An intriguing email arrived in the WPLN newsroom. It was from Don Srisuriyo, the student activities coordinator at Middle Tennessee State University.
He was about to attend a bar mitzvah. This ceremony is common in his parents’ native Thailand, but not in the Thai community in the United States. Srisuriyo will be temporarily ordained as a Buddhist monk, living in a temple for eight days and following the same strict rules as other monks.
Don invited WPLN to attend his ordination ceremony, which would begin his monastic life. I covered the ceremony with WPLN editor and photographer Rachel Iacovone. It was an elaborate ceremony that lasted five hours and began with Don having his long black hair shaved off.
He then led a procession around the temple, changed into burnt orange monk robes, and chanted long prayers in Pali, a scripture language he did not understand. Don soon discovered that the experience was far more difficult than he had initially imagined.
After the ceremony, I asked Don if he would be willing to record an audio diary during his week at the temple, and he agreed. I expected him to send me a few minutes of audio within a week. But Tang went beyond expectations.
He sent nearly five hours of diary entries filled with profound reflections, humorous observations, and real epiphanies. These diaries gave us a glimpse into Tang’s mental journey.
During his short two-day stay, he gradually built up his confidence as a monk, gained a new understanding of his relationship with his parents, and faced his true feelings about religious organizations. I knew almost immediately that I had to write a story using Tang’s diary entries.
