Key findings
- Ben Xi, a Hare Krishna monk, left his temple to play Old School RuneScape.
- Xi believes that you never really give up on RuneScape.
- Xi’s goal is to teach people what he learned as a monk while playing Old School RuneScape.
Old School RuneScape has such a strong appeal that even the spiritually enlightened among us can’t resist jumping up and learning one of the game’s many skills.
Ben Xi (name in game) is a former monk of the Hare Krishna movement, a Hindu religious organization (thanks, GamesRadar+). Xi lived as a monk in a temple in Wales for six years before leaving to, in his own words, “play RuneScape.” Xi’s account is 20 years old, but he hasn’t played in a long time. However, he admits that his childhood was shaped by the MMO, and he says the game is a part of his being.
“It’s pretty hard to give up RuneScape. I don’t think anyone ever gives up RuneScape,” he notes. “At least in my experience, it becomes a part of you.”
Read transcendental literature and work
If there was ever a game that lent itself to spiritual education, perhaps Old School RuneScape is it. We’ve seen incredible feats of willpower, perseverance, and dedication in the OSRS community. If you can’t achieve enlightenment by chopping down yew trees in Prifddinas, can your consciousness ever ascend?
In his latest video, Xi reads excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita, the core text of the Hare Krishna belief system. Of course, he does this while working out 99 prayers using blessed dragon bones.
The Bhagavad Gita describes a conversation between a prince and Krishna, an avatar of the god Vishnu.
“My intention is that I have 15,000 dragon bones left that I can grind into blessed bone shards to do my 99 prayer grinding work, and I thought, ‘Hey, why don’t I do that and read some transcendental literature for you guys?'” Xi explains.
As with most maxing in Old School RuneScape, reaching 99 prayers can be a time-consuming and costly process. However, for someone who spends much of their daily life meditating and reflecting, like a monk, time is not an issue. Xi’s account is not starting from zero either, as his prayer skill was already at 67 due to his previous years of playing.
