Just Getting The Upasampada

[Anicca]

Dear all,

I`ve a bit of a strange question about ordaining in Thailand. I`m a westerner, I lived in monasteries in Europe for a year, but now I`m a Samanera in Sri Lanka (got my pabbaja about 3 months ago). I definitely want to get the upasampada, but here in Sri Lanka it`s not so easy...

Most traditions want to put me in a study centre for a couple of years and generally they can be quite obsessed with all these sectarion issues and so on...

But I`m rather a practising forest monk than a city scholar...

I know that in Thailand they give the upasampada much easier, so now what I was thinking if I could go to Thailand just for a short while (on tourist visa maybe) get the upasampada somewhere and then come back to Sri Lanka already as a bhikkhu. Then I could easily stay in smaller forest monasteries (or even alone as a hermit after a while) and would be more out of the system; `just an other westerner ordained in Thailand` instead of belonging to one of the sects here.

Can anybody suggest an open-minded Ajahn who is supportive towards hard-core forest monks? Or anybody who would be willing to give ordination like this...

Thanks for the help in advance. Just a samanera... (sects might be watching )

[hookedondhamma]

Edit. op i will send you a pm

Edited January 20, 2013 by hookedondhamma

[bankei]

Shouldn't be a problem at the Thai end, but what about when going back to Sri Lanka. You will belong to a different Nikaya. This may lead to exclusions when doing sanghakamma - you might not be allowed into the sima for Patimokha for example.

All of Sri Lankan Nikaya dervived from Thai or Burma, (3 of them) but they have since split into many sub-nikaya. The Siyam nikaya for example derived from the Mahanikaya of Thailand, but this split into 2 over a dispute over a water sima. Each of these has split many times. So if you ordained in Mahanikaya in Thailand would you be accepted in all the subnikaya? Possibly in some but maybe not in others.

The other two are the Amarapura Nikaya and this has many subgroups and the Rammaya nikaya which, I think, hasn't split, so no subgroups. With these you may be better to ordain in the Dhammayut Nikaya in Thailand as this derives from Burma. But I have heard that some groups do not accept the ordination of Dhammayut being valid anymore because the group is no longer so strict in Thailand and there have been many scandals.

Please let us know how you go.

Bankei

[Anicca]

Dear Bankei,

thank you for the answer. For now I got a relatively good deal from the place I belong to, so Thailand became a plan B. But living in Sri Lanka for half a year I had to learn that promises doesn`t mean anything here So there is still quite a chance for Thailand.

Unfortunately if I ordain here I will be in the same situation; I`ll be accepted by same groups but not all. So I don`t think it would make such a big difference... Here actually they take it even more seriously: one of the strictest sect (Galduwa) would be willing to ordain a Parajika bhikkhu. The explanation: he was ordained in a different sect, so his ordination was invalid and thus whatever he did while wearing the robe didn`t count as he was only a layman. So they can take all this sectarian issue to complete ridiculousness.

Also I mostly would like to live alone, or at least be sort of `independent` anyway so it wouldn`t matter that much for me...

So you think it would be easy to go out with a tourist visa and get upasampada in that one month? Any specific places that you could suggest maybe?

Thanks for the answer. Metta