Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, CA

Roommate:
I think there is a perception among some of the brothers that I have issues about having roommates. That's fair, but they don't realize it's not that simple. They noticed that I have a guest room all to my own, and rarely have they heard of other guests being placed in with me. They know I successfully resisted having that aspirant who just left for Plum Village roomed with me, but I did specifically engineer that one. And since I "work" in the registration office, maybe they think I have something to do with it in general. And I do. But not directly. I never said to the office manager not to put anyone in with me.

The truth of the matter is that I do like having roommates. Living with other people is a very deep part of this practice, and I won't go into the details how, but I've experienced it. Most of the times I've had guests in my room, I've enjoyed it and felt a tinge of loneliness when they left - not all, of course, there will always be people you don't jibe with. So although there is a basis to the brothers' perception, it's not completely accurate. I do put out vibes to the office manager not to put anyone with me, but when he does, it's fine. And then there was the time that he put two people in with me and I promptly got a raging migraine. And then the person who came for two weeks and was placed with me who ended up leaving after four days. Alright, I am pretty solitary in the room and I'm not that chummy, and the people placed in with me are totally unaware of the wonderful transformative process in me that they are contributing to, but it's not a big of an issue as they might think it is. It's not a barrier to joining the community.

Hm, writing this all out, on a 100% scale of whether it's an issue or not, I'd say it's probably greater than 50% that it is an issue.