I want to join a monastery

dzibead

No, wrong. You misunderstood something.

On a tourist visa, you cannot legally stay in India for more than 180 days at a stretch. You must leave the country before the 180 day period is up. If you have a multiple-entry visa that is still valid for a longer term - e.g., one year, or even ten years (only U.S. citizens can get the latter) - you can immediately turn around and re-enter India without having to apply for a new visa, but the period of stay on any one continuous visit cannot exceed 180 days. If you "overstay", you can be fined, or prevented from leaving until you jump through various bureaucratic hoops, and you can even have your visa taken a way and run the risk of being denied another one.

Only in the case of a genuine emergency that would prevent you from traveling (e.g. illness, or maybe no airplane flights, like what happened after 9/11, something like that ...) could you apply for a brief emergency extension. You do not and cannot "contact immigration after 180 days" in order to be able to stay in India longer just because you want to. Indian law requires that foreign nationals who have long-term visas that allow them to stay in the country for more than 180 days at a time (like a Student visa, or an Employment visa), and who intend to do so, must register with what's called the FRO (Foreigner Registration Office - who is generally just the local Superintendent of Police) or FRRO (Foreigner Regional Registration Office,located in certain major cities) within 14 days after entry into the country or, in some cases, close to the end of the 180 day period.

However, the purpose of registering is not to give you the right to stay for more than 180 days; it's so the Indian Govt can keep track of the whereabouts of foreigners in the country. And the act of registering with the FRO/FRRO does not give you the right to stay for more than 180 days just because you "intend" to. The duration of your permitted stay is determined by the class of visa you have - in your case, a "T" (Tourist) visa, and all "T" visas, regardless of their over-all period of validity, restrict the stay on one visit to no more than 180 days. Moreover, a "T" visa is not convertible to another class of visa in India, except in the limited cases Haylo pointed out (e.g., marry an Indian citizen and convert to an Entry visa). If you want and can qualify for some other type of visa, e.g., Student, you have to leave India and apply, usually from your home country.

Many, many, MANY people are confused about this registration business, which is confusingly pre-printed on the visa form regardless of the type of visa being issued, including many people on IndiaMike and even people working in Indian consulates who should know better. But what I'm telling you is what the law actually is.

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cheryl.keaton

this is not true it is the idea is that they are boring and wierd in the west. nobody in my family accepts it. This nation is mostly christain and most sects believe in "blind faith" not asking why just believing.(some are not like that but they are considered outside the box)
Just a tid bit of info

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I hope to join a convent

dzibead

There are plenty of places right in the U.S. where you can do that ... and more easily than in a Buddhist nunnery in India, for sure. I don't know where in the U.S. you live, but you might consider doing a retreat for a while at someplace like this: http://www.medicinebuddha.org/ or this: http://www.sfzc.org/tassajara/ (Zen, not Tibetan, but still...)

Sigh. Yes. The nun that I sponsor is at Dolma Ling, which is probably one of the nicest nunneries in India, with respect to physical amenities. But the tiny room she shares with three other nuns (only three - many places would jam in more) is cold, dark, and damp, and there's certainly no "ensuite bathroom" - there are squat toilets and a concrete shower room some distance away from where she sleeps. She works in the tailoring shop all day, to make handicrafts that are sold to support the nunnery. There is no seclusion or solitary contemplation. It's a life of communal prayer, along with the communal work, communal dining, and even communal sleep.

dzibead

<cross-posted with myself >

I'm sorry, but what Brisso has said is true - and it's based on obviously more experience of India and the situation there than you have (which is none). I know quite a bit about Dolma Ling - and have actually been there, personally - imagine that! - and even for the the women studying for their advanced degrees, it's no bed of roses. It's a tough life. It's what they want to do, but if you think it's the Tibetan equivalent to the life of an Oxford don, think again.

Do you live in some benighted place in the Deep South? Your "tid bit of information" and what you say about religion in the U.S. makes me think, "Never mind India, this gal just needs to get out more in her own country!" And believe me, Tibetans can be just as religiously rigid and close-minded as the narrow-minded Christians you describe. The "oh-so-shanthi Tibetan" is largely a post-exile PR construct! They aren't all the Dalai Lama, you know.

cheryl.keaton

yes there are retreats for people to take in georgia they usually costs $75. just for a weekend, and there are monasterys for men and not many speak English. they will uausally let white people stay there two. There's one in California that has men and woman. A few in Canada and Hawaii. I would be pleased to find any convents like that around Georgia.

capt_mahajan

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cheryl.keaton

I'm from what they call the bible belt, lots of southern baptist. people protest Buddhism there. please show me all these convents in the US, any where in the US.

skk

Tell it like it is - and I say that despite the fact that, as per the cliche, two of my best friends were Tibetans.

-skk

dzibead

Cheryl, you live in Georgia? Hah! I knew it! I suspected, from your comments, that you lived somewhere like that! No wonder you've given up hope. Move to California. Move to ... almost anywhere outside the Deep South.

You keep asking us for tips re: places to find Buddhist "convents" in the U.S., but you seem to want to restrict yourself to what there might be in or around Georgia. You probably aren't going to find many/any there. But that doesn't mean you have to go all the way to India to find what you're looking for ... or what you think you're looking for. I'm not saying "don't go to India" - for a visit. But don't assume your only alternative is try to try to move there! (which may prove impossible anyway)

capt_mahajan

Laughed earlier and missed this

One of the good things I find about that nation is that religion is not in your face- including in smaller towns, and that normal people do not factor in a person's religion before striking a friendship with her/him/it. (I hate political correctness, it ruins my flow)

-crossposted with dzibead-

machadinha

<cross-posting with quite a few again. In doing so, I guess as usual some was already touched on above>

Er, look, I have seriously considered it in the past (in a Christian context. Kind of weird for let's say an anarchist punk rocker with no such backgrounds I agree. Maybe something about the austerity of it all that appealed to me. Besides, hey, I was young and rash and foolish and all that. I think and like so many I buggered off to India the first time at about your age. Besides, if the idea had ever been very realistic I honestly wouldn't know. Well, then again I tend to get where I want to if I set my mind to it. And then in fact I would carry some background luggage I think if I ever were to make such a decision.)

Brisso is right. Moreover, that Buddhist monastery where I stayed was in a room holding nothing whatsoever -- and then the monk staying there evacuating it to make room for me. And us again not being able to communicate. Imagine my relaxation at wondering all day whether I was doing the right thing & what was expected of me. (There's a good reason why I've said elsewhere I'm not sure if I should return, or if these people shouldn't be left to go their own ways rather. Yes, some international contacts will always be welcome, of course, people may be delighted even. That isn't the whole story though.)

I don't know what you're on about -- and if you're not a troll, by now. I would say and I say it often, why not have the monastic life in your own country? You can certainly do so in any country that is Christian. It wouldn't have that exotic flair, of course; then again, it would be unusual enough.

(btw And I've also said before, many such Christian monasteries and even churches these days hold short-term retreats and stuff to suit the general new-age crowd, with courses ranging from yoga to Japanese flower arrangements and whatnot. So you might as well just start there. There's one such church around my corner, I never go there but see some friends, of the new-agey variety indeed, popping in and the place generally seems quite hip & cool. Involved with neighborhood activism and stuff, too. Not requiring anyone to share their beliefs I don't think.

Maybe that's because I live in a crazy place called Amsterdam, but all I'm saying is certainly in some larger US centers I'm pretty sure you should find the same. And then Buddhist and Hindu and etc. centers and whatnot. Hey, remember that whole crazy hippie attitude here famously blew over from, or at best coincided with, your west coast happenings anyway.)

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dzibead

Yeah, mine, too. And they're just normal people, no better and no worse than anybody else.

If you want a comparison that I think is more apt than a lot of the airy-fairy spiritual labels that get stuck on Tibetans, I'd say they, as a group, are sort of like the Irish of Central Asia: sociable, have big extended families, love to party (including liking to drink, as least the men, which is also the case with the Irish), like to sing and dance and gossip, and are sort of "horse crazy" (I have an elderly Tibetan friend for whom a day at the races is her idea of a great "outing"). Plus, their form of Buddhism is closer in "feel" to Catholicism than anything else I can think of: it has monks, nuns, celibacy, a "Pope" (the DL), and lots of liturgical "bells and smells". Of course, lots of people in Georgia think Catholicism is "weird", too.

Brisso

Cheryl - I hope is doesn't appear that a bunch of bitter old timers are trying to tramp on your dreams. It's just that we see young (and sometimes starry-eyed) folk embarking on ventures such as this, and often it ends in tears - or worse, abuse and exploitation.

Ultimately, one has to suck it and see. Live your dream, but go in with your eyes and ears open.

dzibead

Well, we can't have that!

Hyderabadi