Mini samsara

Last weekend I went back to Thailand to attend a friend's wedding. I also saw a few close friends that I have not seen for sometime.

One of my close friends, who has also ordained at Wat Doi Dhamma Chadee for a few years, was there too. It's amazing how he lives his life, which is like a mini cycle of samsara. For a few months, he would be a party animal, going out every night and spending most of the day sleeping; and when he felt he could not take it any longer, he would spend the next couple of months sobering up and stayed at Wat Doi Dhamma Chadee for a week or so, probably meditating like crazy. Then he would be off to do his partying thing again. And another mini samsara cycle repeat itself.

I wonder how long he will be like that. Now he is near 40, and has been doing his mini samsara thing for about 15 years already. Perhaps it is rooted in his childhood, as he was sent off to boarding school in England since he was eight, and has not see his dad much until even today. May be he is still lost, after all these years. It is amazing how we don't know how much influence parents can have on kids until we have a few kids of our own, ....and also how much influence kids have on their parents, on how we choose to live our lives....which is mostly for them.