I have said this about Monk's, yes you do give up a lot of worldly attachments to take on that role, but at the same time you also gain an additional identity. That of the robes and the role. This is not to say "They are just putting it on!", it is to say that they haven't escaped the trap entirely.

Maybe 'The Dude' in The Big Leboski is far closer to those that are content than we would like to believe.

This is an utterly meaningless statistic. The fact the media keeps pushing dubious science, leads to people being swindled in the pursuit of miracle cures based on equally dubious science.