I used to be monastic, almost. Now I'm like a Tibetan that has discovered hamburgers and television. I'm catching up on Americana.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Just studying Buddhism, then meditating and going to Buddhist monasteries, talking to Buddhist monks, combined with the Thai people themselves, changed the way I look at the world.
I grew up in a mostly Buddhist environment.
My imagination is a monastery and I am its monk.
Tibetan Buddhism had an enormous impact on me.
I am a simple Buddhist monk - no more, no less.
That was my childhood. I grew up with the monks, studying Sanskrit and meditating for hours in the morning and hours in the evening, and going once a day to beg for food.
I was filming in Roscrea in Co Tipperary. I had great fun watching monks in the monastery there making bread. They even offered me a job as their main baker. One of them said I would make a good monk, but I told him there was a slight problem because I was married.
I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less.
I grew with it, and I used to go to see the monks, who had no possessions, even more extreme than my mother.
I turned into a monk when my mother went to learn Buddhism in Burma. While she learnt at the monastery, I used to roam around with a begging bowl and ask for food.