Age

[Hunter]

How old do you have to be to become a Novice Monk and an fully ordained monk. I will be turning 18 in september and an really considering monkhood.

[jcsuperstar]

to be a monk you have to be at least 20 and no matter how old you need your parents blessings.

i think it's 8 or 9 to be a novice. but there may be no age limit i'm not really sure.

[Sobeh]

You have to be 20 for ordination iirc, but you might end up spending a year or so at the anagaraka/samaneri stages which means you could start at age 19 or perhaps even now. It would really depend on where you wanted to ordain I think.

[Hunter]

Thanks for your responses. when im 18 I most likely will go look for a monestary and look into novice ordination. I also know that my parents would give me their blessings because they know how much spirituality means to me. I think they might think its a good thing!

[Almaril]

Where do you live, if I might ask?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The minimum age for bhikkhu ordination is actually 20 years from conception — so about 19 years and 3 months or a bit more if you were a premature baby.