A Buddhist monk in China became a news item when he returned to secular life and got married. A monk here who did the same didn't grab half the attention. Then, of course he was not a maths genius. The monk in China happened to be a former winner of a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad and had been declared a genius by China’s prestigious Peking University. He had even been offered a full scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) but had declined the offer to devote himself to Buddhism. He had given up mathematics, choosing Buddhism to explore his own heart in what he considered a path to loneliness. In returning to secular life, he had said that he had realised his heart was closer to the wider public and that he liked to be a part of society, thinking that he was more suitable for the down-to-earth life. A monk being a member of the sangha, I suppose would be part of society. Sangha which refers to the monastic communities of bhikkhu (monks) and bhikkhuni (nuns) by itself may be a small part of society but it probably would be big and wide if the monastic communities decide to play an active part in instructing the public on the spiritual aspects of their life and go the extra mile to organise charitable works. Giving up the mundane life to pursue nirvana isn't wrong but it could well be a lonely path when one struggles for one own's private salvation. Then too, when one is part of the wider public, it is not easy to lead a down-to-earth life.
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