Need some advice - Buddhist Monk Update

[Lorenzo]

If anyone has any suggestion/solutions, help me out. I'm kind of stuck knowing what to do.

Last year I bought some acreage up in the mountains. This last Saturday, I drove up there and hiked around. The upper 40 has a spring and pond where I'd like to start building a guest log cabin soon. But, as I approached the pond, lo and behold, there was a Buddhist monk, visiting from Thailand, meditating beside it. Come to find out, he had gotten permission to live in an empty cabin on the neighbors land east of my property line.

I didn't disturb him, but later that evening, my wife and I walked up to the neighbor's cabin and introduced ourselves. He was very nice. A small short man of about 50 years age. He calls himself Sveta. He spoke a little English and said he'd be there all summer, and had come to find a quiet place to meditate in deep total silence. He asked if it was okay to use the area around the pond. I plan on making a lot of noise around there soon, chainsaw, bulldozer, lots of hammering, etc. I didn't give him a yes, but I didn't say no either. But, I did share my appreciation for the site. It's totally serene there. He has no place like this on his land so he was attracted to the pond.

Q. How's the best way to handle this situation? I feel my plans would be imposing on him--noise, people, a slight irrevernce and all--even if he abandoned the pond idea and stayed on his own land. There's no other place like it close by. My wife says there's no hurry on the cabin, but I don't have time to wait.

The pond is just beyond the far end of this meadow, hidden in the woods.
His cabin is off to the left a few hundred feet, out of sight. This meadow is
in a swale, a little world of it's own. Echos are everywhere.

[Doug_Tipple]

Thanks for sharing the photo of your property, Lorenzo. It is beautiful.There is no easy answer to your dilemma, but, since you are asking for feedback, my answer is that I would follow your wife's assesment of the situation.

[IRTradRU?]

Build.

[Lambchop]

The benefit of a meditating Buddhist monk, Lorenzo, will far outweigh the benefits of working on the guest house this summer. You can build a guest house anytime, but the monk is only here now. Perhaps he's there for you?

There are those who would tell you that this is nature's way of letting you know that it's not ready to have a house built on that site. Perhaps later would be better.

Perhaps you, yourself, would benefit from a quiet, meditative summer. One handy thing about Buddhist monks is that they are often teachers of meditation.

Is there something you can do to improve the land that won't be disruptive? Hand-clearing, for example? Putting in a garden?

[Jack]

It's a difficult situation.

Pray about it.

[Lorenzo]

I'm just not familiar with what a Buddhist monks needs are for sure. If it's total silence from the outside, or if it means he'd like to be left alone...no one interrupting him. I'm not sure what to do, even working next door...within hearing range. I wonder if deep meditation causes one to not notice the outer world, or if it just means he will just not be able to interact.

There is another project I could do on the lower 40. I think it's out of hearing range, over a small ridge anyway. Still, chainsaws are cruel no matter how close or far. I wear headphones when using them. I mean the ears are totally sealed off. Would a person who meditates considers earplugs?

I love the silence and privacy of the area too, in fact, I thought I would have my place to myself. My problem is that I have only a few months in the summers to do anything...April to November, basically 5-6 months.

I know there's several Buddhist on C&F and I thought maybe someone might know what the monk would be thinking or needing in terms of space and silence. I understand he's come up from L.A., and has only been in this country for a year or so.

[Lorenzo]

Perhaps he's there for you?

Thanks. I wonder. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

[Lambchop]

I'm just not familiar with what a Buddhist monks needs are for sure. If it's total silence from the outside, or if it means he'd like to be left alone...no one interrupting him. I'm not sure what to do, even working next door...within hearing range. I wonder if deep meditation causes one to not notice the outer world, or if it just means he will just not be able to interact.
.

You could ask him. It would be a good way to establish a friendship.

I doubt if he needs total silence, although it's sure nice to have peaceful surroundings. Natural sounds that "fit in" would be fine, I should think. Perhaps sawing with a saw and chopping with an axe instead of a chainsaw? Two things that fit well with an active meditation . . . the sawing and chopping become part of it. (For you!)

I can meditate anywhere, any time, in all sorts of surroundings. I am more aware of the outer world, in a kind of cosmic way (for want of a better word), although not choosing to focus on it, and I'm able to interact just fine. If I'm not, it's because I've gone to sleep.

Then again, I'm not Buddhist, so I can't say that I know what he'd require. I don't do Buddhist meditation . . . I just sit.

[The Weekenders]

Monks are just people, after all. Would you do this for another person, say a retired American person who was trying to get away from a noisy world?

That said, if you want to delay your project and lose a year, wait. You could do some fun camping up there instead and build in 06. It would be a nice way to enjoy your land and stock up some memories.

It is your land, tho. Maybe he oughta help you build it. It'll be just like an old episode of Kung Fu, grasshopper.

[IRTradRU?]

Go the distance.

[IRTradRU?]

Go the distance.

[happyturkeyman]

That's very surreal.

[Matt_Paris]

That's why I love America...

A man has got a land and wants to build a cabin. But his neighbor is a meditative monk and he does not want to disturb him...

In France, it would be soooo complicated to obtain all the administrative authorizations for building even just a doghouse, that when people get all this paperwork, they would just tell the monk "well sorry I'll make some noise", and build.

Great place, really.

[jim stone]

IMO, it's alright to go ahead and build, of course explaining
to this fellow kindly what is about to happen and why.
Unless you don't wish to for his sake. But if it's time
to build, I would.

Just to add, having been in Thailand, Thai monks
who actually meditate are rare. This fellow may
be worth talking with.

One of the best lay practitioners, Deepa Ma in Calcutta,
sat all daymost every day in her daughters living room while
her daughter watched TV, loud.

[susnfx]

Would you do this for another person, say a retired American person who was trying to get away from a noisy world?

This was my reaction, too. If the person had been a Christian who said he just loved the solitude and wanted to come there to pray, I wonder what you'd think about it. I find your hesitancy to build a nice thought, but perhaps a little too sensitive. Monks are not mysterious beings - they are, indeed, people too, and I'm certain this person understands your ownership of the property and your plans for building on it. (I apologize if this sounds mean-spirited or sarcastic - it's not intended to be.)

Susan