My Buddhist Monk Reading Club.
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:12 am
One of the first classes Ben taught at Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University, where he introduced how to write a paragraph.
Photo Credit: Benjamin Ball / The Daily Princetonian
By Benjamin Ball
Sep 7, 2019
We read excerpts from memoirs. We read love letters. We read scientific essays on everything from sleep to the importance of owning a dog.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 3 p.m., reading club began. A group of about 10 Theravada Buddhist monks, followed by about a half-dozen laypeople, would file into a small classroom in a small university in the small(ish) town of Battambang, Cambodia. And then, we would read.
But what I loved most about the summer were the stories I was told. From hearing Venerable Tola talk about growing up listening to Sinn Sisamuth, the “Elvis of Cambodia,” and wanting to be just like him someday, to watching the culture fair the students put together to celebrate Cambodian food, fashion, and sports, and finding so much joy in their history, I loved hearing all of their stories.
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