Buddhism Essay Example

The Autobiography of a Forest Monk is a life’s tale of the Venerable Ajahn Tate who has described his life and journey as he embarked on his journey in the Thai Forest Tradition. To leave behind a busy life in the towns and villages and move toward the forest in order to claim some peace and quiet however the same lifestyle was accompanied by a lack of worldly necessities such as money and being patient when necessities grew scarce. Ajahn Tate grew from a humble background, and his predecessors had seen hardships and struggled in life before him. He recalls his personal life as a monk as a life which does not put an end to the stresses that a person has been exposed to, but even then ordination is one way of dealing with such struggles and getting over one’s problems. His turning point came when he had a visionary dream in which he saw himself struggling in the forest, and one of the forest monks was chasing after him. Sometime later when he was in the forest, he realized that the visionary dream was a clue to the future and life he was going to have. Growing up in a poor family had its own wisdom for him as well. He ended up becoming the abbot of Hin Mark Peng Monastery. His life has revolved around teaching about truth and wisdom and being true to one’s soul as well as those around a person so that there is no repent or regret in one’s heart. A particularly interesting aspect about him is his lifestyle of extensive traveling and meeting other monks, and revered persons left him more intellectually enriched. The more he saw of the world, the more his views evolved, and he was constantly improving himself. He is a person who understood the essence of Buddhism in the life he led, by realizing life is temporary, and a person has duties to his faith, family, and society.
The Ordination of a Tree revolves around the Buddhist teachings of ecology and the preservation of the environment, and this is important because of the teachings of the Buddhist ethics which talk about respecting nature and the surroundings. This is argued in the cause of a number of deforestations that takes place in Thailand, and it happens to have the largest numbers in all of Asia. Moreover, the link between nature and economics makes preservation all the more important and crucial which is why the monks dictate the methods of farming, pick out the mistakes made by farmers and suggest other ways of improving the ecosystem and developing the forests. This is done by self-proclaimed ecology monks, who have actually emerged from the development monks. The process of preserving the environment is a well-rounded one because it deals with thinking of the surrounding and then coming up with ways to preserve the environment. The article does provide hints that the government and officials will not like the interference of the monks in the system as it seems unconventional to them. However, it is also true that a strictly Buddhist country, the Thai community cannot exactly stop them from interference. Criticism arises in matters like protesting against the construction of dams, which is only done to benefit the country. However, the interesting aspect found in this paper is the belief of the monks that religion and faith can help to serve as a turning factor in the way the society can function and their beliefs can actually save the country from deforestation and other problems. The importance of the tree ordination ceremony gives nature a holy aspect hence it will actually help in changing the way people view the world around them and the way they think about their ecological system. This is done by equating environmental damage with human suffering, due to the forthcoming changes in the system.