What part does music play in lay life and monastic life?
Is any sort of music forbidden or encouraged?
It doesn't play any part and I'd say it's not encouraged.
It's indulged in.
That's all.
Music is not beneficial.
Music is something that
excites one's desire and one's attachment.
Sorry.
I was a musician.
I was in a band.
I played the piano.
I played classical guitar.
I had a Les Paul 76 Deluxe
I was in a band.
I had long hair.
And then I was a punk rocker.
Heavily into music, more than most people.
I was in... What do you call those people who are... I don't know the word.
Words always escape me.
I was in...
The tip of my tongue starts with an E, I think.
These people who are, who really know their stuff.
A snob, kind of.
Kind of a music snob.
You know, in the know and all that.
And I gave it up.
I don't listen to music at all.
I'm certainly not less happy for it.
I was miserable.
I was horrible.
I was really...
Yeah, if anyone ever says I don't look happy enough, you should have seen me before.
I was really depressed.
And that's when I was in the thick of it, of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
I had everything.
I had everything that was supposed to make you happy.
I was miserable.
It was probably because I was miserable that I was so inclined towards it.
Spent some time recently writing down Because I'm off I often have to think back what year was this so I spent some time writing down What happened every year of my life?
that I can remember.
And it was interesting in the teenage years how it was just so dark, so hard to remember.
Of course, childhood, early childhood was even worse, but in a different way.
Because teenage years, they're getting further away now, but they're not that far.
But it's funny how dark they are.
That's how I remember them, actually.
That's how I remarked upon them, how dark it was.
What a hole my teenage existence was.
That's why I think we go for drugs and sex and rock and roll.
Not because we're happy or, you know, because we're the kind of people who find happiness because we're miserable.
So we're like drug addicts.
Yep.
Sorry, I mean, such a bummer, no?
We monks, party poopers.