Staying at a buddhist monastery in Asia?

Samuro

Hi there,

This question might have been asked and discussed many times before, but my search came up with too many threads to filter out the useful ones. So here goes;

I'm travelling with my girl this fall, and we will pass through many countries in Asia (China, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand), and for me this trip will be both a spiritual trip and a cleansing of both my body and my soul. I wish to, through travelling and doing aidwork, try to discover myself and my purpose here on earth. So far I've waisted three years working with computers, and I truthfully believe that this has been - if not wrong, at least not the best for me.

Therefore I am hoping to find out where and how I can get in touch with buddhist monasterys in Asia, perhaps to spend anything from a week to a couple of months with them, living like them, meditating, learning language, learning their culture and way of life.

So that was why I was tipped about this site - by people who have heard that this can be done, and that information perhaps could be found here?

Thank you very much for your time and help.

With all respect, and sincere hope for answers;
Samuel

Palzang

Asia is a big place, and there are lots and lots of Buddhist monasteries. You can stay at some of them. Best to know where you would be going, and then look there to see if there are any. For example, if you are going to Kathmandu, there are several monasteries (Shechen is one) that have guest houses for visitors to stay (not free though). Ditto for many other places, like Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Bylakuppe in Southern India where there are several major Tibetan monasteries (Sera Je, Namdroling), all with guest houses. Korea and Japan also have monasteries with guest facililties. You basically need to decide where you're going and look there.

Palzang

Samuro

Ok, but is staying at a guest-house the same as what I'm talking about? I'm visiting China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia...

The thing is; I know nothing about how to find this out online (as I am in Norway now, it's kind of difficult to do it otherwise) - could you point me in any directions?

Thank you for your help so far!

Glow

A few links you might find useful:
1.) A Pilgrim's Guide to Buddhist India
2.) A Buddhist Pilgrim's Guide to Sri Lanka
3.) Sacred Destinations: Buddhist Temples

Just an example of what to expect: I stayed at my first teacher's monastery in Bangladesh in the Chitagong hill tracts. I had to have his and the head-monk's permission beforehand, and I don't think it's generally open to the public. However, it was characteristic of a lot of South Asia in being rather difficult to get to. At that time (late 1990s), the road was rather primitive and so we had to take a serious of (horse- and cow-driven) rickshaws about five hours in the middle of the night to get to the small village where the temple was. It is definitely helpful to have someone from the region with you. My family is from Bangladesh, and so I had the guidance of one of my aunts and cousins during my stay in Dhaka. But the links above should help you form your own itinerary.

If you have a sangha near you anywhere, you could try getting it touch with them. They will mostly likely have some resources for you or someone who has ties to a monastery in Asia, or will know where to direct you.

Palzang

And I would also add make sure they can speak the same language you do.

Palzang