How does monks live

They keep material possessions to a minimum and only hold what they need to live their life. Usually this will all fit in a small backpack. They attempt to attain enlightenment to reach their full potential and help those in need. Our revealing new quiz will help you discover your hidden superpower and unlock your greatest gifts in life.

Check it out here. When you can develop this kind of selfless attitude, you focus less on your personal problems. You get less emotional about small things and your mind becomes more calm. One of the main reasons you become a monk is to have more time to meditate. Most monks wake up early and meditate for 1 to 3 hours and do the same at night. This kind of practice changes the brain. To learn more about meditation techniques and Buddhist wisdom, check out our no-nonsense guide to using Buddhism and eastern philosophy for a better life here.

In western society, we have an unhealthy relationship with old age. But for Buddhist monks, they see elder people as having wisdom. They seek elder spiritual guides that can help them on their path.

If you look around, there are always insightful people to learn from. Older people have more experience which means they can offer countless life lessons. Our brains naturally judges others. He gets some from the post office down the hill in the town of St. Staff members who sort the mail at the archabbey also save some for him.

Then I take a nap. Brother Joel Blaize has been writing music since high school and, for most of the run, he did it only for himself. At Saint Meinrad, he has an outlet. Brother Joel is a year-old Mount Carmel, Ill. He joined a band in fourth grade, played the euphonium think little tuba and kept playing right through college at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

A high school music theory class turned him onto composition and when he joined the monastery two years ago, he discovered a few things. First, the place — and the process of prayer and studies — is perfect for provoking emotion.

Second, there are people who want to hear his creations. He writes the music for the archabbey podcast. No pressure. But he wants to do his best. Sometimes, all he needs is a snippet of a melody; from there, he can diverge into his own taste, a pallet lined with bluegrass, newgrass a newer kind of bluegrass music , folk, even Lady Gaga.

Still, not everything takes so long. On deadline, he can assemble something passable in a few minutes. Smaller pieces might take two hours. For the podcast, eight hours of work are boiled into only a few minutes of music used to fills gap between narration or conversation. So size matters. So does timing. Fall and spring prompt more creativity. Location has worth, too. He can write at his computer, but the keyboard gives him a platform to test the melody as he goes.

But some feedback never hurts. Father Julian Peters still has the recipe. When you spend your childhood crafting your culinary skills in the kitchen with your grandma, the safekeeping of family heirlooms is paramount. Father Julian keeps the paper in his office, the one with a desk and chair.

His other office is the kind with an oven and stove. He likes to eat. But he rarely cooks for himself. With cooking, you have a beginning, middle and end. I enjoy providing things for people, to provide an occasion, to have a good time, to enjoy a meal. The dynamic of what happens when people sit down to eat is timeless. It is the biggest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere. And the name is fitting.

When I arrived at the temple, I was eagerly waiting outside the gated community, until security buzzed me in. The first thing I noticed when I got inside, was how beautiful the gardens were. The temple grounds were very quiet.

Walking around was so calm and relaxing. Seeing all the monks walking around, I was starting to get really excited to learn all about their lifestyle. Shortly after exploring the grounds, I met Venerable Dr Juewei, who was going to be guiding me through my temple experience. Venerable Dr Juewei is a very impressive woman. She has several degrees under her belt and is the head of the Nan Tien Institute , where they teach Buddhism. I got to sit down and have a long chat with Venerable Dr Jeuwei.

She was so friendly, calm and everything you thought a monk would be. I also learnt a lot from her. Mainly, that my initial beliefs about monks were wrong. Interestingly enough, I even saw some of the Monks using their own iPhones. They are human just like the rest of us. They all live together in the temple and have very strict daily routines that make it hard to avoid each other. They practise mindfulness in their day-to-day life, and whenever faced with a difficult situation, they just take it back to the breath.