Photos of children monks in training

Some may view the photos as examples of brutal indoctrination and brainwashing of children, but the reality is that parents of these children voluntarily send their kids to the monasteries so they could benefit from the general education as well as the Buddhist conception of reality. The pictures represent the training under the Theravada branch of Buddhism, the alleged earliest and purest form of Buddhism. The Buddhist mendicant monks (the novices as well, as seen by the pictures of the children) make their daily rounds of soliciting for alms (they are supported by the community) and eat one meal a day before noon whatever deposited in their begging bowls. They don't work in the ordinary meaning of the world so they can have time to study Buddhism. In return, the community learn about Buddhism and benefit from their scholarly, social and political (when the nations in crisis. In the past Buddhist monks led demonstrations against the military junta in Myanmar) leadership.

True knowledge is at once simple and mysterious. And so am I. I remind myself time and again that most, if not all, common folks fail to realize that I am both a shining mirror and an iceberg. Even my mistakes and sufferings have the markings of bathos, pathos, and some grandeur as I do have the sensibilities of a poet/philosopher. Your journey has the markings of a late start. Read "Confessions of a Philosopher" by Bryan Magee.

Last night I had two horrible dreams: the first involved my killing of my mother; the second one was about a fight to death with a guy I hated.