phrachuntawongso

i am very interested in ordaining/moving to thailand. what channels do i need to move through?

i am a practicing meditator and believe strongly in Buddhism. i currently live in Brisbane, QLD Australia.

come and see what we have going in our temple....stay and join in with the meditation, chanting, etc. You can ordain as a novice for a few months before deciding to go for Monk.

http://watsriboenruang.wordpress.com/

I have looked at the site, but I can't see where the Wat is located??? I am in Chiang Mai, and once I've cleared my (virtual) desk, I'd love to spend some time at a temple, especially if it had some nice farangs in I could share with in English

Please let me know roughly where you are anyway.

thx

(Update, just read your last post and mentions "MaeSai" so maybe Wat is in Chiang Rai?)

We are about 150 kms north of Chiang Mai.

You can get a bus from Chang Puak bus station- 80 Baht 3 hours.

We are actually about 7 kms south of Fang. You can ask the driver to let you off outside the temple.

If you would like to come then please feel free to email me at [email protected] or [email protected]

With Metta, Phra Greg Chuntawongso

Okay, so there is an educational visa... good.

I'd still like to get a 60 day tourist visa to allow myself some leeway, as my plans aren't concrete. Is Phnom Pehn the best option from Bangkok? I'd rather see Laos than the killing fields...

My recommendation would be to try get some sort of non immigrant visa when you go to Laos.

This will(should) make things a little easier when you apply for your visa to become a monk.

Having gone through this myself I am now getting quite good at knowing the proceedure.

There is a lot of running around involved in getting the initial visa to stay as a monk.

If you would like to speak with a farang monk about all the paper work that is required, who to speak to at the Buddhist center,etc then please feel free to contact me via my blog at www.watsriboenruang.wordpress.com

I hope that things go well for you.

With metta,

Phra Greg Chuntawongso.

I would like to try this for free when Im in Chiang Mai next month. Maybe a weekend so I can learn more about buddism since I dont know much about it. Thanks.

If you are interested then you can contact me via my blog www.watsriboenruang.wordpress.com We will be more than happy to see you, however we are about 150 kms north of CM, or about 3 hours by bus.

With metta, Phra Greg

You've faced some criticism in the past for what people say is "selling" or making money out of religion. What do you say to these people?

I'm not open to that kind of criticism. We charge around £600 for a 28-day "Monk for a Month" package, but the stay in the temple is absolutely free. What we're charging for is facilitating the experience: picking them up from the airport, taking them to Tesco when they need to go, and sightseeing trips to places like the Golden Triangle which are incorporated.

Wow £600 is allot of money just to take them to tesco lotus and pick up at the airport.Sightseeing is the cost of a bus ride.

There are many Wats in Thailand where you can stay for a modest donation for a month or free if you dont have money and you can learn everything you need to learn and there are english speaking monks on hand to help you.

This guy is a clever business man who has found an interesting niche religion business.

The Package in question is not Monk For A Month. I think it is called fang valley experience.

Actually Monk For A Month no longer exists as such. If you go to the website site you will see it links directly to another site that has the package tours.

And before anyone asks, I was not a monk at this temple when the program was running and therefore any questions about how I may have profited are moot points.

With metta Phra Greg

But someone who was not a monk then but recieved remuneration for running the course was. I fully accept that it was not you and I do not even question whether the payments were reasonable or not. Just that the interests of posters in this case may be relevent to disclose.

A fair point.This is why I felt it important to disclose the point that I had not, as I felt that some people may ask.

I think the main issue I wanted to bring forward is the fact that the reporting in the article not accurate when the program is referred to as M4AM.

As I stated, if anyone goes to M4AM.com, they will see that it takes them to a completely different website, where there is no direct link to a stay in this temple.

As I said earlier, anyone who wishes to stay here are always welcome and we will teach them for free.( Not everyone leaves a donation)

We have a blog site at www.watsriboenruang.wordpress.com if anyone is interested to see what we have to offer here at the temple.

I hope this clears things up for anyone who thinks we are profiting from this particular venture. We do not receive 1 baht from the tour operator, not even towards the cost of electricity. This we pay for from donations.

With metta, Phra Greg

You've faced some criticism in the past for what people say is "selling" or making money out of religion. What do you say to these people?

I'm not open to that kind of criticism. We charge around £600 for a 28-day "Monk for a Month" package, but the stay in the temple is absolutely free. What we're charging for is facilitating the experience: picking them up from the airport, taking them to Tesco when they need to go, and sightseeing trips to places like the Golden Triangle which are incorporated.

Wow £600 is allot of money just to take them to tesco lotus and pick up at the airport.Sightseeing is the cost of a bus ride.

There are many Wats in Thailand where you can stay for a modest donation for a month or free if you dont have money and you can learn everything you need to learn and there are english speaking monks on hand to help you.

This guy is a clever business man who has found an interesting niche religion business.

The Package in question is not Monk For A Month. I think it is called fang valley experience.

Actually Monk For A Month no longer exists as such. If you go to the website site you will see it links directly to another site that has the package tours.

And before anyone asks, I was not a monk at this temple when the program was running and therefore any questions about how I may have profited are moot points.

With metta Phra Greg

I don't think he's offering conversions. I think he's offering people the opportunity to live in the style of a buddhist monk, or in the style of a muslim, in accordance with the five pillars of islam. Not sure what specific group of muslims he proposes immersion with.

SC

I believe it is Sufi.

If you want to hang at a wat take the bus from Chiang mai to Mae Hong Song get off at wat tam wua about one hour from mae hong song. The abbott will provide you with a place to stay 2 meals a day and white clothing to wear as a lay person. Will not cost you 30,000baht just a donation, what you can afford

Just a quick point. If anyone one wishes to come to the temple in question, then they can also jump on a bus from Chiang Mai.

We do not charge anyone for staying here. If people wish to book something through another company and then end up in our temple we will always accept them.

We receive no renumeration from the operator in question, however we do not turn anyone away who wishes to come here and learn about Buddhism and Vipassana Meditation.

With metta,

Phra Greg Chuntawongso