Sangharaks*ita

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

yea to be a teacher you need to be "Swami Cobbleranadaji"

Thanks for the tip.

[sky]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

yea to be a teacher you need to be "Swami Cobbleranadaji"

Why ?......

[sky]

Originally Posted by The Cobbler's Apprentice

Thanks for the tip.

The Cordwainers Apprentice would have paid better

Originally Posted by sky123

Didn't they explain the change of name, strange.

we were a small community of serious contemplative monks who were pretty much in silence and prayer 24/7. no one really "chatted" about such things. i went weeks without saying one word. you only talked when you were allowed to and that was very rare.

so there, talking or asking about such things would have been strange. talking about anything would have been strange. we simply did not talk about things or talk at all most days.

Originally Posted by The Cobbler's Apprentice

I believe he did have an interesting life in his younger days, having something to do with some mass conversion of untouchables to Buddhism in India.

The wiki page on him covered a lot of his life.

[sky]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

we were a small community of serious contemplative monks who were pretty much in silence and prayer 24/7. no one really "chatted" about such things. i went weeks without saying one word. you only talked when you were allowed to

Benedictine Monks don't take a Vow of silence so it must have just been a personal choice in the Community.

Originally Posted by The Cobbler's Apprentice

when he attended the ordination of an old friend. Merton (or Father Louis), with another mate, sat opposite a group of nuns and became rather tiddly on imbibing a few drinks.

seems like an odd story, sure it's true? do you know the source of that story?

[sky]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

seems like an odd story, sure it's true? do you know the source of that story?

Why does it sound odd ?
Many Christian Monks/Bishops/Priests etc: have Alcohol related problem.

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

seems like an odd story, sure it's true? do you know the source of that story?

It's actually straight from the horses mouth. The story is told by Merton himself in a letter to a friend, James Forest, which can be found in Volume 1 of his collected letters, "The Hidden Ground of Love."

(He tells of "focusing uncertainly on the faces of the four nuns opposite"!!)

Originally Posted by The Cobbler's Apprentice

It's actually straight from the horses mouth. The story is told by Merton himself in a letter to a friend, James Forest, which can be found in Volume 1 of his collected letters, "The Hidden Ground of Love."

Thanks I will look it up. It's interesting to me as I lived in a small community and such things would not have been possible. I think his community was fairly large at the time he lived there and maybe he was afforded certain freedoms due to his popularity as a writer and lecturer? Larger communities also often were less strict. Merton was a Trappist and they typically were under "stricter" rules than most Benedictine communities but ours was small and followed the Rule Of Saint Benedict very firmly. I was thinking, ok he had to get permission from his Abbot to go....then he was publicly drinking or drunk? Seems so out of character for him but I will check out what he wrote. I'm curious about the time period as well. I think he got permission to leave the monastery at some point to study Buddhism or Zen.