Monk Quotes

“The prior turned back to Walter.
“And thou, my child, must heed these
good brothers, who dost seek the
good of thy soul, to grow in thee the
gentle spirit of the monk. And thou
dost desire to be a worthy monk, dost
thou not?”

Walter bit his lip and was silent.

“Walter, answer thou the father
prior,” urged Bartholomew, alarmed
by this diffidence. “Thou dost desire
to be a worthy monk, I trow?”

“No, Father,” whispered the boy.

Brother Bartholomew crossed himself in horror. The prior’s face was a
curious mix of sternness and concealed mirth.

“Then what – wouldst be an unworthy monk?” he asked seriously.

“No, Father – a…a knight!”
― Sarah Brazytis, In God is My Hope

“... the Trappist world appeals to me as a model of wisdom...so infitesimally is the day divided among different occupations. The man who keeps rabbits, for example, hurries from his hutches to the chapel, or the chapter-room, or the refectory, all day long: every hour he has an office to sing, a duty to perform; from two, when he rises in the dark, till eight, when he returns to receive the comforting gift of sleep, he is upon his feet and occupied with manifold and changing business. I know many persons, worth several thousands in the year, who are not so fortunate in the disposal of their lives... We speak of hardships, but the true hardship is to be a dull fool, and permitted to mismanage life in our own dull and foolish manner.”
― R. L. Stevenson

“Tools and Fools (The Sonnet)

I am a scientist but,
I don't care about science.
I am a monk but,
I don't care about enlightenment.
I am a philosopher but,
I don't care about philosophy.
I am a theologian but,
I don't care about theology.
I may use a lot of tools,
But that's what they are - tools.
They are meant to serve society,
Not look down on people as fools.
When the tool rules, user turns a tool.
Human above all else - lo the supreme rule.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race

“I am a scientist, but don't make the mistake of thinking of me as yet another shaky scientist. Before I was a scientist, I was a monk - before I was a monk, I was an engineering student – and even before that I was a martial artist. So be very careful, for there's nothing more dangerous than a wounded scientist. Science is literally the only super power in the world. And I’ve been playing with science, before I could speak english. When my teenage peers were obsessing over getting high, I was obsessed with building circuits. I gave it all up, because society has plenty innovators, but zero reformer scientist.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work

“Many people do not understand the art of winning and this has been the case for many centuries.
There was once a Shaolin monk who was constantly being challenged to fight. He always won, even against the angriest and strongest fighters, because they could not understand that technique is always superior to personal will and expectations.
Some of the men noticed his skill and asked to be trained with him, and once their technique was good enough, they would try to defeat him. But the monk would defeat them instead because they could not understand that experience is always superior to technique.
As the monk grew older, he did not desire to fight anymore, and so many men would insult him. But the monk was still winning, because they could not understand that they were wasting an opportunity to learn and the monk did not desire to waste the little time he had left on earth.
Before he died, the monk wrote a few manuscripts with his wisdom, but few were capable of understanding his words because their spirit was not ready. They were still thinking about winning. And so they lost everything, they lost the opportunity to develop a new technique, gain experience, study and understand how to win.”
― Dan Desmarques

“Gegyen told us that the sound of the bell was the sounds of emptiness and represented feminine wisdom.

Leaning back and squinting so that his eyes practically disappeared, he said, "All that appears as solid is merely appearing and has no essential nature. What we think of as real is like the places and people we see in dreams."

Then he laughed, grinning toothlessly, and looked at us nodding, "Ok, let's do that again.”
― Tsultrim Allione, Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict

“Apo Rinpoche had four children and a wonderful wife, and he had a wonderful sense of humor. When I told him I was having repeated dreams about a baby he laughed so hard he almost fell off his seat, and then he said, "All nuns should have babies." I didn't know quite how he meant this, and I continued to struggle with my decision until one day I told him I was having a lot sexual thoughts and feelings and that I really felt I could not continue as a nun. I asked him when he thought I should give back my vows. He said: "It depends how much longer you can wait!" Then he laughed so hard that tears were streaming down his face.”
― Tsultrim Allione, Women of Wisdom

“Isn't petroselinum the name for parsley? (No, it's Greek, you swine. And what's the Greek name for Swine's Snout? I could hurl it at you, like the Pope hurling anathema.)”
― Robert Donald Locke, G-r-r-r...!

“The most powerful drug (medicine) is love. Even monk use it, to know god”
― Vishesh Panthi

“For instance, if you believe that actions can have an impact on future rebirths, your calculations will be very dierent from what they would be if you believed that actions gave no results, or gave results that went no further than this lifetime. In giving clear answers to these larger questions, the Dhamma oers much more than a guide to the present. It explains how to recognize past mistakes so that you can learn from them, and how to plan for a satisfactory future. In providing this framework, the Dhamma gives you standards for deciding which kinds of actions will be skillful and which ones won’t.
As the Buddha said, the primary duty of any responsible teacher is to provide a student both with the confidence that there are such things as skillful and unskillful actions, and with standards for recognizing, in any given situation, which is which. Any interpretation of the Dhamma that neglects this framework—or treats the issue of what happens at death as a mystery—counts as irresponsible.”
― Thanissaro Bhikkhu

“Humanhood is monkhood.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Monk Meets World

“The more we are fed with his sacred humanity's love; the more we reflect on the example he has set us, the more will the divine life grow in us.”
― A. Carthusian, The Prayer of Love and Silence

“Dropout computer engineer to monk, monk to poet scientist, that's my journey.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Humanitarian Dictator

“Dropout computer engineer to monk,
monk to poet scientist, that's my journey.
My existence is testament to assimilation,
proof of the wonders beyond exclusivity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Humanitarian Dictator

“Beyond Evidence and Ignorance
(Monk Scientist Sonnet)

I'm sorry, I cannot live a single cultural,
single lingual, single scriptural existence.
I want all the cultures and languages,
I want all the scriptures and sciences.

I am the epitome of reason founded on love,
beyond the grasp of either establishment.
I don't need to be popular in either cult,
I live as lamp to the world not another lamb.

I am a scientist aware of facts,
I also accept faith as a right.
My struggle is again't intolerance,
not to pamper either side's narrow sight.

I once set out as a monk, that journey has
kept the scientist grounded in tolerance.
My truth is love, not belief or disbelief,
not coldened by evidence or blinded by ignorance.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Little Planet on The Prairie: Dunya Benim, Sorumluluk Benim

“Godmind, Sonnet 2101

Come, look into my eyes,
you'll smell the soil from Tabriz,
chiming with the whirlwind of Konya.
Come, peer into my endless abyss,
fused with the fragrance of Bethlehem,
you'll feel the breeze from Bodh Gaya.

Don't be intimidated, just let it go,
let the chaff of creed become compost.
The vastness I live is the vastness in you,
yet it seems alien, for you're grazing like cod.

Nothing's out there except our image,
whatever is there, is right here.
Origin of universe is too stoic an undertaking,
you just act human, right now and here.

If boson is god particle of the universe,
human is the god particle of society.
Life is divine, when instrument of love,
human is the heart particle of humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The God Sonnets: Naskar Art of Theology

“New Year's Eve is the occasion
to take stock of your origin,
so that in the reign of new dawn,
you don't forget where you come from.

I too have evolved plenty, from a
dropout engineer to monk to scientist.
But I didn't stop at scientist, and
evolved further into poet dervish.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“My life is neither faith based nor fact based, my life is love based.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“This fallen world is not going to provide you with the proof of God’s love. Only faith will. And to have faith, you have to become like a madman in the eyes of this world. Just keep in mind that the world itself is mad. And so, to be a madman, according to the judgement of a mad world, is, in fact, to be perfectly sane. So, if that’s what it takes, then be mad. Be mad and reject the demonic whispers of the Devil that tells you Christ does not love you. Reject the fallen logic of this world that tells you Christ does not love you. Reject the wisdom of your fallen mind, reject the emotions of your fallen heart. For both will tell you at various moments in your life that Christ does not love you. Learn not to listen to them. Learn to be blind to them. Learn to be dead to them. There is a very good reason why Christ says one can only open to real life when one has rejected and lost this fallen life.”
― Fr. Seraphim Aldea

“One monk recorded the working of what he called the ‘noonday demon’ that struck between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. At this time the monk was supposed to be working, but this particular demon would thwart him and make ‘it seem that the sun barely moves, if at all, and that the day is fifty hours long. Then he constrains the monk to look constantly out the windows, to walk outside the cell, to gaze carefully at the sun to determine how far it stands from the ninth hour’ – the hour of dinner. The demon might then force the monk to poke his head out of his cell to see if any other brethren are about. Then, in the warmth of the noonday sun, the monk finds that he ‘rubs his eyes and stretches his hands, and he takes his eyes off his book and stares at the wall. Then he returns to the book and reads a little. As he unfolds it, he becomes preoccupied with the condition of the texts . . . he criticizes the orthography and the decoration. Finally, he folds the book up and places it under his head, and he falls into a light sleep.”
― Catherine Nixey, The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World

“LIII

Abbott Palladiud said: The soul that wishes to live according to the will of Christ should either learn faithfully what it does not yet know, or teach openly what it does know. But if, when it can, it desires to do neither of these things, it is afflicted with madness. For the first step away from God is a distaste for learning, and lack of appetite for those things for which the soul hungers when it seeks God.”
― Thomas Merton OCSO

“LIII

Abbott Palladius said: The soul that wishes to live according to the will of Christ should either learn faithfully what it does not yet know, or teach openly what it does know. But if, when it can, it desires to do neither of these things, it is afflicted with madness. For the first step away from God is a distaste for learning, and lack of appetite for those things for which the soul hungers when it seeks God.”
― Thomas Merton OCSO

“LXXIV

One of the Fathers said: Just as it is impossible for a man to see his face in troubled water, so too the soul, unless it be cleansed of alien thoughts, cannot pray to God in contemplation.”
― Thomas Merton

“ஏனப்பா, உலக சிந்தையில்லாமல் ஏன் இருக்கணும்? அவருக்குத் தெரிஞ்சிக்கிற சித்திகளை வைத்து உலகத்தினுடைய வறுமையைப் போக்கிவிடக்கூடாதோ?"

"அந்த மாதிரி உண்மையான பெரியவன் செய்ய மாட்டாண்டா, பாபு. அவனவன் தன்னாலேதான் முன்னுக்கு வரணும் இந்த உலகத்திலே. எல்லோரும் சோம்பேறியாக இருப்பதற்கு பெரியவர்கள் வழிகாட்டமாட்டார்கள்; இடம் பண்ணிவைக்கமாட்டார்கள்; முன்னேறுகிறதுக்கு வெளிச்சம் காண்பிப்பார்கள். அவ்வளவுதான். முன்னேறுகிறதும் பின்தங்குகிறதும் நம் பொறுப்பு. நாலு பேராவது முன்னேறுவார்கள். உலகத்தில் உயர்த்தி ஒரு நிலையிலே கொண்டு வைத்துவிட்டு அப்புறம் மறைந்துவிடுவார்கள்.”
― Thi Janakiraman

“First time someone broke my heart, I dropped out of engineering and emerged as the Monk Scientist. Second time when I lost my love, Planet Earth received the Poet Apocalypse.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“I dropped out of computer engineering, and became Monk Scientist, to humanize the divine and divinize the human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“I have nothing to lose, no reputation, no image, no class.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Sometimes I'm Dervish, sometimes Advaita, and the Brain Scientist keeps out the superstition.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“I wear the same casual outfit everywhere, pair of jeans with a shirt or tshirt - people wear fancy clothes either to look and feel good, or impress others, I have no need for either, so I walk like beggar.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Vanity and validation are for the small of mind,
Himalayan Human has no need for cosmetic adornment.
The Sun is beyond the realms of humility and hubris,
I'm neither humble nor hubrous, just burning with mission.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat