Q: Myanmar Visa / Pa Auk Monastery

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konchokzopa
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 3:13 pm

Q: Myanmar Visa / Pa Auk Monastery

Post by konchokzopa »

Hi, I am planning to go to Pa Auk Monastery to meditate as a lay yogi, not trying to ordain and become a monk.

Does anyone here know about the visa situation in Myanmar concerning being a meditator in a monastery the whole time.

My information is that first you enter with a three month meditation visa that you can get through the sponsorship letter of Pa Auk forest monastery. and after that you can extend your stay somehow to get granted time max 12 months so 1 year.

anyway my wish and plan to is first to try out the 1 year but most likely since i want to actually achieve shamatha and also train in vipashyana i would like to spend there 2-3 years.

is this possible? can you renew the year long visa and get a new year added to that and new year added to that ?

Thanks for the help already.

:anjali:
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Sekha
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Re: Q: Myanmar Visa / Pa Auk Monastery

Post by Sekha »

as far as I know, you can only get the one-year visa if you ordain to some extent (at least samanera). Otherwise, you get only 6 months. It's 100 dollars to be paid cash anyway, and there must not be the slightest default on the bill, not even a tiny scratch. And you usually have to give your passport very early, and to wait until the end of your 3 initial months to get your passport back. Some unlucky people sometimes don't get their passport on time and are asked to pay a very steep fine for not having their situation straightened up !

You can renew your visa as many times as you want. But you can't leave the country, otherwise you have to start over at square 1.
Where knowledge ends, religion begins. - B. Disraeli

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konchokzopa
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 3:13 pm

Re: Q: Myanmar Visa / Pa Auk Monastery

Post by konchokzopa »

ok thanks for the info. :anjali:
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