Monk for a Day: The story of Dave (video)

Eyewitness Los Angeles, Wisdom Quarterly, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021

Not Dave. This is David Bowie, Buddhist monk

Dave ordained as a novice on a Wednesday, after arriving at the meditation center, claiming that it was his intention to become a fully ordained Buddhist monk.

He had hung out around Los Angeles' Hsi Lai Monastery in Hacienda Heights. And a priest once asked him what he was all about. The priest advised him to visit the temple if that was his attitude.

He did, and he loved it. He kept inking up for the day to come, doing tattoos and odd jobs, riding his bike to the American Buddhist monastery known as Abhayagiri ("Fearless Mountain").

His friend sent him in the direction of the center, and he claimed his friend, Mick, wanted to ordain, too. They lived at the center, tried to get along with everyone, then came today, the day of the head shaving, robe fitting, vows taking, rules agreeing, and the magic words that make one a Buddhist novice, a "little monk" or samanera ("dimunitive ascetic").

Some saintly men continue even after death

Words said, vows and bows, it was time for lunch. The preceptor led the way. The donated meal was eaten when Dave, now the novice Ven. Kusala ("Good Morality"), had misgivings. He mumbled "no," shook his head, and looked distracted.

Mike, now the novice Ven. Sumana ("Good Mind"), seemed oblivious. How close were these two Americans, who stood like father and son? The young one stuck it out, and the father figure caved. 

David (Bowie) as a Scottish monk, Ven. Ziggy

What karma could cause such an upwelling of feeling? He needed out of those robes, and he needed it about ten minutes after putting them on.

What about having come out of homelessness and a substance abuse problem to the center to ordain? Was it BS? What engendered this change of heart? A sudden realization? Had things become too real?

Two monks convened to release him from his little mistake, his minor error, his on-again-off-again hot and cold misgivings? Carry on, wayward son or father, as the case may be. There's no shame in admitting an inability keep the Ten Precepts and the ancillary etiquette rules for monastics.

There is great shame in, feigning to be a well-behaved monk, breaking precepts, even those beneath full defeat (parajika).

• The Mummified Monk (archive.org)