in jeans and t shirt, pulling a wheelie case behind him as he walked away from the temple really tugged at my heart strings.  It's a big sometimes hard world out there and I wonder if life in a remote village and then years at a temple has prepared them for it.  



We saw some ex-novices the next day in a bar.  Maybe they were trying to catch up on some of the things they had missed out on during the years in a temple when they are not allowed to touch or even hand anything to a female..  One had a gorgeous young falang (foreign) girl sitting very close and topping up his beer.  When he was introduced we were told he had only left the monastery the day before.  He gave me a look which I took to mean he was out of his depth.  And yet, wouldn't this be just what a young man who had been in a monastery for years have dreamt of on some of those lonely nights in his room?

For a few days I was thinking of these young men "starting out on a new life".   Leaving the monastery seemed like a very significant thing to me, but I think I might be projecting my feelings onto this. A significant number of boys in Laos spend time in a monastery, sometimes for years.  There is no expectation that they will stay forever.  For most, this is part of their life and they leave and move on. Many come from families who can't afford to support them if they go back home, so they have to stay in the city and find work. Hopefully, the temple has given them friendship and education and opportunities they would not otherwise have had.  And yes the world can be harsh and there are lessons to learn, but that doesn't only apply to ex-novices.