Rank Insensitivity

Ah, the monks, so holy, and yet so vibrant. There are basic rules for interacting with the Buddhist monks of South East Asia and those rules are these: Be polite, don’t touch them, don’t crowd them, don’t photograph them while they’re bathing or washing their robes or sleeping, don’t tug on their robes, don’t whistle or shout at them, don’t enter their quarters without permission. These are all sensible rules and I find them easy to follow because they’re basically the same guidelines that Sarah has set for me.

I’m big enough to admit that even though I’m nodding solemnly while someone outlines, say, Buddhist temple protocol, or the problems with the behaviour of tourists towards the monks, on the inside my mind is full of profoundly insensitive questions that beg, like a great cloud of cultural flatulence, to be released. When someone tells me that the rainy season is about to start because a particular Buddha has been blessed with water, and that this happens consistently every year, I have to fight the urge to say, “Well don’t do it then! I was going to go to the markets today!” But I don’t, I just nod and say something like, “Wow, there’s so much we don’t understand about the universe.” And when someone explains to me how frustrated the monks get with tourists photographing them all the time I have to strain to prevent myself from pointing out that one of the fundamental laws of travel snaps is that a photo becomes at least ten times more interesting if it has a monk in it. That’s just the law. Likewise, I want to point out that people who wander around major tourist attractions in bright orange sheets are bound to draw a few onlookers. But again, I just nod and say, “We in the West have so much to learn”. I try to be sensitive. I try, but can anyone explain to me this: why, as visitors are we asked to wear demure, respectful clothing while visiting the temples—long pants, shirts with sleeves—out of respect for the ancient, sacred ways of the monks, while those same monks can dress like frat boys on their way to a toga party? They’re showing nipple, for God’s sake. Again, much to learn.