Occupation: Monastic, Part Two

Yesterday, I wrote a bit about how monastics in the past often spent their time. I had started to answer a question people often ask me: What do you do all day? (Polite emphasis on the second “do.”) I found myself digressing because there is an oft-held idea that monastics spend much of their time sitting in meditation.

In the past, in a less crowded and slower-paced world, a reclusive life was quite possible. But that life was by no means easy as anyone who has tried to meditate for eight hours a day will attest.

So having a glimpse of what monastics did in the past, how do monastics today spend their time?

I can’t speak for other monastics other than to say that all the ones I know are very busy. The world has caught up with us. It’s tough to find a quiet forest or a secluded mountain these days.

So for those who have asked what do I do—my primary work is editing translations. This was the major reason I became a nun: to have more time to work on translating the talks of my teacher, Ven. Master Chin Kung. Usually I try to work with our team on one main project at a time. We use the Internet for web-conferencing, a vast improvement over emailing files and just writing comments. Periodically we get urgent requests for translations from people in China, Taiwan, and Australia. It’s “fun” when we get requests from all three at one time. (That’s when coffee moves from the beverage category to the medicinal category.) I also do editing for other societies.

In addition to the editing work, I also teach, write books and this blog, record audio books, answer prisoner’s correspondence, prepare materials for publication and supervise their production, and work with websites. Basically, I help others when they ask for assistance and also try to decide what needs to be done and then do it.

People also ask about my living arrangements.

I have remained in my mother's apartment since I now have several classes that I teach locally. I have turned the apartment living room, dining room, and larger bedroom into a Buddhist center. This arrangement works very well because we hold classes and one-day retreats here.

For those who have asked, I do my own cooking. It gets me away from the computer! Thankfully, my neighbors are away during the day. (I talk to myself a lot when I'm cooking—sort of a Buddhist nun stand-up comedy routine. My mother would have approved.)

Whenever I need help, there are wonderful people here to help. Jim brought over some salt to put down after the sleet this week and Ruth hung my thermal drapes. (I helped her by working on the computer.) Jim and Hank put the bookcases together. Kathleen offered to get me locally-grown organic produce from the farmer’s market in Goshen. Geneele arranged for me to see her optometrist brother-in-law. And the list goes on and on.    

So basically, what I "do" is stay happily busy.