Six Times Ordained: What Monastic Life Taught Steve Pinney Jr

Steve Pinney Jr in white during an ordination ceremony as his hair is cut

Six Times Ordained: What Monastic Life Taught Steve Pinney Jr

Steve Pinney Jr has been ordained as a monk six times. It is the part of his story people ask about most, and it is the foundation of both Aham Prema Meditation and the coaching he does today.

It starts with the hair

An ordination begins with the candidate in white and the cutting of the hair. It is the moment the old routine is set down. Steve Pinney Jr has gone through that ceremony six separate times.

Steve Pinney Jr as a young monk, hands pressed together, blessing a visitor — Steve Pinney Jr as a young monk, blessing a visitor.

The daily discipline

Monastic life is built on repetition: rising early, the alms round, meditation, ceremony, and service to the people who come to the temple. Nothing about it is dramatic. That is the point. The discipline is what changes a person, not any single moment.

Steve Pinney Jr as a Buddhist monk, walking barefoot on flower petals with an alms bowl — Steve Pinney Jr walking an alms round barefoot over flower petals.

Steve Pinney Jr as a Buddhist monk holding a crystal award — Steve Pinney Jr during the monk years.

What carried over into business

Steve Pinney Jr is not a monk today. He is a life and leadership coach, and co-owner with his wife Parichat of the Full Throttle family of businesses in Tacoma, Washington. What the monastery left him is the way he listens, the way he leads, and the steadiness he brings to the people he coaches.

Steve Pinney Jr as a monk in a garden with red glass sculptures — Steve Pinney Jr in robes in a sculpture garden.