Why Join a Monastery?

Many people dream of becoming a monk.

Or building a cabin in the woods.

Or maybe it’s simply going somewhere new - somewhere unknown - where you have the chance to hear the murmurings of the World which usually go unheard.

This is a common longing that is easy to understand.

However it doesn’t answer the question. Not really.

“Why did you join a monastery?”

“Why did you leave your job?”

“Why did you _____?”

It’s a bit like asking a tree why its leaves sometimes move.

The tree might tell you about the wind and, if it’s an intellectual tree, it could even draw diagrams of its branch structure and explain the physics of air pressure.

And like that tree, we have many reasons for what we do.

We can speak of cultural influences.

We can study the relationship between neurophysiology and behaviour.

We can explain how certain beliefs, feelings and values lead us down one path and not the other.

And all this gives the impression that we know what’s going on.

It makes us feel like we’re in control.

But as a Zen saying goes:

“You may wish to ask where the flowers come from, but even the God of Spring doesn’t know.”