Monastery Visit

FairyFeller

I'm a beginer with Buddhsm and I am very interested in the Theravada path and following on from the old saying about one hour with a good teacher being better than 1000 days of diligent study I'm looking to find a good teacher.

The only link locally for me is a monastery about 70 miles away. They welcome visitors but I'm not sure what to expect, how to behave (salutations and such), and just what to ask. They might, hopefully, be able to point me to somebody more local to my home but I don't want to offend anybody before I start.

Tosh

I've only been to a few Buddhist centres, never a monastery, but I guess they're similar in many ways. Hopefully they'll have a drop in meditation class; that's normally a good way to start. The ones I've been to were all very friendly, just remember to take your shoes off before entering a meditation hall/room.

That's about it really. I know it feels scary, but it's not really.

riverflow

I just got back from a monastery which was largely Vietnamese - by all means, go, but without any expectations and don't worry about potential faux pas. Just observe and you'll be sure to catch on-- and you won't regret it!

genkaku

@FairyFeller -- Turn the situation around: Suppose that the "good teacher" you envision knocked on your front door seeking instruction in some topic with which you were familiar. How would you treat him or her? Would you be surprised or offended by questions whose answers seemed obvious to you? Would you be offended by some small bit of ignorance? Wouldn't you simply do what you could to make this person feel at ease and offer what instruction you could?

Relax. The practice of Buddhism is almost entirely made up of mistakes... i.e. it's just human stuff. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone tries to correct them. Perfection is for dreamers. "Buddha" means "awake."

MaryAnne

@FairyFeller

If you decide to take the ride, Please do let us know how it went. Some of us will probably never have that chance ourselves-
Details! Details!
:clap:

genkaku

@MaryAnne -- I can't get the personal-message thingie to work but thought this might be of some associative interest.

FairyFeller

MaryAnne said:

@FairyFeller

If you decide to take the ride, Please do let us know how it went. Some of us will probably never have that chance ourselves-
Details! Details!
:clap:

I'm having lunch with them on Saturday, I've never felt so humble but yet so excited at the same time.

MaryAnne

genkaku said:

@MaryAnne -- I can't get the personal-message thingie to work but thought this might be of some associative interest.

That's odd, I just now today saw the post above.... hmmm....

Anyway, I read the blog re; monasteries. I liked it. As a matter of fact, I'm going back there now to read some more in your archives.

blu3ree

Keep an open mind.