At first glance, Clint McCollum doesn’t look like a monk.
He wears a blue button-down T-shirt, blue jeans, and patterned socks with rubber sandals. Covering his face are a pair of blue polarized sunglasses, a scruffy gray beard, and the brim of a brown baseball cap sporting an embroidered American flag.
Unlike a typical union ironworker, though, his voice is calm and measured. He pauses before he speaks and between sentences. He sits impeccably still, unfidgeting.
McCollum’s journey to inner peace mostly takes place in Chiang Mai and Pak Thong Chai, Thailand, where he lived as a Buddhist monk for 13 months between March 2024 and July 2025. His whole story, though, goes back further.
“I was very broken, very depressed, very unhealthy,” McCollum said. “I think — well, I don’t think, I know — I lost my will to live.”
The 44-year-old, originally from Ladoga and a Southmont class of ’99 graduate, moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2020 to work in construction, his uncle’s trade. By October 2023, his cousin — his close friend — had died by suicide. Living in a house with his best friends yet lonelier than ever, McCollum had tried everything to make himself happy.
That October, he drove past a group of Buddhist monks — orange robes, shaved heads — and decided to turn around. He pulled a U-turn, exited his car, and bowed, pleading for guidance.
“I was searching for just peace,” McCollum said. “But I feel like that was also my last shot at happiness, the last thing I could do.”
Like a saffron wave, they swept him in. Although they spoke very little English, the monks brought McCollum to their temple at once and guided McCollum through his first meditation. After, he met Lisa Sakrasae, a Thai nun who could translate. She told him that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was the first outsider to be allowed in the temple in three years.
McCollum stayed connected with Sakrasae, who served as both his friend and spiritual adviser. When he eventually became physically and mentally exhausted from his life in Portland, she recommended to him a 30-day Buddhist ordination program, Monk Life, through iMonastery in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Even though it meant leaving his friends, career and Boston terrier Leo behind, he was on a plane to Chiang Mai within six months.
“I had it in the back of my mind that I could possibly stay there forever in Thailand,” McCollum said.
Adjusting to monastic life was at first a difficult transition. His newfound lifestyle of meditation and quiet activity contrasted starkly with that of the month before he left, spent traveling and attending concerts. Among the 227 rules, or precepts, Buddhist monks must follow are warnings against not only lying and thievery, but also drugs and alcohol, personal possessions and listening to music.
“They follow those rules because that’s what will allow the mind to come to a complete standstill,” McCollum said. “For example, if I’m not lying to my friend, I don’t have to worry, ‘oh, is my friend going to catch me in a lie?’ ”
Despite the list of precepts, McCollum describes Buddhism simply: “One, don’t do evil things. Two, only do good deeds. And third, purify your mind.”
Each day in Chiang Mai began before sunrise. He and his fellow trainees chanted scripture in Pali, a sacred Buddhist language, meditated, carried out chores, completed alms walks in the village for breakfast and lunch, meditated more, attended dharma classes to learn the teachings of Buddha, exercised and did yoga, chanted again at sunset, and ended the day with a final meditation. Many monks meditated for more hours than they slept.
“I think most people get exhausted not physically, but they’re mentally exhausted because their minds are racing all day,” McCollum said. “But just being content with what we have in this present moment is very powerful.”
The positive effects of monastic life McCollum experienced were powerful enough to convince him to stay for another year, now based in Pak Thong Chai, where he could continue to find inner peace while also serving as a mentor monk to those in Chiang Mai.
It was there in Pak Thong Chai where he first felt true tranquility.
“It was probably after seven months of meditating five, eight hours a day that my mind went still for the first time. It lasted about an hour,” McCollum said. “It was the most peaceful, most blissful feeling that I’ve ever felt. I wrote in my meditation journal that I was so happy and so blissful that I just wanted to run and hug every monk that I saw, like, ‘thank you for teaching me this.’ ”
While some may picture monasteries as silent and solemn, the former monk reassured that to him, it felt both fulfilling and fun.
“Never in my life have I laughed so much. The monks are so happy. They would laugh at the silliest things, which would make me laugh,” he said. “Laughter is my favorite thing in the world. It makes me smile and laugh even when someone else is doing it. It was such a blessing to be around such wonderful humans.”
In July 2025, after 13 months of living as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, McCollum flew back to Portland — though not quite home.
“When I flew, my friend let my car get impounded in Portland, so I didn’t even have a car then,” he said. “When I flew back to Indiana from Portland, I literally had two changes of clothes and a backpack.”
The time he spent in Portland was sustained through housesitting for his friends, who were on vacation. It had hardly been two months before he decided to move back to Indiana, where he now lives in Crawfordsville with his brother and Boston terrier, who he said he missed the most.
“There’s a lot of things that used to be so important to me, such a big part of my life, and after meditating for so long, they just don’t mean so much to me anymore,” McCollum said. “For example, music used to be one of the biggest parts of my life. I always listened to music, had headphones in, traveled, went to concerts. Once I found the inner peace in myself, I just appreciate the quiet so much more now. I don’t have to distract myself with music or television.”
Although he returned to ironworking — currently in Lebanon, building an Eli Lilly manufacturing site — McCollum said he never lost his ability to find calm.
“Meditation is not just sitting lotus style, looking like a Buddha,” he said. “We can meditate all day long. Whatever I’m doing, I’m just doing it, focusing on my breath. If I’m washing the dishes, I’m not washing the dishes and thinking about what I’m gonna do tomorrow. I’m just washing the dishes.”
Regarding his own profession, McCollum pointed out that construction workers have one of the highest rates of suicide in the United States, 2.4 times higher than that of all industries. He hopes that his presence and advice can help his colleagues who might be struggling with the same hardships he faced before his spiritual transformation.
“Honestly, I think a lot of people don’t fully understand what meditation is. But ironically enough, it seems like ironworkers, construction workers, are the ones that have asked the most questions about it,” he said.
He also critiqued the fast-paced lifestyle he said American culture rewards.
“People here in the West move way too fast — always rushing, grinding, think they gotta get more and more and more,” he said. “Eating their breakfast and their mind is ‘what am I going to do at work?’ And when they’re at work, their mind is at home. They’re thinking about what they’re going to cook for dinner. And then when they’re at home eating their dinner, their mind is on what they’re going to have for dessert. They’re never fully present and enjoying right now.”
Helping others in the community learn to find inner peace to remedy their struggles, he said, is why he began teaching beginner meditation classes at the library. Club Heavily Meditated is for adults, kids and teenagers, and participants need only be present with themselves.
“I wish I could have learned meditation when I was just a kid or teenager. It would have saved me so much grief,” McCollum said.
His message to those who are interested is that meditation is for everyone — it only requires practice.
“You don’t have to be a Buddhist to meditate. You can be a Christian, you could be Muslim, you could be Hindu, you could even be atheist. If you just meditate, it will bring peace to your life,” he said.
Club Heavily Meditated, open to all, will meet at the Crawfordsville District Public Library next on July 1 and July 15 at 7 p.m.
