Techno-Monk

Cheryl and I recently visited Cambodia for our Christmas holidays. We visited many beautiful ancient ruins and enjoyed the relaxed culture of Cambodia. But this is a specific story of specific moment with a specific monk.

We stopped into a small internet café to check our emails. Cheryl was sitting on the computer navigating her way around cyber-reality when I noticed that she was sitting at the end of a line of Buddhist monks. The scene struck me as odd, and so, I snapped a picture. Perhaps this is not so incredible an event however it was rather contrary to my preconceived notion of monks and so seemed worthy of a picture. Prior to coming to Southeast Asia my impression of monks was caught up with images of the serene individual caught up in nothing of the outer world, a slave only to inward focus and the need to ascend to greater mental heights. I guess it is a mixture of North American fixation upon eastern religion, misunderstanding of neo-zenistic beliefs, and maybe even some glorification of Tibetan ideals. I admit that my preconceptions are rather naïve yet every time I see a monk handling an 8-mega pixel digital camera, riding on the skytrain amidst the modern towering metropolis of Bangkok, or simply checking his email in an internet café I feel like I am witness to a fish-out-of-water event. Contrast does so lead to drama.

Cheryl began to have trouble working the keyboard of the computer as the keys were insistently sticking. She was becoming animated in her distress and soon the monk beside Cheryl started to giggle at her frustration toward the computer. Perhaps from his point of view he witness the folly and futility of a person becoming angered toward an inanimate object. But the moment did appear quite funny once the out-of-the-box laughter emerged.

When Cheryl finished I took her seat and began to check my email. I opened up a facetious message and began to type a mockery toward Cheryl saying how funny I thought it was that a Buddhist monk was laughing at her for her techno-inabilities. Suddenly I heard the monk laughing over my shoulder as he had clearly busted my attempt at a covert joke involving his influence. I looked at him and he said “Is that message for noone? It is just for fun, yes?” He had immediately picked up on the intended mirth of the moment and pointed it out with no hint of ego. He was formless in his humour and benign in intent. I agreed he was correct. He followed up his expression of merriment by asking if Cheryl was my partner to which I said “Yes, she is my wife and explained how I thought he was funny to notice her predicament with the computer