Unexpected Freedom

Alone TogetherTasting the flavour of solitude and the nectar of peace,those who drink the joy that is the essence of realityabide free from fear of evil.Dhammapada verse 205Question: Can you explain the relative merits of practising asa monastic and practising as a householder? Could you alsodescribe any general patterns of personality change that youhave noticed in people as a result of Buddhist practice?Ajahn Munindo: Whether one lives the life of a celibaterenunciate, as a monk or nun, or whether one lives as alayperson, a householder, is a question of one’s choice of lifestyle.That choice is not just about personal preferences buthas to do with all sorts of conditions – our accumulations,our kamma. It is a basic premise of the Buddhist outlook thatwe did not come into the world as a blank sheet but with ahistory and a set of tendencies. What we came into this lifewith forms the context and the background against whichour life’s unfolding takes place, the details of which most ofus can’t see.For all of us, however – monks, nuns or lay people – thepractice is essentially the same. We all encounter frustration,limited existence and suffering. What matters is whether weare willing to receive our suffering consciously and look intothe actuality of it, or whether we are committed – knowingly157