Life is full of uncertainty and constantly refuses to remain on the line that you wanted it to be on. Unexpected can surprise even people with a highly awakened spiritual practitioner. It happened to him.
He was brought up by a family with a spiritual inclination. He would listen every day to his father’s prayer lines that were said before dawn and at the end of the day when light is eventually consumed by darkness. He knew that one's human precious life is wasted without following a spiritual path and this single thought gave him the determination to become a monk.
His dream came true when he was admitted to one of the monastic schools in India, that has a reputation for producing highly learned scholars in Buddhism. It was joyous and happy days in his life in the monastic school until his body no longer could bear the pain of odds. He was sick and he could not continue his studies. This has shattered his life-longing dream. He was given to understand that every success cannot be assured of its continuity.
He returned to Bhutan and took refuge in one of the highly learned and respected Lama. He did not regret his past since he was able to practice everything he desired under his new lama. He always thought that it was a blessing in disguise for not been able to continue his studies in the monastic school in India.
In due course, everything changed in a short span of time. He married and fathered a few babies. This was seen as unacceptable for a person like him by others, and even a few close relatives and friends started to distance him. Notwithstanding his realization of the darker side of the marriage, he stood firm with his conviction. He continued practising and following his Lama's instruction every day as he was taught not to be a servant of other's expectations.
He has never changed his views to others from what he had held before and indeed, he was more appreciative of having seen people lowered their expectation on him and bothering him much lesser than before.
The way he continues to live by following what he learned through his teacher in his everyday life gave me inside of how people must continue to have the right views from the beginning than having wrong views on the right thing at the end. He finally made me understand how the marriage life approach is taken as a progressive course in one's life by Buddhist practitioners though I have read a few biographies of great Buddhist masters with similar courses.
Though I am still having no guts to congratulate him he truly shows that married life isn’t the end of what you wanted to achieve as a Buddhist practitioner in life. My only prayers for him are for his long life and seeing him achieving enlightenment through all odds to inspire dumbfounded sentient beings like me.
(This opinion is mine alone, and does not represent the opinion of anyone else, including my employer. Please accept my apologies if anyone feels offended or disrespected by the article. Your kindness will always remain with me)
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