I want to join a monastery

cheryl.keaton

I am an American female moving to Bangalore to search for and join a monastery. does anyone know of convents in this area? I have studied Buddhas philosophy and I'm prepared to make this a lifetime commitment. I have 3 thousand dollars saved and I have friends to stay with in Bangalore. I'm an American female. Is there any one who knows about joining convents who could give advice?

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I hope to join a convent

theyyamdancer

Hello Cheryl and welcome to IndiaMike!

Since you don't have any idea what is in store, maybe you would like to have a read of some of the Visa Forums for a start before you decide on a firm plan of "lifetime commitment".

Good luck.

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"Wandering seemed no more than the happiness of an anxious man." - Albert Camus

DrHeckleAndMrSnide

Bangalore? To join a monastery? Where? Bangalore would be as far removed from the peaceful, quiet and tranquil setting needed for a monastery as one could imagine. Or did you mean the outskirts of Bangalore? Do you know of any specific monastery there?
And while I'm not commenting on your decision, I'm just curious to know how one joins a monastery? Is there an application or selection process? Also, how does one subsist? Wouldn't you need to do a job or something, at least part-time, to pay for food and boarding? Wouldn't that involve a work permit? Even if you're going to do religious services, like poojas, et al, you'd probably need a work permit.... notwithstanding the fact that not everyone might be comfortable with the idea of a foreign female doing religious ceremonies that some people would want to be the sole prerogative of a select group of predominantly male priests. Not trying to dissuade you or anything, just wondering if you've thought about these aspects. Sorry not to provide anything by way of answers.

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Goran

1 - to get enthusiastically involved in something (if anything)
2 - to get disillusioned after a few years
3 - to find yourself "on the street" with a lot of years lost in vain.

not necessarily but that's how it goes more often than not. Ashrams are not only spiritual places, they are also places of corruption, power struggles, manipulation... There are nice ones too but be reasonable, don't follow emotions and "intuition", what looks nice or provides you with what you need (psychologically) is not allays good... Also as a women you might have less options, traditional Hinduism does not have many female sannyasis, this is more the case with modern "Neo-Hindu" organizations.

I would suggest to take it easy, spend a few years learning about India and Hinduism both form the theological and historical (political, sociological) perspective, be sure what you want...

Making choices abruptly, often in the moments of "crisis" lead as to wrong decisions more often than a calm and rational consideration of options. And to make a calm and rational decision besides emotional stability one needs to have enough information and understanding about the subject.

Of course one can be just lucky and get the right thing basically by accident (or providence or karma or whatever) .. but I would still suggest to slow down a little..

lola_76

Cheryl,

Your profile picture seems you are very young. Maybe you start out on a lifelong decision and change your mind. Life is an adventure anyway and you will only learn something new. If you come to Bangalore you will have fun and learn something anyway. Be careful though. Many people come to India to look for a spiritual quest and there are many people in India who look for people making a spiritual quest to take them for a scam. Maybe before you join a monastery you will learn about it first. Your profile talks about Buddhism. There are not many Buddhists in India. Most Buddhists here are not Indian at all but instead immigrants. In the North there are some more Buddhists up in the Himalayas but not in Bangalore. There are Buddhists in Tibetan areas too but not Indian Buddhists. So why you want to come to India to be a Buddhist nun? There are no Indian orders for Buddhist nuns. If you like to join a Buddhist convent, there are many orders you can join in your own country and then after you learn you can go to the country of the origin of the order and stay in that convent as a sister too.

Thubten Chodrun is a very famous Buddhist nun. She wrote a book about becomeing a nun. You can read some things she wrote here:
http://www.purifymind.com/LifeBuddhistNun.htm
and her website is here:
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/
Maybe you contact her organization to learn about what you do.

First thing you do is learn about different orders and choose which one you want to join. THEN travel somewhere to join. Don't just go to India and hope you will find what you want. Maybe you will but probably not. You will have an adventure though so good luck and be careful whatever you do.

Goran

she is probably thinking about something like Catholic self-sufficient monasteries... I would say something like the Ramakrishna Math might be similar in India.. but if you would be able to stay in India forever even in such an organization is not so sure.. besides joining a big order you sometimes became a worker for the organization, not always in the ways you would like to.. I know too many naive people idealizing the monastic life, basically expecting to avoid all the problems in life in some kind of an utopian spiritual society just to get disillusioned by the same dynamics, power struggles, often immoral behaviors etc as in the worldly life.

theyyamdancer

It reminds me of a friend who went to Auroville to escape from life. But life cannot be avoided even in an ashram! This girl eventually came back home because the political squabbles of Auroville were worse than anything she had experienced on the "outside". But then she missed India and went back for another try. After a couple of years she returned home again. Well, there is no moral to this story. Just that you are yourself wherever you go. So perhaps exploring the options at home first (as mentioned by others posting in this thread) would be the way to go, instead of plunging into India without any planning.

Goran

and that is even not a monastery and there are no monks and there is no religious indoctrination and so on. When one becomes a monk in a closed society like a monastery it is more difficult to experiment going in and out like this, though it is easier in Buddhism where you can disrobe, and later became a monk again...

cheryl.keaton

http://www.sravastiabbey.org/ordinquiry.html requirements

Attached Files

the_situation_of_western_monastics.pdf (23.9 KB, 20 views)

cheryl.keaton

The reason I am going to Bangalore is because I have friends that live there.

machadinha

How come seeing this title pass by I was reminded of that Queen song, "I Want To Ride My Bicycle"?

Anyway, good luck, needless to say. nb

No, more like a Buddhist nun (Bhikkhuni) would be my assumption. None the easier to just step into I'd agree. I don't even get how people think they just could, but, well, never mind. You wouldn't expect so in say a Christian context either indeed, would you?

(As a thought experiment, how would we all react to, or advise, say Indian members going "Say I'm really taken by Catholicism even if I practically know nothing about it & so now I plan to give it all up and go live in Italy" (or Spain or someplace). What would be the sensible advice in terms of the likelihood of their being allowed to stay there on those grounds, or find some places to stay and study and practice to their satisfaction on the very odd chance they would be?)

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cheryl.keaton

Thank you so much for all your help! I know I look young but please don't judge. There are people out there like me who are born to do this. http://thubtenchodron.org/BuddhistNu...ng_a_what.html Everyone has a different path.

abracax

I've seen western Buddhist nuns at Sera Je, near Bylakuppe - about a five hour drive from Bangalore. I've met a few German guys who have studied there and found it quite interesting. The abbot is a bit of a hard-ass, but they tend to be that way.

http://www.serajeymonastery.org/index.htm

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machadinha

Yes (if you want to see it that way -- I wouldn't, it's a sarcastic quip); and since there's quite a market, there are quite a few to take advantage of it (that is not sarcastic, but a fact rather).

Good luck again. Remember anyone cautioning you here has not done so for no reason. Most of the above strike me as the kind who know what they're talking about rather.

The usual advice would be to go check out the country, preferably on extended or repeated trips; then make up your mind.

As far as "moving to" India goes, have you even looked into what that formally entails yet? The bottom line is you really can't, and certainly not just like that. There's literally tons of info about it on this site already.

(As many of those who are into it here will say btw, if you're really serious about any Buddhist or Hindu or whatever studies or practices, those are usually quite readily available in the West as well. With the same pitfalls again. In any case, it doesn't provide a reason to pack up & leave and go "East" or something.

Unless of course one should find it not so "exotic" to do at home, and rather mundane it likely will be. One should hope any real teacher would avert such students.)

monkagain

Why do you have to go to a foreign culture to join a monastery? That is a romantic and escapist ideal.

First visit and stay in monasteries (and different types) in your own country.
Then see if that is the life you wish
and choose the type of Buddhism you are interested in as there are many schools and many types of monasteries.

I think you have a misleading idea about buddhist monastries from Western catholic ones.

I know many buddhist monasteries and westerners who stayed in them.

Have you discerned what you wish to do and ask yourself: why really you wish to join a 'convent'?

monk