Title: Bhante

Gender: Male

Age: 41

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Chinese Sign: Fire Goat

Location: Pittsburgh

     I was born in the small town of Arolsen, Germany and moved to N. America when I was 12. We first moved to Kitchener, ON, Canada. I was a troubled teen that pissed on authority and hated my new home so I ran away to Toronto and lived on the street, in shelters and in places that 12 year olds shouldn't be living. This was my first experience with “being gay”, hardly the right age and place to come out but, that is the way it happened. To this day I still find the “seedy” side of gay life attractive, well…”interesting'' but have found ways to suppress that, mainly with the help of my long term partner, Barry. My dear Barry pasted away on August 1, 2007, I miss him SO very much!! After 9 months my Dad tracked me down and we soon after moved to Pittsburgh, PA. I've lived there ever since with the exception of 3 years in the late 80”s when I went back to Germany to go to college. I currently work as a retail manager, a career choice that I would love to change but right now can't afford to. I am a practicing Buddhist in a combination of traditions, I lived in a monestary in northern Thailand for a awhile in 1996 and have been back several times since …I was a lay person that cooked daily in the kitchen for the monks, worked with the monks to teach AIDS education in Chiangmai, practiced meditation and learned the dharma. In 2002 I was ordained as a monk though I am not connected to any group at the moment. I help found a dharma center in central Ohio as few years ago and sometimes travel and give talks…I enjoy spreading the dharma. My greatest wish would be to spread the Buddha's message or any loving, empowering message to the folks that need it most, the homeless, the sick, the hungry, the depressed and mental health challenged, especially the young…I could go on and on on this subject!! I learned how fortunate we are that live in the Western world and the level of suffering that others go through, that I've seen in with my own eyes…the girls and boys selling themselves, living crammed together in a one-room lean-to off a busy Bangkok street…the family living in a train yard, between the railroad tracks in Jakarta, out in the open without shelter…very painful to see. When I came home I started volunteering for causes that I found important. Today I volunteer for Contact Pittsburgh, a crisis and suicide hotline where I'm a telephone worker, a teen homeless shelter, recently Food Not Bombs Pittsburgh and a few other places. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have these outlets, they give my life some meaning! As a manic-depressive (bipolar) I really can use the benefit that good works can make me feel. What else…hmm, oh yeah, I work for a GREAT organization that works one on one with people with mental health issues ( www.peer-support.org/ ). As a senior member of the peer mentor staff, we are currently working hard to help those in Mayview State Hospital that is soon to be closed to adjust to life on the outside in various smaller settings…and what about you??

Member Since: Sunday, March 16 2008

Last Visit: 379 days ago.

Profile Viewed: 314 times (last viewed less than a minute ago)