#hermit monk

[compassionmattersmost]

Tenzin, the Solitary Hermit

A mindful bedtime story of a solitary monk’s journey to inner peace, offering reflections on tranquility, solitude, and the wisdom found in nature’s embrace. High in the misty cliffs of the Tibetan mountains lived a monk named Tenzin. He had chosen a life of solitude, making his home in a small cave carved into the rock, far from any village. From the mouth of his cave, he could see the wide…

[boyyardee]

chat,,

[illustratus]

Path to Kailas by Nicholas Roerich

[madcat-world]

Hermit - esuthio

[molagboop]

Mawkin children undergo several maturity rites before they're granted full tribal citizenship. The first occurs around eight years old, involving a basic academic evaluation and the child's choice between a physical fitness test or a dream-walk.

The evals are simple: how much has the child learned, what do they know, where can we supplement their education, etc. How can we stimulate their curiosity and foster a lifelong love of learning? Have they displayed any skills or passion for any particular subject? How can we encourage their hobbies and interests? Those are the kinds of questions the adults involved in carrying out the evaluation are asking themselves.

The evaluations help parents figure out (or reaffirm what they already know) ways to engage their childrens' interests in a fun or productive way, and how to help their child along the path to success, academic or otherwise. Every child is different: they have their own needs, and while 8 years old isn't old enough for anyone to ascertain exactly what they wanna be when they grow up, the evaluation is a good starting point for the rest of their academic track until their next formative rites.

The next part of the rites is a branching path. The fitness test is typically favored by more outdoorsy or athletic types, as well as children who are afraid of specters or arent very interested in the old ways. That's fine: old people stuff can be boring! The priests go on and on about the ancestors during holidays, but you're eight years-old and you've never seen the ancestors show up before, so big whoop. You've got toys to play and things to learn.

Another general assumption is that children who are likely to grow into steadfast warriors or athletes may pick the fitness test enthusiastically and without thinking about it, but again, this is an evaluation, and the kids are like, eight. Nothing is set in stone. Eight year olds also typically love playing outside.

A number of kids, hearing about all the cool things their elders know and are capable of, or just being curious about what their ancestors might have to teach them, opt for the dream-walk.

The dream-walk involves exposure to psychoactive fumes, but is nonetheless completely safe: the kid is monitored and made as comfortable as possible.

The dream-walk is overseen by priests and doctors. The burners are lit and the trial-goer falls asleep, entering a state similar to lucid dreaming.

Everyone's experience is different. Some kids have profound surreal experiences: others spend the entire time sitting at a table with a long-dead ancestor having a meal. Some kids are shown events from the past by an old ghost: some even experience said event from the perspective of someone who was there when it happened.

For others, the dream is of an old-fashioned hunt, typically guided by a departed grandparent or neighbor. It's not unusual for Mawkin kids to have experienced the act of hunting for food or sport by this point in their lives: many who hunt take their babies out with them on their backs. The quarry during the dream-walk, however, is typically more than your mundane game beast.

Tribal scholars and doctors of psychology have posited that the dream walk largely reflects the experiences of those involved. Formative memories and strong feelings, they believe, greatly affect the appearance of conjured apparitions in the dream. If a kid is fighting any demons at eight years old or harbor any powerful fears, they may very well be forced to face them head-on during this trial.

Therein lies the value of the dream-walk: it's not just a curiosity to get the kids to engage with cultural practices of yore, it has utility in teaching children valuable lessons through experience without actually making them fight the six-eyed serpent of a hundred and seventeen mouths. And they're usually not facing it alone: the ancestors quite literally walk with plenty of kids during these trials.

There are some truths a given child must face alone, and plenty do. But when they wake, they will find themselves among familiar company, the sweet smell of wood smoke permeating the air and a feast awaiting back home to celebrate their first milestone towards becoming an adult.

Some kids don't fight any major bosses or experience the heat death of the universe through the eyes of a slug, instead deriving value from the dream-walk in the form of sensory-guided introspection. The lesson they learn may not even be apparent to them until six years down the line. It doesn't have to be deep: it can just be an experience that gives then a new perspective on the world.

The senses are heightened supremely during the dream-walk, allowing the dreamer to experience the world in a whole new way. Tasting color, feeling the vibration of every sound beneath one's skin, perceiving the shape of every smell. Even if the kid walks away thinking "huh, I've never experienced the world that way before", the trial will have been a success. In the very least, a child should come out of that dark room with a unique memory for them to examine later on.

Several minor rituals and evaluations occur around twelve and fifteen years, but the foremost citizenship rites occur around seventeen, when an individual's stomach is strong enough to handle sap wine in greater quantities without suffering catastrophic liver failure. The dream-walk is a requirement this time around, as well as a combat test. The combat test is the actual rite that determines one's status as an adult: the mandatory dream-walk occurs beforehand as a way to shed all doubts about the strength of one's resolve if they have any insecurities, and perhaps gain some personal insight in the process. Introspection assisted by psychoactive substances.

You may be wondering how those with varying degrees of disability come of age if they can't engage in the rite of combat. There are alternatives to the combat test if the participant doesn't feel able enough to fight, or otherwise can't exert themselves without experiencing undue pain and discomfort.

There are alternative rites for individuals of every combination of physical and cognitive impairment, and all are treated with the same gravity and dignity afforded to the typical rites. Poetry recitals, music, research projects, an oath of maturity: these are a few examples of things disabled Mawkin have done to establish their claim to adulthood in place of the rite of combat. An individual doesn't have to be "good" at something: they just have to show that they accept the responsibility that comes with being an adult, or are otherwise committed to their community and the tribe at large.

For some people, that commitment comes in the form of thriving to the best of their ability. Surviving to the next day, striving for tomorrow to hurt a little less than yesterday. It doesn't matter whether they can "contribute" or be a "productive member of society": all are one, and one serves all. The Mawkin take community very seriously. There's an age-old adage that says something to the effect of "if one is suffering, all are injured", and "when one is deprived of dignity, we are all cast naked face-down into the mud".

Anyways, that's how juvenile Mawkin are granted all the rights, responsibilities and privileges that come saddled with being an adult. It's worth noting that most of these rites line up with a typical Chozo's molting cycle, with the final rites occurring just as young warriors are shaking off the last loose feathers of their old coat and displaying their first (clear) adult patterns.

[dougielombax]

I’ve alluded to this before but bear with me.

Some religious hermits and ascetics will often take a vow of silence.

I’ve seen it with Buddhist monks, Christian monastic orders and others.

But I cannot help but wonder….

Does this imply the inverse?

A vow of noise?

A vow of loudness?

To be as insufferably loud as humanly possible for as long as one feels necessary?

It must have happened at least once at some point.

No?

Just something I was thinking about.

[tilbageidanmark]

The man inside the tree.

[wisdom-and-such]

One evening a thief visited Ryōkan's hut at the base of the mountain only to discover there was nothing to steal. Ryōkan returned and caught him. "You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift." The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away. Ryōkan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon."

This story relates to an an account mentioned by Ryōkan in a haiku:

盗人に 取り残されし 窓の月ぬすっとに とりのこされし まどのつき

nusutto ni / torinokosareshi / mado no tsuki

The thief left it behind:

the moon

at my window

[victusinveritas]

‘Whosoever is delighted in Solitude is either a Wilde Beast or a God’ FRANCIS BACON (1561 – 1626) Essays, On Friendship Art: St Anthony and the Satyr

Story behind the art, roughly paraphrased from what I remember in the Vita Antonii (of Athanasius): While in the desert, Saint Anthony, then just Anthony, met a centaur and a satyr (thin on the ground but still something you could find in the late Roman Empire, especially in the deserts and wild places). They mocked him for being a Christian and then Anthony converted them through prayer, because that's how these things go. The centaur gave Anthony directions to find a friend and fellow hermit and the satyr asked for a blessing. As far as Saint Anthony's adventures, this was probably a fairly normal Tuesday afternoon for him.

[ceruleanvulpine]

huge respect to @myxinidaes for reblogging that post with 100 birds

[thoughts-from-atop-a-pillar]

Today...

The monks told me I am "too intense"

so now I've decided to just leave

Thinking about mountains

[angwlita]

                                    Life of mount Athos monks 

“Mount Athos is one of the most important centres of the Orthodox Christian world, consisting of 20 monasteries and approximately 2,000 monks. Located on a Greek peninsula, it is home to the oldest surviving monastic community on Earth.”  

“Here it is a simple life. A quiet life to allow yourself to reflect and pray”  

“We make everything here, even the wine and raki. We work hard but we like it because it allows us to feel close to God”

- The abbot of Pantokratoros

Every effort is used for whatever job a monk is given as they believe it is a job given to them directly by God and are often reciting a prayer while they work.

૮꒰˵• ﻌ •˵꒱ა 

[jofiah]

all of my depressive spirals seem to reach the floor of "all these women have it so much better than me and it's so effortless for them"

regardless if that's true or not, I really come to resent a lot of people who try to get close to me because they have what I don't or can't have, and it leads me to isolate myself because being around them stops being enjoyable and starts making me feel inferior

[nomadman108]

Sacred Glass in God's House

At the entrance to the temple, the Way is illumined

[troybeecham]

Today the Church honors St. Giles, Monk.

Ora pro nobis.

St. Giles (Aegidius in Latin, Egidio in Italian) is said to have been born in Athens c. AD 610. His piety and learning made him so conspicuous and an object of such admiration in his own country that, dreading praise and longing for a hidden life, he left his home and sailed for Gaul (France). At first he took up his abode in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhône river, afterward near Arles close to the river Gard, and, finally, in a forest in the diocese of Nîmes in the south of France.

In this forest, he spent many years in the greatest solitude. It is told that his sole companion was a beloved red deer. Giles is also said to have only eaten a strict vegetarian diet. This retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued his pet deer to its place of refuge, his hermitage. An arrow shot at the deer wounded the saint instead, having placed himself between the hunters and the deer. His wound healed but apparently left him with some form of disability. He afterwards became a patron of the physically disabled.

He spent many years in solitude, conversing only with God. Eventually, local the peoples learned of him and began to come to him for prayer. In time, the fame of his miracles became so great that his reputation eventually spread throughout Gaul. He was highly esteemed by the local Gallic king, but he could not be prevailed upon to forsake his solitude. He later admitted several disciples, however, to share it with him. He founded a monastery, and established an excellent discipline therein. In succeeding ages, the monastery embraced the rule of St. Benedict. St. Giles died c. AD 710.

Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses: Grant that we, encouraged by the good example of your servant Giles, may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at last we may with him attain to your eternal joy; through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

[mynakedlunch]

"Può forse un cieco guidare un altro cieco?"