After living in Thailand for about 8 years I became very serious about entering the monkhood. Several people knew this and one day a parent of one of the players asked me if I was interested in meeting the Supreme Patriarch, Thailand’s senior monk. I had seen the Supreme Patriarch in newspapers and magazines, always at the most important Buddhist ceremonies and mostly presiding over traditional ceremonies with the King of Thailand. This was an opportunity available to very few!
Finally the day came when I was to travel to the temple and meet the Supreme Patriarch. I had dressed in collared shirt and blazer and was eagerly anticipating the meeting. Prior to meeting the Supreme Patriarch you are taken into a separate room and taught protocol, to wai 3 times to Buddha statues in his study and general rules associated with meeting him. The excitement began to mount.
When I was finally escorted into his study I got down on my knees and shuffled towards the first Buddha image, waied three times and then shuffled across to the 2nd image. I remember not being that graceful with my movement, rather tough for a foreigner wearing business slacks and a blazer!
At last I was in front of him and sat uncomfortably as he sat looking at me. It took him several minutes to speak, all the time he was eyeing me up and down with a very benign look on his face, what sort of man was this I wondered? Finally he spoke to asking “what is the difference between a coach and a teacher?” He spoke softly, kindly, but I thought “this was going to be harder than I thought”
The talk actually turned out to be great, we got on really well. He encouraged me to stay in tennis, saying “Buddhism is not a religion but a science of life, a way of living”, meaning that getting more involved in Buddhism and spirituality in general could take place during my normal daily activities. The older and more experienced I get I have found this to be the truth. It’s how you live and act day to day and not what or where you worship.
But of course this story has a twist in the tail as all my stories seem to have… After about 40 minutes of talking, one of his assistants came to whisper something in his ear and he immediately thanked me for coming and apologized to me saying he needed to break our meeting off.
After reversing out of his study on my knees, again performing 3 wai’s to each Buddha image, I made my way outside and climbed into the special van for the journey home. Unfortunately the exit out of the temple was blocked and the road outside was blocked for a VIP. We were directed over to the side of the temple lane and eventually the next visitor came along. It was the King of Thailand and he was the Supreme Patriarch’s next guest!
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