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I grew up in a mostly Buddhist environment.

I certainly haven't lived the life of a Buddhist monk.

When I became a novice monk, I lived in a temple where the atmosphere was quite like in a family. The abbot is like a father and other monks are like your big brothers, your small, younger brothers. It is a kind of family.

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.

So, at the age of nine, I became a monk, and from then on I was there practicing that kind of nonviolence.

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 am a simple Buddhist monk - no more, no less.

I was raised in a heavily Catholic family. Early and consistent encounters with mysticism.

Not only was I the only black kid and the only poor kid, but my parents were transcendental meditation devotees, and I live in an ashram for a good portion of my childhood.

I grew up in a small place and left it when I was quite young and entered the bigger world.