Would you consider being a monk? I'm sure my niece would fully support me if I choose to be one for that was what she said the other day when we visited Nandaka Vihara in Bukit Mertajam. She had a car boot full of food which she had prepared for a special occasion; the Junior Temporary Ordination Programme, a programme where boys of 9 to 15 years become monks for 10 days, during which time, I suppose, the boys would have to live according to the codes in the Vinaya Pitaka. That's a textual framework for the monastic community; containing rules for the bhikkhu monk and bhikkhuni nun, procedures and conventions of etiquette that support harmonious relations among the monastics themselves, and between them and their lay supporters. It wouldn't be an easy 10 days for the boys, I am sure; and no, I'm not ready for that disciplined regiment.
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