is buddhism just another romantic escape?

[vervex]

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.

I share these feelings Tanner. As an early teen, when I was first introduced to Buddhism, I remember feeling a lot of fascination, admiration and affinity with monastery life, particularly in Buddhism. Many years later, I realized that I had most likely already walked that particular path, as I now feel and receive some echo of it in the present time. Whenever I even think of such path, I'm immediately flooded with a sense of peace and surrender.

Although I share many beliefs and concepts, my present path is different in one crucial way; I came here to create and share with others. I came to interact and inspire. That is not something I would be able to do had I chosen to live as a Buddhism monk, though I admire them. I have to be part of the people in order to understand them, love them and help them.