Ordination in Thailand

[BuddhaSoup]

Beneath the Wheel:

Wat Sri Boen Ruang is a true Wat/Temple. It has on its premises a school for novices, a radio station, and all the elements of any well establish Thai Wat. Yes, full ordination is conducted at WSBR in the normal course. One of my teachers, Ven. Phra Fred, ordained there, and of course Thai samanera go forth for full ordination there.

The advantage to WSBR, in my opinion, is the presence of a young, gifted, and dynamic Abbot who speaks English well, along with Phra Fred and Phra Greg, both native English speakers.

I may at some point ordain; go forth. I would choose to ordain only at WSBR. It is my Dhamma home, in a sense. Now, if only my Thai and Pali would progress and improve..I might stand a chance at being considered for this ordination.....

[gavesako]

http://www.watthaitemple.com/ordination ... hist-monk/

Ordination of Buddhist Monk

[Dhammanando]

Hello,

Does anyone have any information about Wat Tha Ma O? I cannot locate a website which may suggest it wouldn't be easy to ordain there as an english speaker..

Thanks

The abbot of Wat Tha Ma O, Sayādaw Dhammānanda, is now nearly blind and too frail to teach. The de facto abbot now is a very talented Burmese-trained Thai monk, Sayādaw Gandhasāra. U Gandhasāra has undertaken a fair bit of international teaching (mostly leading retreats in Europe) and speaks English well. He is also an incredibly prolific translator, especially of Burmese treatises into Thai, and impresses me as a competent meditation technician.

Earlier this year I transcribed and translated Wat Tha Ma O's Pali evening chanting and confession formulas for another Englishman who was preparing to ordain there. As these are rather different from those in general use in Thailand I am uploading the file here for anyone who might be considering ordaining at Tha Ma O.

Best wishes,
Dhammanando

[mr.c]

Hi everyone.

This thread starts with a reference to the homonymous one from E-Sangha, that isn't available anymore. I "discovered" the old thread back in 2009. I was then. and still am. interested in ordaining. I was very eager to read it but it was rather lengthy, so... I made a print out of it! Until some time ago I forgot where it was or if still existed, but some months ago I found it by chance.

It has taken me some time to transcribe it into electronic form again (a few minutes every day), but here it is once more. It covers from its first post on 6/aug/2006 until 25/jan/2009.

I hope someone still finds it useful, or has some value as a "historical" document...

Best wishes!
MrC

[mikenz66]

Thanks MrC!

(and welcome...)


Mike

[Apawang]

It looks as if there hasn't been activity on this thread for a bit, but any relevant response is appreciated!

I am 44 years old and married with young(er) children. I'm waiting for my kids to grow up and finish school. I have always intended to ordain in Thailand since visiting there and doing retreats there many years ago. I recently read on WPN website that they have a age cutoff of 50. This is very disappointing since my kids won't be finished with school before I turn 50.

I'm confused about this because I was under the impression that it was common for laypersons to ordain after their children were grown. I had heard that this is common in many countries including Thailand. I also don't understand why the Sangha would turn their back on older people who want to ordain. This doesn't seem to be in keeping with stories I had read about the Buddha and his disciples.

At any rate, if I'm not able to ordain in one of the English-speaking Wats in Thailand, are there other good suggestions? I am trying to teach myself Thai at the moment but I'm not sure how that will progress without living in Thailand.

Thanks for your kind responses!

[BuddhaSoup]

It looks as if there hasn't been activity on this thread for a bit, but any relevant response is appreciated!

I am 44 years old and married with young(er) children. I'm waiting for my kids to grow up and finish school. I have always intended to ordain in Thailand since visiting there and doing retreats there many years ago. I recently read on WPN website that they have a age cutoff of 50. This is very disappointing since my kids won't be finished with school before I turn 50.

I'm confused about this because I was under the impression that it was common for laypersons to ordain after their children were grown. I had heard that this is common in many countries including Thailand. I also don't understand why the Sangha would turn their back on older people who want to ordain. This doesn't seem to be in keeping with stories I had read about the Buddha and his disciples.

At any rate, if I'm not able to ordain in one of the English-speaking Wats in Thailand, are there other good suggestions? I am trying to teach myself Thai at the moment but I'm not sure how that will progress without living in Thailand.

Thanks for your kind responses!

Apawang:

I do not believe that there is a strict age restriction in Thailand. I believe that the requirements for samanera and Bhikkhu ordination depend on the preceptor and the abbot of the Wat where you would request ordination. I know of at least one retired gentleman from the US who has ordained as of last year, and is living as a monk in a Thai Wat, and very happy there.

Take a look at http://www.monkordination.com At Wat Sri Boen Ruang, you can go through training, study and temple living and then request to ordain as a samanera (novice) at the Temple. I do not believe that any age restriction is in place; there are other requirements that the Vinaya sets forth with regard to physical fitness etc. Ordaining as a novice is a step toward ordaining as a bhikkhu, and it allows one to fully experience the life of a bhikku (almsrounds, vinaya code) before going forth as a bhikkhu. I ordained as a samanera there. WSBR's Abbot is also a very good man, highly educated, speaks English, young, and a dynamic community leader.

[appicchato]

I do not believe that there is a strict age restriction in Thailand.

There is none...WPN (probably) being the only (out of 35k) one that does...

Knowing more Pali than Thai would impress (as an aid to securing permission to ordain) a Thai abbot more...

Success to you...

[Dhammanando]

I'm confused about this because I was under the impression that it was common for laypersons to ordain after their children were grown. I had heard that this is common in many countries including Thailand.

Yes.

I also don't understand why the Sangha would turn their back on older people who want to ordain. This doesn't seem to be in keeping with stories I had read about the Buddha and his disciples.

I think Wat Pa Nanachat may well be unique in this respect. I have a septuagenarian American friend who has sometimes stayed at WPN for lengthy periods and was hoping to ordain there. His application was rejected on account of the rule you mention. The explanation given to him was that the community had found it too difficult to train westerners who ordain in old age. Western quinquagenarians, sexagenarians, etc., find it irksome to be bossed about by vicenarians and tricenarians (which is what most of the WPN community are) who are their monastic seniors. It might not be so bad if there wasn't actually a lot of bossing about but at WPN there's a great deal of it.

With Thais ordaining in late life doesn't seem to be so much of a problem. The difficulties WPN encountered are avoided largely through senior Thai monks having the skill to train their charges in a non-coercive fashion, without needing to issue peremptory orders, pull rank on one's juniors, and that sort of thing. In fact there's many a Thai abbot who will never order anyone to do anything but will get things done by just quietly dropping hints.

[Apawang]

Thanks so much for the replies. This really makes me feel much better! I found the age restriction strange so it's good to hear it's limited to WPN. I'll keep practicing and am hoping to visit Thailand this year or next for a retreat and a chance to visit some of the different Wats.