is buddhism just another romantic escape?

[Unbound]

I have contemplated becoming a monk, and I know I have done so in other lives. I met a tibetan lamas and I was very impressed. It is not any escape route but a continuous working of the right hand path with powerful energies involved, it can be highly transformative. Even just a small mention of his trials included a 49 day retreat in total darkness and isolation, which would be daunting to most people and yet he had such a peace about him, I could tell he had faced many demons in himself.

The right hand paths are sometimes scorned by seekers who believe strongly in the strength of the individual and balk at the idea of such surrender to peace through the facing of the self and absolving oneself of the chains of one's karma.