What exactly is a dubious monk? I’ll assume here you haven’t been to Lhasa. The dubious monk covers the streets there. These are men with shaved heads wearing robes who ask you for money. You’re warned about them by Chinese residents and tourists. The idea got in my head. This is a whole cottage industry based on impersonating a man of religion because of tourism. Westerners who wander through the city can’t tell a real monk from a fake, the sacred from the secular. There is so little difference.

That’s one part of it. This intersection of tourism religion and (in)authenticity.

The other part is that monks need to be dubious. To be a good religionist you need to doubt. That’s my opinion at least (and not necessarily that of any of the religious organizations I may have belonged to in the past or will in the future). But doubt/belief aren’t all; there are practices to set a person apart from people who don’t think about certain things. Practices like going off into a monastery and all that monkish stuff.

So here’s the thing. I think about things. I doubt a lot of stuff. I haven’t had sex in a long time. Why not be a monk? Or at least make monkishness a part of my existence in this online portion. At least it makes these things seem a bit more intentional.

It’s my way of being one with those guys who may or may not be real buddhists sitting around in the cold thin air of Lhasa, or anywhere else you might find believers who don’t seem to believe the same things they’re expected to. Does that make sense?

I’m J Unrau and you can contact me at jju{{at}}thedubiousmonk{{dot}}net Most of my writings here have to do with being some place. Chronologically those places are Winnipeg, fakeLondon, China and Winnipeg again. They aren’t profound or anything. Just me telling you where I am and what it looks like.