How to join a buddhist monastery?

[Buba]

I googled how to join a buddhist monastery, but could not get a useful information, so I decided to ask here, may be there are people who are experienced or have knowledge about monasteries.

Is it possible to join a monastery and live there for several years? If it is, what are the requirements?

[Bodhitree]

Yes it is possible. If you go and look at the Plum Village website, that is for the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, you will find arrangements for a temporary stay (there is some payment expected) or you can choose to become a monk and stay as long as you wish. There are some pretty stringent rules for monkhood, such as celibacy and having a bare minimum of personal possessions. 
 

I imagine it would vary from community to community. If you were to go to Thailand, temporary arrangements are quite normal there, many people become a monk for six months or a few years. 

[Leo Gura]

7 hours ago, Buba said:

Is it possible to join a monastery and live there for several years?

Yes, possible.

You'd start off with a shorter period, probably 6 months. Search around.

Ashrams are more common. Especially in India. But you can find ashrams in other places too.

[snowyowl]

There's a lot of variety within Buddhism, eg my past experience is with Zen and Theravada, which are different as regards practices (meditation, chanting, retreats etc), lifestyle (how many meals per day, clothing etc) and even cultural style (what languages are used like Japanese or Pali). Have you got a Buddhist practice already, either religious Buddhism or secular mindfulness? 

But as a general point, being a monastic in Buddhism can be a temporary stage, that's fine, unlike Christianity where it's usually a permanent commitment. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by snowyowl

[mmKay]

@Buba how come you'd want to join one? I'm curious.

I had a phase where I thought it would be the proper move as well, but then I actually met a "monk" ( bald guy in  an orange toga with off brand crocks ) offering me to join one and I saw how deluded he was and how my desire to join one was rooted in my longing of something external imposing some kind of structure in my life.  

Too much freedom is terryfing in a way. I'd say become a modern monk that masters both the modern material world and the dettached spiritual world. 

But there is no harm in joining one for cuppa months and live the experience for yourself. 

 

My PUA friend joined this' guy ashram in far east Russia. 

https://youtube.com/c/MeditationSteps

Idk how he did it though. I don't think it's too hard. 

[Adam M]

I lived in Wat Chom Tong in Thailand for 6 weeks for free and I potentially could've lived there for years if I wanted to.

They teach Burmese-style Vipassana (mindfulness with labeling).

They have some international teachers who speak English so I guess you would have to email or call them. I got set up to go to this place through my vipassana teacher who lives here in Toronto.

 

With my friend, I literally flew to Thailand and navigated my way to this monastery and lived there for 6 weeks. The only cost of living there is that you have to meditate A LOT.

[Bodhitree]

You might want to read Stephen Batchelor’s book Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist, it is a good read and details his 12 years as a Tibetan Buddhist monk before he disrobed, returned to England and eventually married an ex-nun.

[KaRzual]

2 hours ago, Adam M said:

I lived in Wat Chom Tong in Thailand for 6 weeks for free and I potentially could've lived there for years if I wanted to.

They teach Burmese-style Vipassana (mindfulness with labeling).

They have some international teachers who speak English so I guess you would have to email or call them. I got set up to go to this place through my vipassana teacher who lives here in Toronto.

 

With my friend, I literally flew to Thailand and navigated my way to this monastery and lived there for 6 weeks. The only cost of living there is that you have to meditate A LOT.

Interesting. Mind telling more about your stay there? 

[Seeker531]

There are so many theravada temples all over the united states and across europe. once or twice a month I usually take the 8 precepts and stay in white clothes in a thai buddhist monastry for 2 days or so. I would recommend you to do the same in order to get a taste what it is like if there is a monastry near you. You might also email a temples further away and ask if they know a temple where you could go to. But I'd rather pick one with experience with foreigners cuz there might be a some cultural differences. Once I had a friend in university and he went to a temple in order to ordain for 4 weeks and he was rather disappointed due to his idealism and high expectations.

[Seeker531]

As @Adam M mentioned Wat chom tong is a nice place with a lot of foreigners and a very good place to learn vipassana. You might there or in one of their meditation centres do a 3 week vipassana course. That might be even better to see if the technics match to your preferences (You have to take that into account). When there's no corona I occasionally visit a temple of their tradition in germany. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Seeker531

[Buba]

On 3/1/2021 at 4:44 PM, Bodhitree said:

Yes it is possible. If you go and look at the Plum Village website, that is for the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, you will find arrangements for a temporary stay (there is some payment expected) or you can choose to become a monk and stay as long as you wish. There are some pretty stringent rules for monkhood, such as celibacy and having a bare minimum of personal possessions. 
 

I imagine it would vary from community to community. If you were to go to Thailand, temporary arrangements are quite normal there, many people become a monk for six months or a few years. 

What are the requirements for Plum Village? Only payment?

 

On 3/1/2021 at 4:51 PM, Leo Gura said:

Yes, possible.

You'd start off with a shorter period, probably 6 months. Search around.

Ashrams are more common. Especially in India. But you can find ashrams in other places too.

Is there a specific visa to stay at ashrams in India?

 

On 3/1/2021 at 6:03 PM, snowyowl said:

There's a lot of variety within Buddhism, eg my past experience is with Zen and Theravada, which are different as regards practices (meditation, chanting, retreats etc), lifestyle (how many meals per day, clothing etc) and even cultural style (what languages are used like Japanese or Pali). Have you got a Buddhist practice already, either religious Buddhism or secular mindfulness? 

But as a general point, being a monastic in Buddhism can be a temporary stage, that's fine, unlike Christianity where it's usually a permanent commitment. 

I am an atheist. I wonder if a person can choose to stay for several years at a monastery and what are the requirements including money.

 

On 3/1/2021 at 6:10 PM, mmKay said:

@Buba how come you'd want to join one? I'm curious.

I had a phase where I thought it would be the proper move as well, but then I actually met a "monk" ( bald guy in  an orange toga with off brand crocks ) offering me to join one and I saw how deluded he was and how my desire to join one was rooted in my longing of something external imposing some kind of structure in my life.  

Too much freedom is terryfing in a way. I'd say become a modern monk that masters both the modern material world and the dettached spiritual world. 

But there is no harm in joining one for cuppa months and live the experience for yourself. 

 

My PUA friend joined this' guy ashram in far east Russia. 

https://youtube.com/c/MeditationSteps

Idk how he did it though. I don't think it's too hard. 

I dont have a career and a messy life, so I wonder if it is possible just out of blue to join a monastery, do they easily accept random people?

 

On 3/1/2021 at 8:51 PM, Adam M said:

I lived in Wat Chom Tong in Thailand for 6 weeks for free and I potentially could've lived there for years if I wanted to.

They teach Burmese-style Vipassana (mindfulness with labeling).

They have some international teachers who speak English so I guess you would have to email or call them. I got set up to go to this place through my vipassana teacher who lives here in Toronto.

 

With my friend, I literally flew to Thailand and navigated my way to this monastery and lived there for 6 weeks. The only cost of living there is that you have to meditate A LOT.

If you wanted to live there more, would you have to pay?

 

On 3/1/2021 at 11:23 PM, Seeker531 said:

There are so many theravada temples all over the united states and across europe. once or twice a month I usually take the 8 precepts and stay in white clothes in a thai buddhist monastry for 2 days or so. I would recommend you to do the same in order to get a taste what it is like if there is a monastry near you. You might also email a temples further away and ask if they know a temple where you could go to. But I'd rather pick one with experience with foreigners cuz there might be a some cultural differences. Once I had a friend in university and he went to a temple in order to ordain for 4 weeks and he was rather disappointed due to his idealism and high expectations.

I live in Azerbaijan and there is no monastery in my country or in countries nearby.

 

On 3/1/2021 at 11:30 PM, Seeker531 said:

As @Adam M mentioned Wat chom tong is a nice place with a lot of foreigners and a very good place to learn vipassana. You might there or in one of their meditation centres do a 3 week vipassana course. That might be even better to see if the technics match to your preferences (You have to take that into account). When there's no corona I occasionally visit a temple of their tradition in germany. 

What are the requirements?

[blackchair]

On 01/03/2021 at 7:49 PM, Bodhitree said:

You might want to read Stephen Batchelor’s book Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist, it is a good read and details his 12 years as a Tibetan Buddhist monk before he disrobed, returned to England and eventually married an ex-nun.

i LOVE this kind of stories, i dont know why....lol....

[snowyowl]

7 hours ago, Buba said:

I am an atheist. I wonder if a person can choose to stay for several years at a monastery and what are the requirements including money.

Belief / non-belief in God is no barrier in a Buddhist monastery or meditation centre, most likely the issue simply won't come up anyway, because Buddhism isn't about God. Some centres like Gaia House in Devon UK take paying guests on solo retreats (after Covid restrictions are finished of course) but it may be pricey. Other options I can think of are, to look for a vacancy to work there eg as a cook, cleaner or handyman etc; or to ordain as a novice monk. Which leads me to ask, are you an experienced meditator, as this much commitment would be intense for a beginner. 

7 hours ago, Buba said:

live in Azerbaijan and there is no monastery in my country or in countries nearby.

Ok, so you need to travel abroad for several years, so you can narrow your search if you think about what languages you want to speak, and then which countries allow visas for this length of time. 

[Bodhitree]

@Buba I’m going to let you do your own research, it’s more fun that way. 
 

Since you live in Azerbaijan, you might know more about Buddhism in that part of the world than I do, but I thought there was one country where they are predominantly buddhists. I think it was the Kalmykia region in Russia.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Bodhitree