Welcome to our online monastic course.
Who is it for?
This course was designed with a particular student in mind: those who are considering ordination or are already ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and who were born in, or are living in, Western, non-Buddhist countries.
However, those who are interested in monasticism in other Buddhist traditions, or other religions such as Catholicism might also find aspects of this course helpful. Similarly, those with an interest in monasticism who come from traditionally Buddhist cultures may also find something of value in the material presented here.
This course is intended to be relevant to those from any Tibetan Buddhist lineage, and includes teachings and perspectives from teachers from a variety of Tibetan lineages, as well as other Buddhist schools.
This course was put together by Jess McNally, with the support of Tim Olmsted, as well as the blessing and guidance of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. You can read more about them here.
How does it work?
The course material is all freely available and accessible to whoever is interested in taking the time to go through it. We have presented the material as a series of topics, with the idea that you will move through them one by one, but it is up to you how you move through the material. While you are pursuing these questions, we encourage you to reflect on your own through contemplation, journaling, art, and meditation.
We also strongly recommend you find others to talk to and reflect with, including other monastics, your spiritual mentors, lay members of your spiritual community, your family, and your friends. While some topics and questions may be more relevant and appropriate to talk with other monastics about, including the lay community in your discernment process or considerations on monastic life may help you develop a stronger support network for your monastic life.
If you could find one or two other people to study the course material with simultaneously, that would also be excellent.
If you have particular questions that come up while you are studying, you can contact us and we will try to get back to you or steer you in an appropriate direction. We would also be grateful to hear your feedback or suggestions for the course.
more questions than answers
The goal of this course is not to give you the answers, but rather to help stimulate questions and contemplation. We will provide a few answers from different people and links for you to explore, but these are in no ways the definitive.
The Buddha was the very first monk in what was to become Buddhism, and monastic life has been an integral part to the four-fold sangha and preservation of the dharma for 2,500 years. Over this time countless individuals have been ordained, and countless have attained enlightenment. There are many helpful teachings about how to live as a monastic, and deep tradition and history you can draw on.
At the same time, the Buddha said the Vinaya needs to be understood and practiced in the context of each unique time and place. And since Buddhism is still very new to Western culture and our modern time, the answers to how to practice monastic life well in this context are still being discovered, and will also need to keep adapting.
As you explore these topics, we encourage you to keep both these things in mind—the deep roots of tradition, and the creativity and unanswered questions of how to live as a monastic in the modern world.
We wish you all the best on the journey.