How to be a monk in thailand

[Sanghachaiyana]

I m a singaporean 27 this year .i wish to be a monk in thailand for 3months .but i have totally no details n wat procedures and expenses it will be .

anyone who knows can u pls kindly provide me the details or if there is any webby for me to broswe to get a clearer picture of wat is it by being amonk in thailand .

pls help.

looking for someone answer asap.

thanks alot.

[Sawatdee]

How much research have you done so far? How serious are you? I would strongly suggest you buy a book called "Phra Farang: An English Monk in Thailand" by Phra Peter Pannapadipo. This will help you a lot and you could also contact him through the publishers.

Visit the book store at: http://www.thaibuddhist.com/

The same web site also has a photo/video album of a monk ordination.

The following web site has an English guide to Buddhist temples and meditation centres:

http://www.dharmanet.org/thai_94.html

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Sanghachaiyana]

thanks sawatdee for providing me the info ...i have very little research ...but juz want to have the feel of life in another way ,m serious but no idea ..only heard b4 of some1 been there and realli do view things differently after being back.so i myself would want to try for 3 months maybe 1 months also can.juz want to have a taste of life in another way.

anyway i will look up the info u provide me.if i got any problems i will look u up again ...thanks alot and hope u dun mind.

[Sathip]

Hello,

I would recommend you to make a retreat as a layman first. The Wat Pha Nanachat in Ubon Ratchathani province is a forest temple created by Ajaan Sumedo (disciple of famous Ajaan Chah), especially for foreigner who want to practice buddhism and mediation or to enter the monkhood. The Abbot and vice-abbot as all monks are foreigner, so it is easier to communicate if you don't speak thai. At Wat Pha Nanachat you can register (in advance) and stay there as a layman for different lenghts period. You live and you have the same schedules as the monks, but you are dressed in white.
Spending 2-3 weeks there will give you a good idea of what is the life as a monk and to feel if you are ready for that life, even if it is for 3 month.

More details and other places :
www.dhammathai.org

[Sanghachaiyana]

Originally Posted by

(Sathip @ June 24 2004,20:47)Hello,

I would recommend you to make a retreat as a layman first. The Wat Pha Nanachat in Ubon Ratchathani province is a forest temple created by Ajaan Sumedo (disciple of famous Ajaan Chah), especially for foreigner who want to practice buddhism and mediation or to enter the monkhood. The Abbot and vice-abbot as all monks are foreigner, so it is easier to communicate if you don't speak thai. At Wat Pha Nanachat you can register (in advance) and stay there as a layman for different lenghts period. You live and you have the same schedules as the monks, but you are dressed in white.
Spending 2-3 weeks there will give you a good idea of what is the life as a monk and to feel if you are ready for that life, even if it is for 3 month.

More details and other places :
www.dhammathai.org

that a great answer i m waiting for ..yah i dun speak thai so i think it will be great to have foreigner abbot to speak with me in english..i will check up the detail on the website u stated and lokking forward to it thanks thanks .

[vital]

I am living in The Netherlands, working as a legislative lawyer, 41 years old, single, have an appartement.

But I like to become a monk in Thailand. Are here other people who have the same plans or have already set this step.
Because if I set the step, which is my deapest wish, it is a step for the rest of my life. I have to give everything up here, appartement, social securrity etc. and so there is no way back. I also have to learn Thai language as soon as possible.
I speak dutch, English and french and understand also German.

I hope some of you can give me tips and advice or experiences that can help me to make the decision and most of all to realize it in the best way.

You can always mail me at bernard.vital@zonnet.nl
You can also phone me in the weekends at: +31703648843
If you want to sent me a letter, my adress is:
mr. Vital E.H. MOORS
Westerbaenstraat 212
2513 GK Den Haag
The Netherlands

my homepage is: www.vitalmoors.nl

[djaidee]

Hi vital !
That`s a big step to give up everything and leave everything behind. So I suggest you should learn Thai before and/or then stay at the Temple Sathip mentioned as a Layman first, so that you get an impression that you can live your whole Life as a Monk or not. Maybe it doesn`t fit you. But if it fits you very good choice to do so. But don`t hurry think good about it.
Why not first trying to stay 3 months as a Monk, than returning home make everything clear at home and than going back to Thailand entering Monkhood again forever.
As far as I know Thais should stay about a periode of 3 months as a Monk, but I know many of my friends who only stayed 1-3 weeks.
Staying forever is a big step even for Thai Buddhist People.

[vital]

I stayed already three weeks in Wat Thaton and I would stay there much longer but I had to go back for my job. So I decided already when I was there. And this is not an idea from one month. I already think about it for over three years.
But there is more. If you like I will tell you that in a seperate priate mail.
So I like to do that. because I know that I cannnot become happy here in this normal life. In that way I have nothing to loose and everything what come can only be better.
Vital

[Stephen Cleary]

One other monastery that i would like to recommend personally is Wat Suan Mokkhe in Surat Thani. I have been a layman there before for a couple of months at a time.

If it is meditation practice that you want, i would like to advise you then not to ordain as a monk but to be a layman instead. As being an actual monk you will have to attend to other traditional duties as attending funerals, weddings, meetings etc... Yes, do read the book 'Phra Farang' as recommended by Sawatdee, he gives a lot of insight into the duties of a monk. Even Phra Farang was bored by such duties at first as he thought them nonsensical.

[vital]

Dear Dharma friends,




Some of you already know me. I'm Roberto (Pereira de Mello) and live at Khadro Ling. I'm 24 years old and ever since I was a boy I had the aspiration to live in a monastery and do practice. To make short what could probably become a book of aspiration, experiences and coincidences, I would like to share with you the fact that I had the great fortune of being encouraged and guided by His Eminence Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche to go to a Theravada monastery in Thailand where he suggested I´d stay for at least 6 months. Chagdud Khadro and Jigmed Tulku Rinpoche are also giving me a decisive support and encouragement. Our peerless master Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche actually mentioned in one occasion that he saw this karma on my path and believed I could be a good monk.



I'd like to leave Brazil before the end of next month, March. You can contact me
clarita@hoffmanpoa.com