buddism

just had a fascinating conversation with a burmese monk.

we met him because we ride home one of the guys in our english class cos he's scared of the thai police, and the monk is staying with him.

he grew up in Burma when the country was still under colonial rule, so he learnt english at school (lots of the burmese people who are 50 plus speak quite good english).

he told us that buddha was not a god and never claimed to be, he only asked that people follow his teachings. he was keen to talk about jesus with us and encouraged us to follow his teachings.

the monastries seem to be wonderful places. all the monks live there and people can go to them if they are in trouble. they also provide free education to the burmese children.

one of the guys in one of our classes (late twenties) is going to stay at a monastry for a couple of weeks. the poor guy was in one of the famous burmese masacres in Rangoon. he was injured but survived by pretending to be dead. he is a really funny guy and had quite good english so we have become friends. unfortunately he smells of alcohol most mornings - which is why he's going to stay in the monastry - to sobber up. i'm pretty sure he also said he's going to sell everything he's owns and be poor so he'll have no money so he can't buy alcohol. or maybe it was sell everything he owns so he can buy more alcohol?? not sure... the language barrier sux.