Cutting Quote by Tenzin Palmo

“We often conceive of worldly life as merely a kind of default existence that anyone who is not specially called to monasticism or ordination…

— Daniel G. Opperwall

“Monasticism is really based on the idea that if you leave people, you leave the spirit of the world. But you do not. You…

— David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Monasticism resonated with me, with my imperfect, impulsive self, because it encompasses all human activity and asks that the disparate parts and moments of…

— Paul Wilkes

Working in film, I'm sure you have insight into this, there's something great that only comes by way of interactions with others that a…

— John Maus

There is one big misunderstanding of the monastics leaving society.

— Shane Claiborne

“the pool of individuals to whom the monastic philosophy applies is limited—and that’s okay. If you’re outside this pool, its radical simplicity shouldn’t evince…

— Cal Newport

“Monastic contemplatives have staked out a clearly limited area to be transformed by contemplation: the monastery. Lay contemplatives face the challenge of transforming the…

— David Steindl-Rast

Thinking about monastic ideals is not the same as living up to them, but at any rate such thinking has an important place in…

— Thomas Merton

There is a basic problem that a lot of Western monks and nuns become ordained without really understanding or appreciating what the monastic life…

— Tenzin Palmo

“From the point of view of history, of reason, and of truth, monasticism is condemned. Monasteries, when they abound in a nation, are clogs…

— Victor Hugo

“One of the great dangers faced by monastic practitioners is that, after a few months or a few years or a few decades, we…

— Michael Casey

Monastic vows rest on the false assumption that there is a special calling, a vocation, to which superior Christians are invited to observe the…

— Martin Luther