Just wondering if somebody could explain about women going into a Wat for a short period of time . I was having a conversation with some Thai women who were trying to explain it to me but their English was about the same level of my Thai. They were saying that women can go into a Wat for a few weeks as nuns and they wear white dresses. I presume this is the same as young Thai men becoming Monks for about three months some time in their lifetime. It seems they get up very early in the morning and they should not have contact with the outside world as much as possible meaning no phones.

Can somebody explain a bit more about it and whether it is common in Thailand for young women to do it and what it is called . I must confess i know very little else about it.

Thanks for any replies

Whenever people in Thailand, farang or Thai, go to stay at a temple, for a few days or a few weeks, they will wear white clothing and take the eight precepts.

According to Pali they are Upasikha ...meaning female lay followers. The Thais however have several names for them.

If they are just overnighting at the temple for one or two nights during the annual rains retreat (Pansa), then here in the North they are referred to as 'Mae Sin'. Mae meaning mother, and sin meaning precepts... a female keeper of the eight precepts. The males are called Por sin...por meaning father.

If they are on a meditation retreat they they are often called yogi, generic for both male and female, but the Thais often tell their friends that they are going to 'buat prahm'...which means ordain as a Brahmin. Actually they do not do any ordination ceremony, just the eight precepts ceremony.

If they wish to become Mae Chi which we refer to as Nuns, then they also shave their heads and wear white cloth robes, not just white clothing worn by others which are often just long pants but older women prefer white sarongs. Women also wear a shoulder cloth which encircles the body diagonally.

The mae Chi are also on the eight precepts, but they do have a longer ordination type of ceremony, attended by senior Mae Chi.

Many temples have large mass ordinations of boys as novices during the long two month summer holidays from March to May. Some also have girls joining in too dressed in the usual white, but they attend a seperate ceremony since they are eight precepts and the novices ten precepts.

My wife did it for 2 weeks. Some sort of religious sabbatical. Seems they make an inner peace for themselves.

Thailand has a national mae chee organisation sanctioned by the Dept of Religious Affairs. They used to publish a short handbook in Thai and English, which I saw once at the bookstore opposite Wat Bowon. According to that manual mae chee in Thailand follow 10 precepts, which as I recall are the same 10 precepts samanera (novice monks) follow.

Thanks for all your information. Very helpful . I relise that this is not out of the ordinary for women to want to do this.

My wife did it for 2 weeks. Some sort of religious sabbatical. Seems they make an inner peace for themselves.

5555 yup same here, only for 4 days though...just wish she had not cut off her beautiful long curly hair though..finally getting to her shoulders now...

I think it made her feel good ,inner peace maybe....she was real happy when she came home..maybe it was because I remembered to water her orchids and cleaned the bathrooms?

Whatever.... her happiness is my happiness

All this part time nuns and monks - rubbish!!!!!

Either you are or you are not!

Well here I am Mr Negative .... Many Thai women of course do it for all the right reasons others however use it as an excellent opportunity for more devious pursuits. That is they are essentially removed from the radar for up to two weeks allowing them the freedom to play away from home... Thing is no communications are allowed from the outside or so they say... No photos's either??? Deep meditation... or deep penetration from a foreign Buddha?

If her destination was truly a wat or a meditation center, this is completely ridiculous.

We have Mae Chee here. Mostly in their fifties and upward. Some just have problems dealing with society. One believes she gets possessed by spirits and feels safe here. Most just want to practice.

Being ordained for a short period of time is part of the culture here. Theres nothing wrong with it. In fact some westerners should give it a go so they're not sniping out of complete ignorance. Khao jai mai?

My wife has a younger brother who is always in trouble - mainly because of whiskey and fighting and he "drys" out in a Wat for a few months everytime he hits the bottom. My original post was after a conversation with some Thai ladies about if women are also offered the same "sanctuary" and/or able to get "spiritual re-alighnment" I have always heard about men doing it but not so much with women.

My wife does it from time to time - Ampawan is her preferred location in Thailand and Amaravati in UK. Feels refreshed and reset with a greater sense of purpose and emapthy for all things - a very good thing IMHO.