Puii, buddhist monk, Thailand

Whilst traveling around Thailand and being fascinated by the deep religious roots their culture holds I went to a lot of local temples. Trust me, there are A LOT! Each one has its own sacredness and beauty. Whilst on my travels I felt a deeper spiritual connection then at other times and so enjoyed the sacred temples a lot. On one of the occasions I befriended myself with a local Buddhist monk. We got talking because he saw that I already had a lot of temple bracelets and asked where I was headed in my travels and as a coincidence as it might should have been my next stop was his home town up north in Chiang Mai. I met him in the south of Thailand, near Phuket.

What is your name? My name is Puii

Where do you come from?  I am from Chaing Mai north of Thailand

As a little child, do you remember what was your dream job? I wanted to be a chef, but we were very poor as family and I became bad. My parents sent me to the monks.

What is your profession now? I am the head monk in this temple, I have been a monk for soon 10 years.

Are you happy with your work life? I have found myself, god, nature and everything is great.

If you could relive your life what advise would you give yourself? Dont be bad, karma will come and get you. But I am happy for what has happened in the past, because if I wasnt bad then I wont be a monk. Everything happens for a reason, Everything including bad.

What does happiness mean for you? What does happiness not mean for me? Happiness is everything. The morning sun, the warm water, the bread you eat, the breath you take. We can see sadness or happiness. Why would you want to destory yourself by seeing the bad only? Of course it is difficult in some situation to see the good, but trust me all happens for a reason so be happy and move forward.

If you could grant yourself one wish, what would it be? That I wouldnt have had a bad past and to have joined the monks earlier, also for my parents to have a good life.

What is the most important thing in life? The most important thing in life is happiness and love which is the same. There is only two things in life. Good and bad. But one is the same as the other, just the opposite. You need to try both to know whats the difference. But dont do the mistakes twice. Learn your lesson and follow the good path. We believe you will be born again if you dont do good, life is a cycle. Happiness you get from being good, love you get from being good. You love when you are happy, you are happy when you love. But if you dont have anyone who loves you or anyone you love you wont be happy. And if you are not happy and always sad and angry nobody will love you and you dont love yourself. If you dont love yourself how can you love someone or be loved by someone.

What advise for life can you give me? Be good, Everything happens for a reason, follow the path and see the signs that god presents you.

 Here a picture of the podest he was sitting on. I first asked his permission to photograph him and the temple of course.

 You can see me here offering rice to the local monks. This is the way they survive, by donations of the local people (and the occasional falang/tourist)