Wise Awareness (​Kumāra Bhikkhu's Blog)

Part 3:  Getting Through the Hardest Part How to Get My Parents’ Consent? Becoming a monk requires parental consent.  E ven if you’re 70 years old,  s o long as your parents are alive,  you still need their consent. So, I had to think about this. Before that, I had to decide whether to end my course, as getting the certificate was unnecessary for the life that I wanted. I spoke to a few monks and they suggested that I finish it up, since it was just half a year to completion. I decided to follow their advice. So, I wasn’t in a hurry to get my parents’ consent then. A few months before the end of my course, my father came over to ask me to join a company which he was setting up with a friend. It obviously meant a lot to him, and I didn’t have the heart to say no. He must have seen my reluctance, and told me that it would be just for a start, and that I could leave later. Reluctantly, I said yes. Immediately after my final exams were over, I went to work with my father...

Part 1:  It Started in My Teenage Years From time to time, people ask me why I became a monk. The shortest answer I’ve given was:  Because I want to. But of course that’s not exactly what they want to hear. They want a story. So, I tell them t here were some  events  that  were directly or indirectly  significant . The first one happened when I was 15. Something I Had No Name For I took public bus to school then. One day, when the bus stopped at the station, I suddenly snapped out of my daydream, and thought, “Wow… I’m already here!” “What was I thinking about?” I sat there wondering. I couldn’t recall. I remembered getting on the bus and then nothing else until I jerked back onto reality. It was like I lost time. As I reflected on what happened, I recalled that I had lost awareness like that many times before. I wondered, “Can I prevent myself from losing awareness?” So, I began to see how I can maintain awareness every time I took a bus to school. It was ...