There are two young monks in Taiwan who originally came to the temple to try out the Sangha lifestyle. During the first year there were times when they became restless. They felt that doing prostrations and meditation wouldn't help. Finally the two of them decided to see a movie. They knew it was a major infraction of the precepts of monastics, but they went anyway. I found out about it, so when they returned I asked, "What's going to come of this?"

They said, "We knew it would cost us, but we decided to go anyway." Since then these young men have matured and become good monks. They aren't overwhelmed by restlessness anymore and they no longer have a strong desire to go to the movies.

Watching movies and engaging in other activities like this can help to temporarily relieve restlessness or other moods. Lay practitioners are not required to abstain from entertainment. Even if they decide to take the Eight Precepts, they only have to avoid entertainment six days out of the month. This gives lay practitioners a taste of what the left-home lifestyle is like. Lay Buddhists can engage in singing, dancing, going to the movies or watching videos with no fear of breaking precepts, but not monks and nuns. However, they often bend the rules.

Recently in Taiwan I observed a monk chanting loudly. I asked, "Are you practicing?"

He answered, "No, actually, I feel uncomfortable and restless. I want to sing, but I cannot, so I'm letting out my frustrations this way."

I replied, "That's not the right way to chant. When you chant you should do it respectfully, and you shouldn't sing so loud." This monk was not breaking any precepts, but he was not behaving as a monk should.

He said, "These days one can hear chanting being broadcast on the radio. Is that normal?"