Young Monks

As I traveled through Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, I was occasionally surprised at how young many of the monks I encountered were. At the time, I imagined that a life of abstinence, discipline and devotion had been chosen for these youths at an early age, from which they might never be able to break free. In Luang Prabang, I was finally enlightened: Many families sent their children to be monks temporarily, mainly because it gave them social prestige. With this interesting information I was able to see that these young people benefited from their time as monks, especially because they learned how to contribute to society. I struck up a conversation with these three monks at Angkor near the temples of Ta Prohm who supported this notion. They were simply teenagers having fun and obviously being proud contributing to their society as monks.

Ta Prohm, Angkor (Kambodscha), Dezember 2013