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The Novice: Why I Became a Buddhist Monk, Why I Quit, and What I Learned
This book features an extraordinary quest for peace of mind. In this unforgettable memoir, a young man finds himself disillusioned by the conventional expectations of his parents, teachers, and culture. Desperate to articulate his deepest hopes and dreams, he discards his university education and abandons home, family, and possessions to journey through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia in search of a meaningful life. Narrowly escaping death by sickness and drugs, he encounters the Tibetan refugees in exile and, entranced, finally stops running. He takes the ancient teachings to heart but, eight years later, finds that his path is neither straight nor narrow . . . and that there's no turning back.
349 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 24, 2022
Amazing - Buddha In the Mirror.
Why would a middle class privately schooled Anglo-Italian Catholic boy from rural Gloucestershire England abandoned his education, career and family to hitch hike by himself across Europe and India to the Tibetan refugee camps in India become an ordained Buddhist Monk?
The Novice is an amazing Hero’s Journey, of leaving home with only a backpack and a drive for the Truth of life, overcoming near death twice, to finally becoming an ordained Tibetan Monk. And then, abruptly, and unapologetically abandon it all. And to spend his next 20 years living and finding his own learned Truth.
Stephen says “I was unleashed on the world after a mere eight years of monastic training, supposedly qualified to teach. Others seemed to have confidence in my knowledge, but I knew perfectly well that something was missing. I had come to my teachers for their insights, not their scholarship, and I had no intention of teaching any other way. Almost another two decades passed before I was ready to speak from experience — from what I knew, not what I thought.”
It is wisely said that we learn who we truly are in the mirror reflection in the others we meet along our own life’s journey. What we see and, either like or repel from in others is in Truth a reflection of ourselves.
The Novice is a reflective mirror for today’s society; analogous to Harry Potter looking at himself in the Magical Two Way Mirror and, seeing himself through his parent’s love. And in the older classic, Alice in Wonderland - Through the looking Glass, reflective seeing aspects of herself in the troubled others, trapped deep below in their own rabbit holes.
Stephen Schettini’s writing reminds me of the mesmerizing writing and storytelling of the great John Steinbeck. Perhaps one day this will be a touchstone movie for this generation in search of answers and finding, "Buddha in the Mirror."
Stephen shares his learned 15 Truths which I absorbed in essence; That although we can’t live in the stillness of a Buddha in this amazing but noisy, non-silent world, we can arise to an open Quantum mind without fixed beliefs and dogmas by active mindfulness reduce, focus and simplify to an un-noisy minimum. Reminding of the Rumi Poem. Meet Me in The Field.
“ Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing, and rightdoing, there is a Field. I’ll meet you there. When the Soul lies down in that grass, The World is too full to talk about it” -Rumi
Review by Steven Monahan
Why would a middle class privately schooled Anglo-Italian Catholic boy from rural Gloucestershire England abandoned his education, career and family to hitch hike by himself across Europe and India to the Tibetan refugee camps in India become an ordained Buddhist Monk?
The Novice is an amazing Hero’s Journey, of leaving home with only a backpack and a drive for the Truth of life, overcoming near death twice, to finally becoming an ordained Tibetan Monk. And then, abruptly, and unapologetically abandon it all. And to spend his next 20 years living and finding his own learned Truth.
Stephen says “I was unleashed on the world after a mere eight years of monastic training, supposedly qualified to teach. Others seemed to have confidence in my knowledge, but I knew perfectly well that something was missing. I had come to my teachers for their insights, not their scholarship, and I had no intention of teaching any other way. Almost another two decades passed before I was ready to speak from experience — from what I knew, not what I thought.”
It is wisely said that we learn who we truly are in the mirror reflection in the others we meet along our own life’s journey. What we see and, either like or repel from in others is in Truth a reflection of ourselves.
The Novice is a reflective mirror for today’s society; analogous to Harry Potter looking at himself in the Magical Two Way Mirror and, seeing himself through his parent’s love. And in the older classic, Alice in Wonderland - Through the looking Glass, reflective seeing aspects of herself in the troubled others, trapped deep below in their own rabbit holes.
Stephen Schettini’s writing reminds me of the mesmerizing writing and storytelling of the great John Steinbeck. Perhaps one day this will be a touchstone movie for this generation in search of answers and finding, "Buddha in the Mirror."
Stephen shares his learned 15 Truths which I absorbed in essence; That although we can’t live in the stillness of a Buddha in this amazing but noisy, non-silent world, we can arise to an open Quantum mind without fixed beliefs and dogmas by active mindfulness reduce, focus and simplify to an un-noisy minimum. Reminding of the Rumi Poem. Meet Me in The Field.
“ Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing, and rightdoing, there is a Field. I’ll meet you there. When the Soul lies down in that grass, The World is too full to talk about it” -Rumi
Review by Steven Monahan
August 15, 2012
[This review also appears on Andi's Book Reviews.]
The Novice: Why I Became a Buddhist Monk, Why I Quit & What I Learned by Stephen Schettini is a well-written memoir that almost seems like a version of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, but overseas, and with a more religious theme.
Schettini's religious road began at a young age, when he was attending a Catholic school. Even then, he was questioning the philosophy of Christianity, and was able to expose some of the hypocrisy contained within, and the problem of rote memorization of doctrine without thinking of how to apply it to daily situations.
When a little older, at the age of 11, he developed a knack for shoplifting various items from stores. At his preparatory school, he was considered to be lazy, untidy, careless, and erratic. Being a teenager of the 60s, he grew his hair long, listened to Bob Dylan and the Beatles, drank a lot, and had deep discussions about what really mattered.
When someone finally gave him a copy of the I Ching for his 21st birthday, the foundation was laid for a life-changing trip to Asia, in search of the lesser known Eastern philosophies, usually ignored by those in the West.
Leaving Gloucester to Dover, then continuing to hitchhike across Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, counting on the I Ching to help him make his decisions. Along the way, he tries different drugs that don't agree with him, meets many people who do, and has amazing black-and-white photographs to document the places. He describes these people and places, so often almost demonized on the recent news, in a vivid fashion that puts you right there with him. The behaviors of the people seem to be on par with other memoirs of the area, such as Greg Mortensen's Three Cups of Tea.
Following an almost fatal illness, Schettini finally makes his way to India and Tibet, and is inducted into the practices of Buddhism. He finds a new peace in his new perspective, and order in his previously cluttered mind and manners. He then spends the majority of the next couple of decades as a leader and instructor, before finally deciding to leave to apply what he has learned elsewhere.
This memoir is well-written and easy to read. It is filled with a great deal of honesty, which is the best way to portray emotion in its purest form. It is inspirational, as the reader cannot help but question her own ideals in comparison to Schettini's. And it's simply a good story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
The Novice: Why I Became a Buddhist Monk, Why I Quit & What I Learned by Stephen Schettini is a well-written memoir that almost seems like a version of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, but overseas, and with a more religious theme.
Schettini's religious road began at a young age, when he was attending a Catholic school. Even then, he was questioning the philosophy of Christianity, and was able to expose some of the hypocrisy contained within, and the problem of rote memorization of doctrine without thinking of how to apply it to daily situations.
When a little older, at the age of 11, he developed a knack for shoplifting various items from stores. At his preparatory school, he was considered to be lazy, untidy, careless, and erratic. Being a teenager of the 60s, he grew his hair long, listened to Bob Dylan and the Beatles, drank a lot, and had deep discussions about what really mattered.
When someone finally gave him a copy of the I Ching for his 21st birthday, the foundation was laid for a life-changing trip to Asia, in search of the lesser known Eastern philosophies, usually ignored by those in the West.
Leaving Gloucester to Dover, then continuing to hitchhike across Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, counting on the I Ching to help him make his decisions. Along the way, he tries different drugs that don't agree with him, meets many people who do, and has amazing black-and-white photographs to document the places. He describes these people and places, so often almost demonized on the recent news, in a vivid fashion that puts you right there with him. The behaviors of the people seem to be on par with other memoirs of the area, such as Greg Mortensen's Three Cups of Tea.
Following an almost fatal illness, Schettini finally makes his way to India and Tibet, and is inducted into the practices of Buddhism. He finds a new peace in his new perspective, and order in his previously cluttered mind and manners. He then spends the majority of the next couple of decades as a leader and instructor, before finally deciding to leave to apply what he has learned elsewhere.
This memoir is well-written and easy to read. It is filled with a great deal of honesty, which is the best way to portray emotion in its purest form. It is inspirational, as the reader cannot help but question her own ideals in comparison to Schettini's. And it's simply a good story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
January 1, 2017
A serviceable memoir of an English seeker whose journey took him on the 60s "hippy trail" through eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to India where he embraced Buddhism. After taking vows as a monk, he purused his vocation for eight years before his disillusionment with institutional (but not really philosophical) Buddhism led him to return to the secular world. Schettini is honest and writes clearly, but there's little here that will surprise or, if you have a basic grounding in Buddhism, enlighten.
June 4, 2011
I saw a review of this in a Buddhist magazine, bought it, & read it with intervals
of putting it back on the shelf.
It is not *gripping,* Heaven knows; yet it definitely *is* a truthful account of one English Buddhist's monumental attempt to live the monastic life, & his clearer vision of how those who maintain that system have all the usual human failings.
I am glad he kept at it over so many years, & admire his pluck, & found myself liking him very much as a human.
of putting it back on the shelf.
It is not *gripping,* Heaven knows; yet it definitely *is* a truthful account of one English Buddhist's monumental attempt to live the monastic life, & his clearer vision of how those who maintain that system have all the usual human failings.
I am glad he kept at it over so many years, & admire his pluck, & found myself liking him very much as a human.
October 14, 2010
The chapter titled Turbulence is catching my attention.
Now at the end...I appreciate it as a memoir, and as a tale of struggle. The write chooses honesty as the path to follow in the face of confusion.
Now at the end...I appreciate it as a memoir, and as a tale of struggle. The write chooses honesty as the path to follow in the face of confusion.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews