So we have a question from Emma about how your family is reacting to your ordination for Sumedha, I guess.
I guess one of the first things that arises in my mind is why someone would ask this question.
Is ordination perhaps something you're thinking of and maybe there's fear that your family would not approve, I think is big for a lot of people.
My family, my parents are Catholic and my dad actually said, oh, it's good you're going the Buddhist route for the nun thing.
I used to, when I was 16, I decided I wanted to be a Catholic nun.
And to be a Catholic nun, you have to be a novice for, I think, five or seven years.
And it's a lifetime commitment.
And to break it is a big deal.
But with a Buddhist nun, my dad thinks, oh, she can easily disrobe, and it's no big deal.
And this is a temporary thing.
My mom thinks this is a temporary thing.
I'm in a phase.
And so they're trying to be supportive.
My dad's actually coming out for the ordination.
Which is a big deal.
But I think he wants to travel as well.
So yeah, they're trying to be supportive.
They don't really understand Buddhism on an experiential level because at least in this lifetime they haven't given meditation a try.
they're interested in learning about it and ask me questions and my brothers and sisters I think for them it's more like being so far away from home it's not so much what I'm doing it's like my sister just gets really worried when she doesn't hear from me and my brother's fine but yeah my other sister it's just more like being away from the family and I guess when I actually ordain I'll be even a bit more
off the wire for at least some time probably so it's more of like missing the missing factor but they're very supportive um and which is a great great blessing were you gonna say something bonte how's his family okay i think
Well, I'm not in my 20s anymore, so I've been talking about it for a long time.
And the last time I saw them, just a couple of weeks ago, they accepted it and I was surprised myself.
And no discussion.
It was fine.
I was very happy about that.
It's funny how when the time comes...
But I lived in a Zen center in a monastery for a whole year.
So they were quite prepared for this.
So it wasn't some shocking news.
Yeah, I think it was the same with me, and it's maybe something that we don't realize until it happens, is that in the end, what's far more important for our parents is the communication and the fact that they're going to lose us.
For my parents, it was much more losing me than about having me change my religion or something.
It seems to me that there is something deep down that your parents will gravitate more towards that.
Okay, okay, become Buddhist if you want, but don't let me never see you again.
That kind of thing.
So probably you could leverage that and say, look, I'm going to run away from...
There goes the internet.
Okay, stop.