Where to ordain as a nun?

Q & A
1

Hi all,
I am writing this on behalf of a female friend of mine from India (age ~30) who is interested in becoming a nun. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know of many suitable places to become a nun in India, and is researching and trying to find places that she could ordain at in the near-future. I am trying to help her in this aim. So far, I’ve come across Sayalay Dipankara’s monastery called Brahma Vihari in Myanmar. I have also heard of another monastery in Myanmar taught by Sayadaw U Tejaniya which comes highly recommended from a friend. I’ve talked with a Mae Chee from Thailand who said that most places for women to ordain in Thailand don’t speak English which would be a problem for my friend. There seem to be some excellent places to ordain for women in both the US and Australia yet these seem like they would pose logistical / visa challenges for an Indian national to ordain at for the long-term (please correct me if I’m wrong).

As such, I wanted to ask the Sutta Central community if they had any recommendations. My friend is a sincere and earnest Dhamma practitioner and very much wants to try and live the holy life as a nun. In the best case scenario, I think she would like to have the following in a place to ordain:

  1. Emphasis on EBTs, rather than later commentarial traditions such as the Visuddhimagga
  2. English-speaking
  3. Supportive community of fellow women practitioners
  4. Possible for an Indian citizen to stay long-term

I also think a female teacher could be of great help, but if there is a skilled monk who has experience teaching nuns, that could also work. I mention this last point since the Mae Chee I spoke with said that she thought a good female teacher can be uniquely valuable for a female student.

Lastly, if there are any places that may not be suitable for long-term but would still be good for a shorter trip to visit (i.e. places in US or Australia), I would still be interested in collecting any recommendations that I can pass along to my friend so she can make the most informed choice possible about finding a teacher and community to practice in. Thank you all for your help, I sincerely appreciate it.

With metta,
Lucas

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Some sources of information
http://www.bhikkhuni.net

Monasteries Directory -

May all choosing a renunciate life be blessed with the training and requisites.
:pray:

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Wonderful resource that I did not know about. Thank you!

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Meth Sisila is a newly developing rural facility for women in southern Sri Lanka:

http://www.vijitharama.org/meth_sisila.php

They can be contacted through Vijitharama, a small temple in Colombo where the abbot has Australian contacts:

Email : pannaloka@yahoo.com, vijitharama@yahoo.com
Phone : +94 112 833 328, +94 776 691 142

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There are several sorts of ordination available to women, as there are for men. The following webpage gives lots of information and links for both

Regarding the full ordination as bhikkhuni for women this might be interesting to some (maybe not to others; that’s understandable and understood):

Going forth from lay life may be a spectrum of practice; may we each support others, and be supported ourselves, with generosity, with harmlessness, guided in this (as hopefully always) by our precepts and the Noble 8 fold Path.

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:slight_smile: I think those would be laywomen practitioners. Of course these exist, as do laymen practitioners.
I think renunciation is possible in all forms of human life.

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Just a reminder to stick to the topic especially in Q&A please.

If further discussion is wanted, eg about ways of living g the dhamma, then please start a new topic.

This all helps a lot with the usability of the site. Remember, we archive topics for future use, and they do get used a lot by a large silent audience.

:pray:

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Sakyaditha Training & Meditation Centre:

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What place would you suggest for a European woman? Is there any chance of getting to Dhammasara or some US monastery?

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